limit sanction to six months at a time, so that the financial position of the applicant Authorities might be reviewed at half-yearly intervals. Only in special circumstances, such as those of unforeseen heavy expenditure due to an outbreak of smallpox, was a longer period granted. The year under review proved, as was feared at the time of the survey given in the last report, administratively and financially very difficult for Local Authorities in coal districts, but as the year progressed a distinct improvement in the financial position of nearly all of these Authorities became noticeable, and there is every hope that this improvement will be maintained. The year was marked by the high level of rates which many Authorities, particularly in South Wales, were obliged to levy. The following table gives the number of Authorities (other than Rural Districts) in mining Counties which levied rates of 20s. in the £ and over Coal mines are assessed on output (except that above-ground buildings and some machinery are assessed on value). Except in Durham, where a two years' output is taken, it is customary to base the assessment on a 12 months' output and to revise the assessments yearly or half-yearly. The assessment operative for the first half of the financial year is based generally on the period up to the previous December, and that for the second half of the year is either the same or else is based on the period ended the previous June. Consequently, the assessments for the first half of last year were reduced in respect of the whole of the coal stoppage, and those for the second half in respect of at least six of the eight months of the stoppage. In South Wales, a half-yearly revision is usual, and there was, therefore, a slight increase in the assessments in the second half of the year. The assessments for this year will not (except in Durham) include any period of the coal stoppage and they will, therefore, be considerably higher. The following figures show how greatly the produce of a 1d. rate was reduced in some areas last year and the anticipated increase in it this year : In the past some Authorities were inclined to levy insufficient rates and to borrow for the resulting deficiency in the hope of making it up when better times come. The unwisdom of this policy is now generally appreciated, and there are few, if any, Authorities in coal districts which did not during the year under review set themselves to cut down expenditure, to levy sufficient rates to meet that expenditure, and to take special measures to collect rates. The adoption of a sound financial policy has brought about a general improvement in the financial situation of those Authorities, and a continuance of that policy ought to bring about a further improvement in the current year, particularly as increased assessments of coal mines will generally have the effect of lowering the level of rates and there are indications of the re-opening of some mines which have been closed. CONTROL OF CAPITAL EXPENDITURE. In the case of Local Authorities with high rates and where the financial circumstances are difficult it has been necessary for the Minister to continue his policy of not sanctioning loans for capital works except where such works were unavoidable and could not be deferred. In these and other cases where rates were high, various suggestions were made to effect savings. Authorities have been urged to adopt the practice of budgetting for capital expenditure for a number of years ahead, say five, so that by a survey of prospective expenditure they might be enabled to determine (where thought advisable, in consultation with the Minister) in the light of their financial conditions and the measure of need for the several works, with what capital expenditure it is in the interests of the district to proceed and in what order. This procedure is one to be commended as a normal administrative measure of proper financial control and for correlating demands of the several services for capital expenditure. Some important Authorities have determined to limit their capital expenditure to such schemes as are necessary for public health and to remunerative works. Local Government Officers. MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH. During the year 113 new appointments of Medical Officers of Health have been approved. In 49 cases the officer appointed will not engage in private practice. At the end of the year 361 out of 1,219 Medical Officers of Health in England were whole-time officers. Reference may be made in this connexion to the Report* issued during the year describing the method adopted in certain counties of providing full-time occupation for health officers by the making of joint appointments by neighbouring local authorities or by a County Council and the councils of districts within the county. It would appear that there is room for a considerable extension of the latter system and that a substantial improvement in the public health service and in the conditions of service may be looked for from such an extension. SANITARY INSPECTORS. During the year 167 new appointments of Sanitary Inspectors have been approved. 163 of these officers will give the whole of their time to public duties. HOP-PICKING. The administrative difficulties arising from the congregation in the hop country of pickers in September and their aggravation by the number of week-end and other holiday makers, whom modern methods of transport enable to join the actual pickers from time to time, have again received consideration. These difficulties are controllable in the main by the local sanitary authorities, but there has not been in all cases any great willingness on the part of these authorities either to make or to enforce byelaws prescribing an upto-date standard of comfort or even of proper sanitation. matter is not one in which either the Minister or a county council has any over-riding powers, but the attention of the district councils has again been drawn to the importance of their powers and the desirability that these powers shall be fully exerted. As a result of the communications addressed to them seven councils have during the year adopted byelaws or revised their former code. * The Reports on Public Health and Medical Subjects, No. 45; His Majesty's Stationery Office. Price 6d. net. LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND OTHER OFFICERS' SUPERANNUATION Аст, 1922. From the passing of the Act of 1922 to the 31st March, 1928, approval had been given to its adoption by 171 Local Authorities, viz., 34 County Councils, 39 County Borough Councils, 3 Metropolitan Borough Councils, 43 Borough Councils, 38 Urban District Councils, 8 Rural District Councils, and 6 Joint Boards. The Minister had also approved 14 combination schemes under Section 5 (1) of the Act affecting 131 Local Authorities and 233 agreements under Section 5 (3) of the Act by which Authorities. who have adopted the Act admit to its benefits, officers and servants of other Authorities and Statutory Undertakers. The total number of officers and servants brought within the Act is approximately 100,000 and the total estimated annual cost to the Local Authorities concerned, exclusive of administrative expenses, is approximately £1,239,000. During the year the Minister has approved one scheme, under Section 27 of the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, reducing, in view of the contributions payable and the benefits receivable under that Act, the contributions and benefits of the Act of 1922. In pursuance of Section 19 of the Act the actuary's report on his investigation of one Superannuation Fund has been received. The Actuary's valuation disclosed a small surplus, which it was thought prudent to preserve for the present. The Departmental Committee on Superannuation of Local Government Employees, appointed by the Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland in July, 1925, issued their Report in December, 1927. The Committee recommended that the scheme embodied in the Act of 1922, should, with certain modifications, be made compulsory on all local authorities and on all their permanent officers, or non-manual employees. The servants, or manual workers, of each authority should be allowed the option of participation in the scheme, the decision of the majority of the whole class of permanent manual workers in the service of any authority, as expressed by ballot, to bind all the members of that class. A minority of the Committee dissented from the conclusion of the majority in regard to manual workers, considering that an obligation to admit their servants to superannuation schemes should not be imposed on Local Authorities. The Committee made various minor suggestions for the amendment of the Act of 1922. Their Report has been circulated to the Associations of Local Authorities for consideration. RATING AND VALUATION ACT, 1925: TRANSFERRED OFFICERS. By Section 48 of the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, certain Union and Parish officers were transferred, as from the 1st April, 1927, to the new Assessment Committees and Rating Authorities set up under that Act. Section 49 provides for the payment of compensation to every officer of any Authority or Committee to or from whom duties were transferred by the Act, and every parish officer in office at the passing of the Act, who, by virtue of the Act or of anything done in pursuance or in consequence thereof, suffers any direct pecuniary loss. The compensation is payable by the Assessment Committee or the Rating Authority as the case may be. Provision is made for an appeal to the Minister by any aggrieved claimant of compensation. 306 such appeals were received during the year under review. 202 of these appeals were determined during the year and 10 were withdrawn. In 144 instances the decision of the Minister resulted in the award of a greater amount of compensation than that awarded by the Compensating Authority, while in 27 cases the award of the Authority was reduced. Provision is also made for the submission to the Minister of an appeal by a minority of the Local Authority who may consider the compensation awarded to be excessive, but no such appeals were received. The awards made by the Minister provide for the payment of annuities amounting in the whole to £5,552 3s. 8d. (an average of £27 6s. Od. per officer) and in one case for the payment of a lump sum of £44 1s. 1d. Compensating Authorities may, with the Minister's sanction, borrow for the purpose of defraying their expenditure on compensation when this is given by way of a lump sum and not of annuity. Short period loans amounting to £3,505 were sanctioned during the year under review for this purpose. Valuation and Local Taxation. RATING AND VALUATION ACT, 1925. Last year's report summarized the steps which had been taken by the various bodies concerned towards bringing the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, into operation, and included a short account of the setting up of the new bodies constituted by that Act. During the past year these bodies have been taking up their new duties. In most cases, however, their main work will not have commenced during the year under review. Central Valuation Committee. The Central Valuation Committee constituted in pursuance of Section 57 of the Act have continued during the year to carry out the duties mentioned in that section. The most important of these |