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80
I have only one more word and it relates to Government
Grants to Local Authorities. Mr. Councillor Taylor
stated at the last meeting of the Council that, after all,
Government Grants come out of the pockets of the people
and that whether they come to the district coffers via a Government
Department or the Local Rates it is the business of
the Local Authority to see that they are wisely and profitably
spent. I think that is a correct observation. Every new Government
Grant is now associated with the issue of directions
from the department concerned as to how it is to be spent
and with the appointment of some new official or officials
to see that the money is so spent. Much public time and
money are wasted in the drafting and reading of minutes
between departments. The principle on which Government
Grants are at present distributed is bad, the tendency being
to reduce the Health service to the level of the Poor Law
service with the corollary of departmental orders and restrictions
and loss of local freedom of choice and action. I
would like you to be clear that I am not dealing with the
question of the incidence of taxation but merely with the
fact that the responsibility for the spending of public money
on behalf of Willesden should, subject to proper and efficient
safe-guards, be in the hands of the popularly elected Local
Authority rather than under the bureaucratic control of a
Government Department.
All these matters which I have put before you are important.
They mean increased cost, but it is a cost that will
repay you. It will repay you in respect of increased manpower—I
do not mean for the purposes of war, but for the
peaceful pursuit of commerce and industry after the war—
and I commend them to your careful attention.
GEORGE F. BUCHAN,
Medical Officer.