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9
authority. Whatever the White Paper might say about the Government
being satisfied that delegation works satisfactorily, the position remains
that an authority responsible for finance is naturally reluctant to loosen
its hold on the administrative arrangements so that whatever delegation
is granted is likely to be anything but unfettered. This results both in
remote control and in a lessening of the responsibilities and therefore of
the interests of those engaged in local administration. The authorities
who are given the responsibility for maintaining these personal services
should therefore be granted them as of right and not by delegation. A
unit of administration to be economic and effective, must be of a minimum
size. All this points, in regard to the administration of the personal
health services, to the granting of powers to areas perhaps of the size of
the areas into which the county of Middlesex has been divided or something
smaller, with the amalgamation of certain of the existing county districts
into these larger areas as fresh Local Government units. These could
then become multi-purpose authorities.
I have the honour to be,
Your obedient servant,
CARYL THOMAS,
Medical Officer of Health.
Council Offices,
Kynaston Court,
Harrow Weald.
3 rdMay, 1958.