Advisory Service for Parish Councils In 1934 the National Council
of Social Service set up a Parish Councils Committee. Its aim was to consider in what ways it could help parish councillors and parish council clerks to discharge their functions and if it could not stimulate the interest of village electors in affairs of local government generally and in the functions and responsibilities of parish councillors in particular. This was an excellent idea, and it has now been adopted in Kent, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Essex, Cambridge- shire and Gloucestershire. In Kent, action has been taken on advice given on many subjects that trouble councillors : the payment of income tax on allotments, the holding of parish meetings on licensed premises, fire-brigade equipment, foot- paths, liability of a parish council in regard to playground accidents, working-class housing, unsightly advertisements, and the very vexed question of the disposal of village refuse. This advisory service has been the subject of some criticism on the ground that it seeks to interfere with the rights of parish councillors and electors—all of which is exactly typical of rural mentality, which regards any privilege with complete indifference until it hears that it is about to lose it—but to my mind this service has many admirable virtues. The average parish councillor, when he opens his mouth or mind at all, is notoriously confused about his duties, and this service exists not to deprive him of privileges but to assist him in a clearer understanding and execution of them. Its present existence in only half a dozen counties is absurd.
H. E. BATES.
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