CURRENT LITERATURE
A STUDY IN ENGLISH LOCAL AUTHORITY FINANCE By Joseph Sykes
Mr. Sykes' book (P. S. King, 12s.) covers the post-War period from 1919 to 1935, with general comments ranging up to the present day. He is not, on the whole, ambitious ; it is the very broad lines of development both in expenditure and in money-raising which form his theme, and discussion of the principles involved is cursory. There is no evidence that he has ever considered tackling the tremendous task of sampling local authority minutes to find out what really have been the intentions and the success of their financial policy. One can hardly blame him : a short general survey is not the same thing as a majestic shelf of Webbs. This compara- tive superficiality, however, means that the general assessment of the economic and social effects of local activity, with which Mr. Sykes follows his straightforward historical survey, needs to be treated with caution. He makes a succession of valid economic points telling one way or the other ; but neither he nor his readers can, on the evidence given, assign to these their due weights and convincingly strike a balance. The same criticism applies, though less strongly, to the discussion of outstanding problems with which the book concludes. In agreement with the most authoritative opinions, Mr. Sykes condemns the multiplication of ad hoc authorities and favours regionalism: though he is not very helpful over the de- limitation of those regions. He makes out a strong case against the retention of the present rating system : to replace it he proposes a local income-tax (levied, of course, regionally and not by existing authorities) supplemented by more generous grants from the Exchequer. His book will be found useful by students and others concerned with local govern- ment finance. It is, unfortunately, quite horribly written, and derives an unintended entertainment value from a plentiful sprinkling of malapropisms—such as " impugn " for "impair," " elucidate " for "elicit," " promulgate " for " promote " and numerous others.
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