In these large districts, therefore, the maxim, that an
elective body constituted in any locality should have authority over
all the local concerns common to the locality, requires modification
from another principle- as well as from the competing consideration
of the importance of obtaining for the discharge of the local duties
the highest qualifications possible. For example, if it be necessary
(as I believe it to be) for the proper administration of the Poor Laws
that the area of rating should not be more extensive than most of
the present Unions, a principle which requires a Board of Guardians
for each Union- yet, as a much more highly qualified class of persons
is likely to be obtainable for a County Board than those who compose
an average Board of Guardians, it may on that ground be expedient to
reserve for the County Boards some higher descriptions of local
business, which might otherwise have been conveniently managed
within itself by each separate Union.
Besides the controlling council, or local sub-Parliament, local
business has its executive department. With respect to this, the
same questions arise as with respect to the executive authorities in
the State; and they may, for the most part, be answered in the same
manner. The principles applicable to all public trusts are in
substance the same. In the first place, each executive officer
should be single, and singly responsible for the whole of the duty
committed to his charge.
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