This question divides itself into two parts: what should
be their duties, and whether they should have full authority within
the sphere of those duties, or should be liable to any, and what,
interference on the part of the central government.
It is obvious, to begin with, that all business purely local- all
which concerns only a single locality- should devolve upon the local
authorities. The paving, lighting, and cleansing of the streets of a
town, and in ordinary circumstances the draining of its houses, are of
little consequence to any but its inhabitants. The nation at large
is interested in them in no other way than that in which it is
interested in the private well-being of all its individual citizens.
But among the duties classed as local, or performed by local
functionaries, there are many which might with equal propriety be
termed national, being the share, belonging to the locality, of some
branch of the public administration in the efficiency of which the
whole nation is alike interested: the gaols, for instance, most of
which in this country are under county management; the local police;
the local administration of justice, much of which, especially in
corporate towns, is performed by officers elected by the locality, and
paid from local funds. None of these can be said to be matters of
local, as distinguished from national, importance.
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