of area but also in respect of the character and extent of the duties assigned to them. It is not to be confused with local self-government in the wider sense in which the words are sometimes employed, e.g. for the granting by the crown of self-government to a colony; the expression, in a general way, may mean this, but “local government” as technically used in England refers more narrowly to the system of county or municipal administration, and English usage transfers it to denote the similar institutions in other countries. The growth and persistence of this kind of subordinate government is due practically to the need of relieving the central authority in the state, and to experience of the failure of a completely centralized bureaucracy. The degree to which local government is adopted varies considerably in different countries, and those which are the best examples of it in modern times—the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Germany—differ very much in their local institutions, partly through historical, partly through temperamental, causes. A certain shifting of ideas from time to time, as to what is local and what is central, is inevitable, and the same view is not possible in countries of different configuration, history or political system. The history and present state of the local government in the various countries are dealt with in the separate articles on them (England, Germany, &c.), in the sections dealing with government and administration, or political institutions.
The best recent comparative study of local government is Percy Ashley’s Local and Central Government (Murray, 1906), an admirable account of the evolution and working of the systems in England, France, Prussia and United States. Other important works, in addition to general works on constitutional law, are J. A. Fairlie’s Municipal Administration, Shaw’s Municipal Government in Continental Europe, Redlich and Hirst’s Local Government in England, Mr and Mrs Sidney Webb’s elaborate historical inquiry into English local government (1906), and for Germany, Bornhak’s Geschichte des preussischen Verwaltungsrechts.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD, a department of the administration
of the United Kingdom, constituted in 1871. It is the
successor of the General Board of Health, established in 1848
pursuant to the Public Health Act of that year. The General
Board of Health continued in existence until 1854, when it was
reconstituted. Its existence under its new constitution was
originally limited to one year, but was extended from year to
year until 1858, when it was allowed to expire, its powers under
the various acts for the prevention of diseases being transferred
to the privy council, while those which related to the control of
local authorities passed to the secretary of state for the home
department, to whose department the staff of officers and clerks
belonging to the board was transferred. This state of affairs
continued until 1871, when the Local Government Board was
created by the Local Government Board Act 1871. It consists
of the lord president of the council, the five principal secretaries
of state, the lord privy seal, the chancellor of the exchequer
and a president appointed by the sovereign. The board itself
seldom meets, and the duties of the department are discharged
by the president assisted by a parliamentary and a permanent
secretary and a permanent staff. The president and one of the
secretaries usually have seats in parliament, and the president is
generally a member of the cabinet. The salary of the president,
formerly £2000, was raised in 1910 to £5000 a year. The board
has all the powers of the secretary of state under the Public
Health Act 1848, and the numerous subsequent acts relating to
sanitary matters and the government of sanitary districts;
together with all the powers and duties of the privy council
under the acts relating to the prevention of epidemic disease
and to vaccination. The powers and duties of the board have
been largely added to by legislation since its creation; it may be
said that the board exercises a general supervision over the
numerous authorities to whom local government has been
entrusted (see England: Local Government). A committee
presided over by Lord Jersey in 1904 inquired into the constitution
and duties of the board, but made no recommendation as to any
change therein. It recommended, however, an increase in the
salaries of the president and of the parliamentary and permanent
secretaries.
LOCARNO (Ger. Luggarus), a small town of Italian appearance
in the Swiss canton of Tessin or Ticino, of which till 1881 it was
one of the three capitals (the others being Bellinzona, q.v., and
Lugano, q.v.). It is built at the north or Swiss end of the Lago
Maggiore, not far from the point at which the Maggia enters that
lake, and is by rail 14 m. S.W. of Bellinzona. Its height above
the sea-level is only 682 ft., so that it is said to be the lowest
spot in Switzerland. In 1900 its population was 3603, mainly
Italian-speaking and Romanists. It was taken from the Milanese
in 1512 by the Swiss who ruled it till 1798, when it became part
of the canton of Lugano in the Helvetic Republic, and in 1803
part of that of Tessin or Ticino, then first erected. In 1555 a
number of Protestant inhabitants were expelled for religious
reasons, and going to Zürich founded the silk industry there.
Above Locarno is the romantically situated sanctuary of the
Madonna del Sasso (now rendered easily accessible by a funicular
railway) that commands a glorious view over the lake and the
surrounding country. (W. A. B. C.)
LOCH, HENRY BROUGHAM LOCH, 1st Baron (1827–1900),
British colonial administrator, son of James Loch, M.P., of
Drylaw, Midlothian, was born on the 23rd of May 1827. He
entered the navy, but at the end of two years quitted it for the
East India Company’s military service, and in 1842 obtained a
commission in the Bengal Light Cavalry. In the Sikh war in
1845 he was given an appointment on the staff of Sir Hugh
Gough, and served throughout the Sutlej campaign. In 1852
he became second in command of Skinner’s Horse. At the
outbreak of the Crimean war in 1854, Loch severed his connexion
with India, and obtained leave to raise a body of irregular
Bulgarian cavalry, which he commanded throughout the war.
In 1857 he was appointed attaché to Lord Elgin’s mission to the
East, was present at the taking of Canton, and in 1858 brought
home the treaty of Yedo. In April 1860 he again accompanied
Lord Elgin to China, as secretary of the new embassy sent to
secure the execution by China of her treaty engagements. The
embassy was backed up by an allied Anglo-French force. With
Harry S. Parkes he negotiated the surrender of the Taku forts.
During the advance on Peking Loch was chosen with Parkes to
complete the preliminary negotiations for peace at Tungchow.
They were accompanied by a small party of officers and Sikhs.
It having been discovered that the Chinese were planning a
treacherous attack on the British force, Loch rode back and
warned the outposts. He then returned to Parkes and his
party under a flag of truce hoping to secure their safety. They
were all, however, made prisoners and taken to Peking, where
the majority died from torture or disease. Parkes and Loch,
after enduring irons and all the horrors of a Chinese prison, were
afterwards more leniently treated. After three weeks’ time the
negotiations for their release were successful, but they had only
been liberated ten minutes when orders were received from the
Chinese emperor, then a fugitive in Mongolia, for their immediate
execution. Loch never entirely recovered his health after this
experience in a Chinese dungeon. Returning home he was made
C.B., and for a while was private secretary to Sir George Grey,
then at the Home Office. In 1863 he was appointed lieutenant-governor
of the Isle of Man. During his governorship the House
of Keys was transformed into an elective assembly, the first line
of railway was opened, and the influx of tourists began to bring
fresh prosperity to the island. In 1882 Loch, who had become
K.C.B. in 1880, accepted a commissionership of woods and
forests, and two years later was made governor of Victoria, where
he won the esteem of all classes. In June 1889 he succeeded Sir
Hercules Robinson as governor of Cape Colony and high commissioner
of South Africa.
As high commissioner his duties called for the exercise of great judgment and firmness. The Boers were at the same time striving to frustrate Cecil Rhodes’s schemes of northern expansion and planning to occupy Mashonaland, to secure control of Swaziland and Zululand and to acquire the adjacent lands up to the ocean. Loch firmly supported Rhodes, and, by informing President Kruger that troops would be sent to prevent any invasion of territory under British protection, he effectually
