The Institute began to carry out research into
the economic aspects of the finance of Local
Authorities in September, i96i. The present Paper
represents the first fruits of this work and is very
much a Preliminary Survey; it is concerned with
only a part of the whole field and even in the part
chosen for examination it is recognised that the
analysis is incomplete. Indeed, the Paper does
little more than sketch the general background to
the "research and indicate some of the problems that
are being examined. In view of the present public
interest in the subject it was thought useful to make
available this " Preliminary Survey " at the present
time rather than wait for the full results of the work
now being done
