In Scotland there are even more : Alloa, Arbroath, Berwick, Campbelltown, Carnoustie, Dornock, Edinburgh, Glasgow (3), Gourock, Greenock, Kilmarnock, Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy, Montrose (6), Musselburgh, Rothesay, St. Andrews (4), Troon (3) and others.
The following figures, selected from the Municipal Year Book 1928, refer to 4 of the most important municipal gas undertak ings.
the Central Electricity Board (qq.v.) : under whose direction the electrical industry as a whole is to be systematised. At the end of March 1927, out of 623 authorized undertakings in Great Brit ain, 374 were those of local authorities. The provision of markets and slaughterhouses has rapidly increased since it was first legal ized by the act of 1875. The reasons adduced are : excessive profits by private concerns, insanitary and dangerous conditions, cruelty to animals. The following figures (quoted in the Labour Year Book, 5927) indicate the position of 6 of the largest enter prises.
The only official figures available on municipal enterprises in the United States are those of the U.S. Census, and they cover only 247 cities. This includes only the larger cities—those having 30,00o population and over. As there are, in all, 15,692 cities, towns, villages and incorporated places in the United States, it is obvious that the census reports give a very incomplete picture of the situation. And especially so as several thousands of these smaller cities own and operate municipal waterworks, while the great majority of the 2,581 municipal light and power plants officially reported are in cities and towns of much less than 30,000 population. The total number of cities owning and operating municipal enterprises has been therefore estimated as 7,000, and the total aggregate value or investment at $3,000,000,000. The official figures do give some interesting data with reference to the municipal enterprises of the larger cities of the country, which are presented in the following table:— Complete official reports are not available as to the extent of municipal trading in the United States. From unofficial but more or less dependable sources, however, the following table has been compiled, showing the state of the movement in the year 1928:— The table on next page shows the "revenues, receipts," ex penditures or "government cost payments for expenses" and net earnings or "excess of receipts over expenditures" of public serv ice enterprises carried on by 247 of the largest cities in the United States.
to establish a municipal plant, and has the distinction of being the first and only city to offer a maximum rate for domestic serv ice of 3 cents per kilowatt hour. Los Angeles now has the largest of the municipal systems, with Seattle following closely. Tacoma has a complete monopoly of the power business. The table at the foot of the preceding column shows the financial operations of these four largest municipal plants.
Municipal Waterworks.—By far the most extensive field of "municipal trading" in the United States is that of public water works. The figures given above give only a very partial view of the situation. They cover only 247 out of nearly 7,00o munici palities that own and operate water-supply systems. The Ameri can Water Works Association estimates that over go% of the urban population in the United States is served by public plants. We give below a table showing the financial operations of the four largest municipal water-supply systems:— Municipal Light and Power Plants.—There are 2,581 mu nicipally-owned light and power plants in the United States. The majority of these are in the smaller cities, towns and vil lages, but a number of the larger cities have very successful projects. Cleveland, 0., was one of the first of the larger cities