public  purposes.  One  consequence  of  this  is  that  the  inter-
vention of  Government  in  the  arrangements  for  supplying
these  needs  does  not  necessarily  involve  the  action  of
the  executive  organ.  It  may,  in  some  cases,  be  carried
into  effect  by  legislation  giving  coercive  powers,  or  other
special  privileges  or  pecuniary  aid  from  the  funds  of  the
State,  to  voluntary  associations,  either  on  a  commercial  or
philanthropic  basis ; — usually  under  the  condition  of  con-
forming to  special  regulations  laid  down  by  the  legislature.
Thus, — to  take  an  instance  of  a  commercial  association, —
an  English  railway  company,  on  account  of  the  social
importance  of  its  work,  is  granted  a  special  power  of  com-
pulsorily  purchasing  the  land  that  it  requires,  and  in  return
for  this  privilege  is  required  to  conform  to  regulations  laid
down  by  the  legislature  in  respect  of  the  rates  that  it
charges  for  the  conveyance  of  goods  and  passengers.  At
the  same  time  it  has  the  power  of  making  "  bye-laws "  for
the  regulation  of  its  traffic,  and  attaching  penalties  which
law-courts  will  enforce  to  the  breach  of  them.  So,  again,
elementary  education  in  England  is  largely  carried  on  in
schools  under  private  management,  and  partly  supported  by
voluntary  contributions,  but  which,  in  return  for  grants  of
public  money,  are  required  to  conform  to  conditions  laid
down  by  Government.  The  Bank  of  England,  and  the
institutions  by  which  our  medical  and  legal  professions  are
partially  self-governed,  come  under  the  same  general  head.
Institutions  of  this  kind,  which  we  may  call  "  semi-public,"
afford  a  useful  machinery  for  supplying  social  wants  better
than  the  unaided  and  unregulated  action  of  private  persons
would  supply  them,  without  unduly  increasing  the  responsi-
bilities or  the  powers  of  Government.
