ABSTRACT
A movement for the widest possible extension of municipal trading services was for long an outstanding feature of the Socialist movement in England from the end of the nineteenth century. The early Fabians were known as ‘gas and water socialists’ because they advocated the ownership by local authorities of gas, water, electricity, street transport and other public utilities as an essential part of their programme. The Webbs declared that there was practically no limit to the number and range of the industries and services that might with advantage be undertaken by local authorities. A few great industries and services, such as railways and canals, afforestation, the supply of coal and oil, the generation of electricity and probably banking and insurance, would be undertaken by the central government.
