Abstract
Many smaller villages were incorporated with the bigger villages and towns in FUKUOKA prefecture from 1953 to 1960. We selected 42 towns and villages as the object of this study. The purpose of this study is to judge whether it is proper or not, to concentrate the facilities in the same place for getting the uniformity of towns and villages. We investigated the space ranges and the population scale of the towns and villages by the following factors. 1, The location sites of public offices, their branches and the middle schools. 2, The number of these institution facilities. 3, The distance between facilies and localities. The public offies of towns and villages at plains are almost located in the centre of an area, but at mountains and foot of mountains almost located in the edge of anarea. The localities where the public offices are located are thickly populated and have a large population. The cases where the middle schools are located close to the public offices and their branches came up to 82 percents. When the towns and villages were incorporated, the public offices had 95 miniserial branches but now the number of branches has decressed by about 60 percents, and a half of towns and villages has avolished the branches of their poblic offices. On the other hand, after the towns and villages were incorporated, some middle schools were amalgamated in one. The office authorities believe that they can cut expenses as much, and get the unity of the inhabitants by the reduction of the facilities. But we criticise the policy of the office authorities that reduces the facilities by unduely consideration on the spacial character of place and the distribution of the localities. After incorporated with the bigger villages and towns, the newly established public offices strengthened their mechanism of the centralization of administrative power.
