Before the Reform era dissatisfaction came to occasional fruition in Local Acts (of Parliament) which placed under the authority of special commissioners a variety of administrative details, which if the corporation had not been suspected would certainly not have been assigned to its care. The trust offered another convenient means of escape from difficulty, and in some towns out of the trust was developed a system of municipal administration where there was no recognised corporation. Thus at Peterborough the feoffees who had succeeded to the control of certain ancient charities constituted a form of town council with very restricted powers. In the 17th century Sheffield was brought under the act "to redress the misemployment of lands given to charitable uses", and the municipal administration of what had been a borough passed into the hands of the trustees of the Burgery or Town Trust. The many special authorities created under act of parliament led to much confusion, conflict and overlapping, and increased the need for a general reform.