PORT ECONOMICS
making regulations, and exercising full local authority.
Subject to approval by the Board of Estimate of the City
Corporation, he may prepare and carry out plans for
quayside accommodation and equipment of an important
character.

The characteristic feature of individualistic control,
where it is applicable, is a higher degree of concentrated
action, promptitude and dispatch. There is less occasion
for delay in arriving at decisions and less diversity of
counsel and opinion—which of course, may, or may not,
be an advantage, according to circumstances. The
drawback of the system, as practised in America, is the
short tenure and uncertainty of office, involving frequent
changes in the personality of those in charge, and so pro-
ducing, or, at any rate, tending to produce, changes in policy
which may be detrimental to the best interests of a port.

The committee system has certain drawbacks, but it
reflects the considered decisions of a variety of repre-
sentatives looking at problems from different points of
view and less likely to embark on ill-advised projects
than would be the case in single control.

DEPARTMENTS

Under the direction of the Board of an Autonomous
Authority, but working more closely in connection with
the particular committee with which their work is
associated, there will be a staff of principal officers in
charge of departments. At the head will be the General
Manager, who is personally responsible to the Board for
the general conduct and smooth working of the whole
organization. With him will be associated, in a slightly
minor degree of authority, a Chief Engineer who is the
responsible officer on matters of technical import. There
may also be a Secretary for purely statutory duties, but
these are often combined with the General Manager's
special functions. In addition, it is customary to have
the following principal heads of departments—

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