Report of the British Economic Mission to Australia

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 179824683X

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-182286

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the British Economic Mission to Australia

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Office

Year of publication:: 7th January 1929

Scope:: 63 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Supplementary memoranda

Collection:: Economics Books

a8 73 f 3 E Yn J. (1 ¥ nr 3 S the car bodies, types, springs and sundry accessories, but not the chassis, engine, ete. It should be the aim of soth countries that Australia should produce, when the demand and local industrial conditions warrant it, further parts of the car until possibly the whole manufacture is carried out in Australia, thus finding work for more people (probably British migrants) and British capital. Mean- while, effective preference might be given to the British manufacturers on those parts of motor cars which Aus- tralia cannot make for herself. Other nstances might be given as a result of our investigation, such as in the textile, ceramic, iron and steel in- Justries. 17. There is certainly not a proper nnderstanding to-day in Great Britain »f the possibilities of trade with Australia. On our return we shall iope to use such influence as we oossess to recommend individual manu- facturers to establish closer relations with Australia; and our views as to the best methods of promoting trade will be available for British trade associations and others interested. H. Tre Civin SERVICES. 1. In the course of our inquiries we nave naturally been brought into con- tact with many members of the Com- monwealth and State Civil Services, and we take this opportunity of ex- pressing our gratitude to them for the full information which they have afforded and for the courtesy which they have shown to us. We have also had interviews with the several Public Service Commissioners and have made specific inquiries into the method of recruitment, promotion and control of the Civil Services; and we venture to vive our opinions on this topic both because we consider that a capable Civil Service is an essential part of a well ordered system of administra- tion in any country and because in Australia, with its multiplicity of Governments, the functions of a civil servant, although they may be circum- scribed, are in some respects more diffi- sult to perform than in countries where political pressure is less directly felt. This pressure is inevitably hard to resist by Governments responsible to a comparatively small population, and thus easilv exnosed to local influences. one another with exceptional rapidity. Government administration is a com- plicated and skilled business and if a Government wishes to obtain the ser- vices of efficient men in such a business it has, like any other employer, to pay the price for that efficiency which it would command in the ordinary sommercial world. This is self-evident, hut it is made additionally clear by ;he necessity which Governments have sxperienced of paying large salaries vhen they have needed to attract sapable men of mature age from com- nercial or other activities, especially such as are required in connection with technical subjects. The class of nan necessary for Government admin- strative work has to be caught young wd properly trained. In Australia there are many Cabinet Ministers con- ;rolling Government departments who, ywing to their preliminary training, san, in effect, merely direct policy, ieaving the expert to run the depart- ment efficiently, just as the chairman of directors of a business often re- juires a general manager to supervise ts details, 3. We have been greatly struck by she capacity and devotion of the senior civil servants with whom we aave been brought in contact, yet our inquiries lead us. gravely to doubt whether the system followed in Aus- sralia sets out to attract the best available talent to the Civil Services. We, do not think that the most ad- vanced democratic theory can reason- ably prompt anv obiection to a genuine 2. The true function of the senior civil servant, as distinguished from the clerical or junior staff of every Govern- ment «department, is not only to pro- vide the necessary administrative ex- perience, but to act as a link in con- tinuity of policy between successive Ministers and successive Governments, who in Australia, owing to her institu- tion of triennial Parliaments, follow

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