Full text : Report of the British Economic Mission to Australia

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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. Meanwhile,
 effective preference might be
given to the British manufacturers on
those parts of motor cars which Australia
 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 manufacturers
 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 contact
 with many members of the Commonwealth
 and State Civil Services,
and we take this opportunity of expressing
 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 administration
 in any country and because in
Australia, with its multiplicity of
Governments, the functions of a civil
servant, although they may be circumscribed,
 are in some respects more diffisult
 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 complicated
 and skilled business and if a
Government wishes to obtain the services
 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 comnercial
 or other activities, especially
such as are required in connection
with technical subjects. The class of
nan necessary for Government adminstrative
 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 department
 efficiently, just as the chairman
of directors of a business often rejuires
 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 Aussralia
 sets out to attract the best
available talent to the Civil Services.
We, do not think that the most advanced
 democratic theory can reasonably
 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 Government
 «department, is not only to provide
 the necessary administrative experience,
 but to act as a link in continuity
 of policy between successive
Ministers and successive Governments,
who in Australia, owing to her institution
 of triennial Parliaments, follow
            
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