THE MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT
SIR,-" Jana " puts his finger on one of the weakest Waces in the machinery of government when he points out the influence of the head of the Civil Service on nominations for honours, his influence in promo- tions and his veto on appointments.
The House of Commons increasingly extends the bureaucratic machine which it can neither direct nor control. Ministers of the day, many of them fleeting phantoms, so far from guiding the departmental machine, are carried along by it. Any Minister rash enough to seek to divert its course knows he may jeopardise his career. Such control as exists of the bureaucracy is exercised by the Treasury. Unhappy as are many of the results of this control, the Treasury is better equipped and more responsible than any Minister can be. Surely, what is needed is a "Permanent Commission on the Machinery of Government " which shall, in the words of the Haldane Report, undertake- " the continuous study of the methods of administration prevailing not only in the United Kingdom but in the Empire and in foreign countries."
Wirelsfleld Hall, Sussex.
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