ASSESSMENT
‘Remember that nobody owes you a living. The office is paid for by the taxpayers and we must ensure that it renders services of value considerably in excess of the cost. If this is not so, the money could be put to better use in other services.'
Directive to City District Officers.
110. I have in the course of this report mentioned various specific points where we have learnt lessons and think we see scope for improve- ment. In this final section I offer a more general assessment of the scheme and set down some important considerations relating to its future.
111. The most heartening aspect of the launching of this scheme has been the generally favourable reception given to it. From the time the proposals were announced the concept of a regionalized, approachable, local manifestation of the central Government has been welcomed. As appointments were made and as reports began to be published of the activities of the C.D.O.s this favourable reception was maintained. This was found in the press and in public comment. We have discounted much of the favourable comment made direct to C.D.O.s, lest it be no more than politeness, but from other evidence I have no doubt that we have been fortunate in the initial public acceptance of the scheme. I believe the scheme has already made a significant contribution to the emphasis that the Government wishes to be placed on the personal concern which its policies imply but which is so difficult to express when large under- takings are carried out by a highly centralized authority.
112. We have of course had our critics and here I am concerned more with criticisms of the concepts rather than of individual performance. One has been that the activities of the C.D.O. are so diverse that it is difficult to understand the precise nature of his function. The main objective is clear enough: it is to make the Government more intelligible and more human and to enable the Government to have a better under- standing of the wishes and aspirations of ordinary people. The diversity of activity springs from the various ways C.D.O.s are trying to identify themselves with the community in which they work. The aim of involve- ment in community activity is to make contact but a half hearted involve- ment simply intended to secure introductions would not generate the trust and respect which the achievement of the primary aim requires. C.D.O.s have therefore thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the lives
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