}
}
5
Service, I made no recommendations in respect of those ir- regularities in the Administrative processes in so far as they occurred in the areas of review that fell within the terms of reference of the experts. I thought it proper to draw my report on the case to the attention of the Advisers -and this move was welcomed by the department concerned.
This was one of eleven cases relating to land matters which constituted the greatest proportion of the complaints in- vestigated, and as it turned out, was the only one of the eleven found to be justified. In view of the magnitude of existing and proposed land development schemes and thei inevitable impact on the lives of the thousands of citizens involved in them I incline to agree with the view expressed in one department that here is an area in which the ex- "pertise of the United Nations Advisers on Public Adminis-
tration in the field of management services might be of great service to the Administration.
In a number of cases the mistakes that came to light in the course of investigation were found to be due, in the main, to defective working methods undue delay, mislead- ing information, faulty procedure, excessive minuting, loss of papers, delay in decision making, deficiencies in the filing system and the need for clarification of office 'order.
The only complaint in which racial discrimination was alleged was considered to be unjustified.
Delay
While I continued fu. che mest part to receive willing co-operation from officers of the Ministries and Depart- ments, as time went by there seemed to be a growing tenden- cy in some cases to regard communications from my office as not so urgent in consequence of which my investigations were held up while officers took their time to reply or in a few cases even failed to reply to requests for informa- tion. I, therefore, considered it necessary, in a circu- lar issued to all Permanent Secretaries and Heads of De- partments, towards the end of the year, to draw their attention to the occurrence of these delays and the extent to which they were impeding the effective performance of my functions. I pointed out that the office of Ombudsman established to provide a simple, swift and inexpensive pro- cedure for investigating complaints of mal-administration and mal-practice, that my office shared with the Adminis- tration the responsibility to provide the best possible service for citizens, that at the same time, it was
as much
was