CONFIDENTIAL
I fully accept the desirability of new blood and also
the difficulty of finding it
-
but I should hope that
something could be done. But in making new recommendations
I shall have to bear in mind the over-riding importance of
keeping the membership of these key Councils constructive
and co-operative. At the best they can never be representative,
so what matters most is their performance. See also
Paragraph 10.
The Urban Council
7. The proposals in the Ex-Co paper appear to be a
reasonably ingenious and progressive method of dealing with
this troublesome if well-meaning and generally speaking
commendable body. Frovided the proposals do not provoke
controversy I will try and ensure that they are implemented
as a matter of high priority. If there is delay the Urban
Council will only become interested in amending the proposals
to expand its empire instead of with getting on with its
job - which was the object of the proposals.
Reorganisation of the structure of government
8. I have heard numerous complaints about the Colonial
Secretariat. These relate principally to its tendency to
frustrate initiative in departments, its slowness, and the
block that it interposes between departments and the official
decision-making process. On the other hand much of the
work of the Colonial Secretariat that I have seen is first
rate, and I presume its power attracts the same sort of
criticism that in Whitehall is the lot of the Treasury.
/Nevertheless
4. CONFIDENTIAL