CO885-8 — Page 217

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

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COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

BE

ALLY

PUBI

CORD OFFICE, LONDON KOUT PERMISSION OF THE DUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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(the South African Department) has more than three times as many, but it practically represents two Departments, as it has two Principal Clerks, two Seniors, and four Juniors, and an exceptionally large staff of Second Division Clerks, in its Sub- Registry. The duties of the Senior and Junior Clerks are to write minutes and drafts on all sub- jects, under the direction of the Principal Clerk, to nee persons calling at the office for information on ruatters of fact or routine (the number of whom is very great), and generally to assist the Principal in carrying on the business of the Department. The Senior Clerk deals with the more important matters, while the less important are dealt with by the Juniors. The Senior has also to act for the Principal in his absence, and may be authorised by the Principal to finally dispose of certain subjects even when the Both the Seniors and the Principal is present.

Juniors pass their work on direct to the Principal. The Juniors do not pass their work through the Senior, but they send to the Senior and not to the Principal any matters with which the Senior is As a rule no work authorised to deal at once.

passes through more than two persons in the Department.

The Principal Clerk has in practice considerable discretion as to finally disposing of papers; but all papers which in his opinion may have to be submitted eventually to the Secretary of State, or which involve important questions of principle or policy, or which should be seen by the superintending Assistant Under Secretary in order that he may have a general knowledge of the business of the Departments under his charge, are passed on to an Assistant Under Secretary, who either disposes of the paper and returns it to the Department or sends it on through the Permanent Under Secretary to the Parliamentary Under Secretary and the Secretary of State for information or decision.

8. The above describes the organization of the individual Departments of the Office and the manner in which the business is distributed among the members of each Department. In practice it is, of course, necessary to apply the system here described with some regard to the varying capacities of individuals, and the frequent occurrence of unex- pected pressure originating in one quarter or another of the Empire also renders inevitable some departure from the arrangements which are devised with the object of providing for the transaction of the normal business of the Departments.

4. There are eight Departments at present in the Office, organised more or less closely in accordance with the above system. Seven of these are what are known as Geographical Departments, and the eighth is the General Department. There is an Assistant Under Secretary in charge of every two Depart- menta, above whom rank the Permanent Under Secretary and the Parliamentary Under Secretary, with, of course, the Secretary of State at the head of the Office.

5. This organisation has at least the merit of mutis- fying the deẳnition laid down by Lord Lingen, sa

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member of the Ridley Commission. He pointed out that the constitution of a public office should generally resemble the structure of a pyramid. The Secretary of State, the two Under Secretaries, the four Assis- tant Under Secretaries, the eight Principal Clerks and the body of First and Second Class Clerks, constituting the establishment of the Colonial Office, satisfy this condition with as near an approach to absolute accuracy as seems practicable. It has been more than once suggested unofficially by the Treasury that it is unnecessary in the Colonial Office to have both Assistant Under Secretaries and Principal Clerks. But, apart from the fact that the Colonial Office in this respect is organised on the same general lines as other principal Govern- ment Departments, there are special considerations which in its case appear to render the acceptance of the Treasury's suggestion impracticable. The business of the Colonial Office is probably more varied than that of any other Department. includes political questions, domestic, international and fiscal; legal and constitutional questions; questions of great public works; financial questions; military, postal, and telegraph questions; questions of administration, frequently of an extremely delicate and difficult character; and, in addition, the control of a very large public service, carrying on its duties under every possible variety of climate and circumstances. The importance of the business transacted by the Colonial Office is no less obvious than its diversity, and it is essential, in dealing with public business of this nature, that there should be throughout the Office a means of co-ordinating and binding together the different Departments which will ensure uniformity of policy and continuity of practice. The Assistant Under Secretaries supply this co-ordination absolutely, so far as the two Departments under the charge of each of them are concerned.

It

They do more than this. By constantly con- ferring together they are enabled to bring the practice of all Departments into line and to make their recommendations to the Permanent Under Secretary of State, and, through him, to the Secretary of State, with every confidence that they will be in accordance with the general policy adopted by His Majesty's Government in dealing with the affairs of the Empire.

It may be said that this object could be equally achieved by conferences of the Principal Clerks.

The answer is that the numbers of the latter are greater, and that in the ordinary course of things the Assistant Under Secretaries must be supposed

to be of longer standing and experience than the Principal Clerks. There is a further advantage which ought not to be lost sight of. The Principal Clerks take charge of separate groups of colonies. The Assistant Under Secretaries are supposed to be divided by subjects as well as by colonies. By the time & Principal Clerk reaches the position of an Assistant Under Secretary he has not only given proof of special capacity, but he has probably also devoted himself more particularly to the study of

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