THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 {FEINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.) 
 
 ^y 
 
 PAPERS 
 
 KELATIA'E TO 
 
 THE OBSTRFCTIOX OF PUBLIC BUSINESS 
 
 A>D TlIK 
 
 OEGANIZATION OF THE CIVIL SEEVICK \ 
 
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 By ARTHUR WmONDS, Esq. 
 
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 TRINTED Br HARRISON AND SONS, 
 
 tONDON GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MAHTIN'S LANE; 
 
 AND 
 
 OSCHAKD STEEET, WESTUIKSTEE.
 
 
 OUTLINE. 
 
 Prefatory Remarks. 
 
 Letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 I. Letters on the Obstruction of Public Business. 
 II. Official Survey. 
 
 III. Remarks ox Offices, &c. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 IV. Official Objects. 
 V, Official Occasions. 
 
 \I. Official Organization. 
 VII. Official Administration. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 Table of Contents.
 
 PREFATORY REMARKS.
 
 PREFATORY REMARKS. 
 
 In no instance within the recollection of the 
 Writer has it been more needful than in the present 
 to read the Preface, or more necessary for the Reader 
 to take thought of the occasion of the work, as well 
 as of the relation of the matter to his own concerns. 
 The Critic, the Public, the Minister, the Minister of a 
 Department, the Member of Parliament, the Head 
 of a Department, the Officer and Clerk, and the 
 Special Interests, popular, local, commercial, profes- 
 sional, will all look at the matter with an eye to their 
 own objects, and such is the dry and scattered nature 
 and casual purpose of these papers, that, without 
 a w^ord of explanation, the object of the effort will, in 
 all probability, be missed, and that not through any- 
 body's fault, not even that of the Writer.
 
 8 Prefatory Remarks. 
 
 The Papers, in fact, were not originally written 
 for publication. They are principally a handful of 
 notes, which one man of business has written to 
 another, to assist in an object of very varied appli- 
 cation and much detail. They have no literary 
 pretension. 
 
 The Writer having been a witness (under circum- 
 stances favourable for observation) of the difficulties 
 incident to the transaction of Public Affairs by the 
 Officers, of State, and having bestowed some thought 
 and experiment upon the means of overcoming those 
 difficulties, has felt it to be his duty to contribute his 
 quota of suggestion to efforts in that direction. 
 
 To have presented the matter in a more ambitious 
 and more readable form would have involved the loss 
 of opportunities that the present time affords. 
 
 The ultimate object is to bring back the condition 
 of Offices to the state of subordination to one Schem'e 
 of Organization, which at one time characterized our 
 Institutions, so that each part may have its own 
 proper function, and subserve the common purpose 
 of the whole, without delay or obstruction to any
 
 Prefatory Remarks. 9 
 
 otlier part, and so that the Prime Minister may truly 
 preside over the whole, while each associated Minister 
 being charged only with those duties which are truly 
 special, may be able fully and })romptly to discharge 
 them; and the total result may be Unity of Principle 
 and Unity of Action, with, as far as may be, Unity of 
 Practice in the execution of detail. 
 
 The immediate object is to obtain a Survey of all 
 Offices, that each may show its own state, and make 
 its demand for the removal of hindrances, and the 
 grant of facilities, and by the exposition of its merits 
 and defects, show what it can contribute to the 
 common purpose, and what contributions it requires. 
 
 The next step would be to collect these results — 
 to consolidate them in separate Reports of the Ele- 
 ments of Offices, and therefrom to deduce a standard 
 for the guidance of the Finance Minister, in organizing 
 and regulating Official Establishments. 
 
 The Minister would then be in a position to 
 establish all new Offices upon principle, so that they 
 may be susceptible of extension, reduction, consolida- 
 tion, and of adaptation to new functions or duties of
 
 10 Prefatory Remarks. 
 
 an analogous kind, and gradually to apply the same 
 principles to old Offices, by withdrawing from them 
 incompatible duties which may be more properly and 
 efficiently performed by other Offices duly organized 
 for them, and by developing those Special Depart- 
 ments for which such old Offices are peculiarly 
 adapted. 
 
 By this gradual course, as deaths occur, as new 
 Officers become better trained, and the new parts of 
 the system are ripened by experience and skill, it will 
 become practicable to attain the ultimate object of a 
 single cohesive and entire system. 
 
 It is recommended that the Tables illustrative 
 of the Official Organization should be passed over, 
 except by those who can bestow a thought upon a 
 dry subject; and that they should not be regarded as 
 exact muster rolls of actual members, but as only 
 types of full Departments to be lessened or aug- 
 mented in different directions as may be requisite. 
 
 The scope and spirit of this undertaking is indi- 
 cated in the Letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 in the Letters on the Obstruction of Public Business, 
 and in the Paper entitled " Official Occasions."
 
 Prefatory Remarks. 11 
 
 The "Official Organization," and the *' Official 
 Administration," are hut corollaries to the foregoing. 
 
 The Official Objects have their place, but in a sad 
 skeleton form; it being beyond the time and means 
 of the Writer to recount them. 
 
 The Parliamentary Papers, and the Public Prints, 
 will supply a copious list of the main topics, but 
 not of the minor and incidental topics necessary for 
 the full consideration of those main Topics. 
 
 The proposed Survey would bring out these objects 
 in detail, and would at the same time give the best 
 testimony to the necessity of more adequate and better 
 adjusted means of realizing them. 
 
 The remarks upon Official Occasions will afford 
 sufficient indication of the necessity of some Organi- 
 zation, and to a certain extent, of the kind of 
 Organization required ; but in detaihng that Organi- 
 zation, there will be suggested a multitude of Special 
 Occasions, which it would be vain repetition to inseit 
 in these remarks. To what extent every public man 
 would find his powers magnified, and his faults
 
 12 Prefatory Remarks. 
 
 diminislicd, it is impossible to indicate. Each public 
 man, conscious of powers^ that need no assistance of 
 a particular kind, and unconscious of weaknesses, 
 which need their corresponding aid, will be inclined 
 to disclaim some of the proposed specialties ; but he 
 should remember that the Topic is not the Individual, 
 but the State, and not the circumstances of a moment 
 or of a particular Administration, but the circum- 
 stances of different times, and of different Adminis- 
 trations. 
 
 The suggestions are founded on the observations 
 of a quarter of a century, of Six Administrations, and 
 of Five Parliaments, besides the information of many 
 Public Men, whose intercourse with aflairs has been 
 more close than that of the Writer. 
 
 In nothing that is stated is it intended to cast 
 reproach upon any one. Much well-directed energy 
 has been exerted under circumstances far less favour- 
 able than the Public suppose, and many of the 
 follies that have been committed, have been generated 
 and magnified by a state of things all but hopelessly 
 bad at each starting, for the fate of a Minister under 
 the present system is Hke that of Curtius, he must
 
 \ 
 
 Prefatory Remarks. 13 
 
 almost inevitably come out of his career a defeated 
 baffled man, with a reputation a whit spoiled, health 
 and energy gone or lessened, and not seldom in com- 
 mon apprehension a fool for his pains. And there is 
 this peculiarity in the case : as the Minister for the 
 time being has usually been a sharp censor of his 
 Predecessor's doings, he can seldom plead inadequate 
 opportunities, as that would be equivalent to self- 
 condemnation for his attacks on others. 
 
 The matter needs the interposition of the Public, 
 whose cause is at stake, and the disinterested evidence 
 of men who have been witnesses of the evils and their 
 causes ; and as the opportunities of an individual, 
 how^ever extensive, aided by friends however numerous, 
 cannot reach all the occasions referred to, the Writer 
 would be glad to be favoured w^ith additional illus- 
 trations of his Topic, that he may reinforce it here- 
 after as opportunity shall serve. 
 
 It has been suggested that the claims of the Mem- 
 ber of Parliament have not been sufiieientlv indicated : 
 that in this Country every Member of Parliament is 
 a Minister in posse, and at all events the Watchman 
 of the Minister's Acts, and that although his respon- 
 sibility is not so definite or so great, yet his occasions
 
 14 Prefatory Remarks. 
 
 arc for the most part the same ; and that, therefore, 
 he needs the same faciHties which the Minister 
 needs. 
 
 The justice of the claim may be granted, but it is 
 only to be satisfied by ultimately extending to Parlia- 
 ment an organization similar in principle to that 
 which the Writer recommends for the Public 
 Departments of the State ; for it would be of most 
 dangerous consequence to the Constitution of this 
 Country in regard to the separation of the Legislative 
 and Executive Functions ; if Parliament should, by a 
 better organization than that which is enjoyed by the 
 Executive, be invested with greater practical power. 
 
 We need that each province of Government, as it 
 exists in this country, should be strengthened, but 
 none must be strengthened disproportionately to the 
 other, else the balance of power in the State would 
 inevitably be destroyed. As at present organized, 
 the Executive is too weak to maintain its proper 
 position, and it needs the first assistance. Our safety 
 is found in a Strong Executive, a Strong Parliament, 
 Strong Tribunals, a Strong Press, and a Strong Local 
 Administration, but none stronger than the other, 
 none resistances to any other, but mutual aids and 
 assistances.
 
 Prefato-nj Renuirhs. 15 
 
 If the Government should bo duly organized, 
 ParUament should be organized on the same model, 
 and so likewise should the Tribunals and tlic Local 
 Governments, for as observed in the Letter to the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Elements of Business 
 are everywhere the same, and it may be added that a 
 Common Action w^ould engender that sort of Common 
 Law which is the very soul of a Constitutional Govern- 
 ment, existing not by dogmatical or special legislation, 
 but by principles everywhere in play, according to the 
 exigency, by means of an appropriate personal agency, 
 acted upon by the public intelligence, yet severally re- 
 strained within due bounds by the mutual action of all. 
 
 If Parliament would cause to be made somewdiat 
 after the manner suggested in the Official Objects, a 
 List of the Topics which aw^ait its regard, its need of 
 Organization would be manifest, and at the same time 
 the need of delegating to the Tribunals those matters 
 which belong to them, and to the Executive Dc})art- 
 ments those matters which belong to them, but it 
 has been more than suspected that Governments 
 have suffered Parliament to be absorbed in details 
 that it might not be too powert'ul for them in their 
 present weak condition. 
 
 The Internal Reform of the House of Connnons,
 
 16 Prefatory Remarks. 
 
 by means of Committees properly organized, is as 
 important as the Reform of the System of Election, 
 but yet it must be confessed, as stated in the 
 Remarks on Offices, p. 90, that much has been done, 
 though probably without sufficient system. If any 
 one should be minded to undertake the task of 
 Reformation, it may be suggested that Committees 
 corresponding with those suggested for the Adminis- 
 trative Departments ' with an Establishment corre- 
 sponding to the Establishments suggested for those 
 Committees should be adopted ; but in order to make 
 such Institutions work in harmony with the Govern- 
 ment, the ancient Office of Clerk of the Parliaments 
 should be restored, and subjected to due regulation. 
 This is one of those fine old Constitutional Offices 
 which has been suffered to get into desuetude, and 
 then to be abolished. 
 
 The immediate question, however, suggested by 
 the peculiarly administrative character of the present 
 Government, is the Organization of the Civil Estab- 
 lishments, and as every Government in succession 
 has an interest in possessing an available working 
 force, it may reasonably be hoped that all parties in 
 power and out of power, will concur and co-operate 
 in the amelioration.
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CHANCELLOU OF THE EXCHEQUER. 
 
 6
 
 TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P, 
 
 CnAXCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. ETC., ETC. 
 
 G, Adelphi Terrace, Strand, 
 
 2Srd February, 1853. 
 Sir, 
 
 I beg to transmit to you my Papers on Official 
 Organization, which I had hoped to have sent earlier, 
 but I have found the work so extensive that I have 
 not been able to accomplish it before, with the 
 assistance I could command ; and 1 fear that you 
 will find in it many imperfections. 
 
 In truth, to work out the subject properl)^, it 
 should be worked out in full detail, for it is a work of 
 detail ; but the time it would require, would i)revent 
 its use in current official arrangements. I have, 
 therefore, thought it better to present it in this 
 imperfect shape, relying upon your kindness to allow 
 me to offer explanations of what may appear insuffi- 
 cient, obscure, or objectionable. 
 
 I have in various ways endeavoured to force upon 
 myself all the considerations to be regarded. The 
 
 15 12
 
 20 Letter to the 
 
 ruling one is, that the Minister should, like the 
 Commander-in-Chief, have, for the discharge of his 
 duties to the State, at his service, and under his con- 
 trol, all the Civil Servants available for every species of 
 services which his exigencies may require ; and that, 
 considering that every species of business, public or 
 private, contains the same elements and requires the 
 same species of functional agencies, his forces should 
 make provision for all in a suitable manner ; but, that 
 in constructing these forces, he should have regard to 
 the old Constitutional arrangements, avoiding new 
 Offices, and seeking, by the perfection of the arrange- 
 ment of a few great Offices and their subsidiary 
 Departments, to consolidate many minor existing 
 ones, and to lessen the range of uncontrollable 
 jurisdictions which have grown up in consequence of 
 the imperfect development of the elder institutions. 
 
 During the war, and till the accession of William 
 IV, one Commission after another was established to 
 meet each exigency as it arose. 
 
 Since that time, we have been in a State of revo- 
 lution, in which recourse has been had in the hurrv of 
 the conflict to similar expedients. 
 
 We seem now to have a period of repose, in which 
 it remains to perfect the results of the struggles that 
 have taken place, by resorting to principle in the 
 adjustment of the many anomalous Institutions which 
 have sprung up. 
 
 In doing so, it is advisable that Functionaries 
 should not find their condition rendered worse ; but
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. 21 
 
 rather be encouraged, not only by an amnesty for the 
 past, but by assurance of improved condition, to 
 contribute their aid to the fulfdnient of a better plan. 
 By summoning existing Officers to assist the 
 De})artment of the Privy Council in the task of a 
 preliminary Survey and of incidental inquiries, this 
 work might be effected without additional expense. 
 
 Of course, in the progress of consolidation, the 
 plan would be to consolidate, first, those Offices 
 which are engaged in cognate pursuits ; and by- 
 and-by, as their matters become simplified, and as 
 vacancies should occur, to limit the number of Offices 
 by acting still further on the principle of consolidation. 
 
 In perusing the plan, it will be found that many 
 parts consist of mere indications, while others are 
 w^orked out, in perhaps too much detail. Each has 
 had its purpose. I desired to present to you, who 
 discern so easily, the general scheme, with only so 
 much detail here and there as would enable you, 
 without other aid, to conceive how the details of the 
 rest could be filled out with more opportunity, if the 
 plan should be acted upon. 
 
 To do more would have but overlaid the matter ; 
 besides which, the full exposition of it can only be 
 obtained by some actual practical illustration. 
 
 If such a step should be desired, I will cheerfully 
 apply myself to the undertaking. 
 
 In the mean time, the Survey which I have pro- 
 posed, whether carried out to the greatest or least
 
 22 Letter to the 
 
 extent, would prepare the way for a more general 
 measure, either in whole or in parts. 
 
 But I would humbly suggest, that at least the 
 Treasury should never more consent to the establish- 
 mcnt of an Office which is not founded on some 
 principle of amalgamation : and that all Officers 
 entering the service should feel, that in their engage- 
 ments with the Crown, good faith on both sides is the 
 seal of the transaction. 
 
 The distrust in the Public Service, considering the 
 altered relations of the Market of Labour, is leading 
 to mischievous consequences, even in an economical 
 sense, and every now and then deprives the Public 
 of an efficient servant, whose experience cannot be 
 supplied by any substitute. 
 
 Official Organization would lessen the evil ; but 
 that would not be sufficient if it were not sustained, 
 as the Army is, by reliance on the good faith of the 
 Crown in the matter of remuneration and honours. 
 
 In presenting these Papers I may, perhaps, be 
 permitted to disarm, by a few observations, some 
 possible unfavourable inferences, and to indicate 
 some cautions which my suggestions may be thought 
 to need. 
 
 In indicating the necessity for a remedy for the 
 defects of our Official System, I may appear to over- 
 look its excellencies and to impute blame ; but I trust 
 that a perusal of these Papers will refute that supposi- 
 tion.
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. 23 
 
 I have sedulously laboured to do justice to all — to 
 the Public Service and to the Public Servant — to the 
 Minister as the Organ of the State, and to all persons 
 who hold authority or office under him. I am satisiied 
 that efficiency, generously requited, is true economy. 
 I know of thousands wasted for hundreds withheld. 
 During many years I have been a close observer of the 
 inner life of Ministries; and an active advocate of 
 popular views. I have seen the interests of the people 
 sacrihced and the exertions of Ministers thwarted 
 merely by the want of means. 
 
 In considering propositions such as this and the 
 Consolidation of the Law, it is necessary to reflect upon 
 the diffigrence between such comprehensive measures, 
 and the occasional and partial services which constitute 
 ordinary or current business. 
 
 In the latter, we refer to the ordinary rules of 
 action ; in the former, we must mount higher to the 
 principles upon which these ordinary rules of action 
 are founded. 
 
 It follows that the counsels of tliose whose ordinary 
 principle of action is to be found in these rules are not 
 always the counsels to be taken in framJng a compre- 
 hensive measure which is to include these rules and 
 many others, and to adjust them in reference to 
 common principles of higher range. 
 
 At the same time I hold that we are bound to 
 make a new measure not incompatible with existing 
 things, and therefore if any existing practitioner say
 
 24' Letter to the 
 
 that the measure is inapphcablc, occasion will arise for 
 inquiring in what respect it is so inapplicable, and how 
 it may be remedied. 
 
 I do not propose the abolition of a single Office, 
 nor of a single Officer ; but that both Office and 
 Officer should be so placed as to be in direct relation 
 and subordination to their immediate Chief, and to 
 the Common Chief. 
 
 Nor do I propose that these reforms should be 
 adopted hastily, or without consultation with Official 
 Functionaries ; but that by means of a Survey, the 
 state of things should be ascertained, its excellencies 
 adopted, and its imperfections removed by develop- 
 ment, or by consolidation, rather than by reduction 
 or abolition. 
 
 As a matter of State Policy, as well as of Justice, 
 this course of proceeding should be adopted. 
 
 It might be useful to try these suggestions by 
 some of the means v^^hich I have proposed for the 
 trial of others : First, by means of a friendly inter- 
 rogator, who would assist in developing the plan in 
 all its parts ; and, Secondly, by means of an un- 
 friendly one, who would subject it to severer, and 
 even hostile criticism. 
 
 In either case, I should propose that the attention 
 of the interrogator should be called to the main 
 considerations bv suitable instructions, such as the 
 following : —
 
 Chancellor of the En'chcqucr. 25 
 
 You Avill inquire why everything has place in 
 the scheme. 
 
 You will in({uirc why anything, apparently nc- 
 cessarv, is omitted. 
 
 You will inquire the number of Officers at pre- 
 sent employed in the respective services in 
 the same or like employments. 
 
 You will inquire what will be the maximum 
 number required, under the proposed 
 svstem. 
 
 You will inquire the steps proposed to be taken, 
 to bring about the change. 
 In conducting these inquiries, you will interrogate 
 the proposer, and assist him as far as possible to make 
 the system complete — 
 
 By intimating all objections which may be 
 alleged . 
 
 By intimating concurrent or counter methods. 
 
 By pointing out apparent inconsistencies. 
 
 By pointing out omissions. 
 
 You will also, as far as possible, pursue the 
 methods suggested ; and by sitting in the 
 Capacities pointed out, reduce to practice, 
 as far as possible, the methods recom- 
 mended, taking care to record the pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 You will therefore conduct your proceedings as 
 an Office, with the same regularity and 
 method. 
 
 For this purpose —
 
 26 Letter to the 
 
 You y<\\\ prepare or cause to be prepared proper 
 instructions for each Officer, and enjoin each 
 Officer to follow those instructions as closely 
 as possible, yet pointing out at the same 
 time any improvements which may be made 
 thereon. 
 
 In selecting assistants you will be careful to 
 appoint persons who are able to perform 
 their respective tasks, and who are likely to 
 undertake them with zeal and assiduity. 
 
 Before they enter upon their tasks — 
 
 You will request the proposer to state to the 
 persons engaged the objects to be had in 
 view, and the methods to be pursued. 
 
 Considering the magnitude of the object, and the 
 universality of its application, you will probably 
 think it worthy of a more entire development and 
 scrutiny by some such means as that I have indi- 
 cated, and not to be disposed of, as an ordinary matter 
 often necessarily must be, by reference to one or two 
 minds, the usual authorities in such subjects, without 
 an interrogation of their views, and an interrogation 
 of the proposer upon their views. 
 
 I have been compelled to omit the enumeration of 
 Official Objects on account of the elaborateness of that 
 part of the work and the time it would occupy ; and 
 the Official Occasions are less fully and completely
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. 27 
 
 worked out than I had intended ; but the memoranda 
 contained in the latter paper will be sufficient to bring 
 out some special considerations, which would not 
 otherwise occur to ordinary Official Persons. 
 
 I trust that you will consider, that in the brief 
 space of time I have had to work out this exposition, 
 I have done all that the opportunity permitted. 
 ]\Iuch of it is very rough and hasty in expression ; 
 but the views are mature, and are fortified by a 
 lengthened observation and experience, and can be 
 reinforced by special illustrations, and particular 
 grounds and reasons, if it should be thought requisite 
 to call for them. 
 
 1 have the honour to be. 
 
 Sir, 
 Your faithful Servant, 
 
 AETHUR SYMONDS.
 
 OBSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC BUSINESS.
 
 LETTERS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 OBSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC BUSINESS. 
 
 These Letters originally appeared in " The Spectator,'' 
 on the occasion therein referred to, five years ago. 
 The circumstances have not changed in the interval, 
 and the remark are of equal application at the 
 present time. 
 
 Letter I. 
 To the Editor of the Spectator, 
 
 London, 4th April, 1848. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Permit me to mention some of the remoter causes of the 
 mischief to which you referred last week in your article 
 " Government at a stand-still." It appears to me that the 
 matter is of much older date than the present Ministry, and 
 like the couch-weed of deep root and extensive growth ; so 
 deep and extensive as to overcome the individual efforts of 
 every single Member of a Government and paralyze the exer- 
 tions of the whole. I think, however, that with our signally 
 practical people, the points and difficulties require only to be 
 enunciated to secure its aid and concurrence in mitigating or 
 removing the evils in question.
 
 32 Obstruction of Public Business. 
 
 In brief, a main cause of evil is the ivant of Organization 
 of every Department of Public Authority ; by which I mean, 
 according to the established use of the term, the adaj)tation of 
 the parts of the system to their respective purposes, and 
 the combination of those parts so as to produce combined or 
 general action. The evil runs through the Houses of Parlia- 
 ment*, the Privy Council, the principal Departments of 
 State, the subordinate Departments and Offices, the Govern- 
 ments of Colonies, Counties, Boroughs, and other Localities, 
 the Courts of Justice, the Magistracy, and other Inferior 
 Jurisdictions ; and the result is that instead of mutually 
 affording aid and assistance, they are more or less straining 
 each other, if not antagonist ; and the Ministers are compelled 
 to have recourse in preparing their measures to the special 
 and extraordinary aid of persons unused to the task, whose 
 want of familiarity with the merits and defects of the existing 
 state of things frequently leads them to go much further 
 than is necessary, or beside the occasion ; in consequence 
 of which, their labours offer fresh difficulties in consolidating 
 and developing and utilizing the means which we have. 
 
 The want of union produces this further disintegrating 
 effect. The people, for whom the laws are made, discern not 
 the purpose in its relation to their own interests and wants ; 
 and, crying aloud indiscriminatingly at every imperfection 
 and at every hurt occasioned by the working in detail, render 
 it imprudent to attempt amendment at the time of outcry, 
 lest the good as well as the bad should be at once destroyed. 
 Meanwhile, many disinterested persons, better informed, but 
 not conversant with legislation and its incidents, means, and 
 difficulties, forbear to give timely assistance ; leaving the 
 
 * The topic in relation to Parliament was broached in a pamphlet 
 published in 1829, by Mr. Wickens, entitled "The further Division of 
 Labour in Civil Life proposed," also in a pamphlet published in the 
 spring of 1832, entitled "Practical Suggestions for the Internal Reform 
 of the House of Commons ;" by your own elaborate Supplement to the 
 "Spectator" publislied in the same year, entitled "Working of the 
 House of Commons;" and by a variety of publications since that time. 
 On a future occasion, I propose to advert briefly to the topics of those 
 publications.
 
 Ohatvuct am of Public Bimness. 33 
 
 ticld open to special interests, which direct their attacks, with 
 too uniform success, against the Minister, who finds little or 
 no intelligent support in Parliament. 
 
 But although the evil is so great, the remedy is easy ; and 
 the materials for the remedy reside in the system as it is. 
 Every function is provided for somewhere or other : some 
 departments are richly endowed ; others are as deficient : 
 while those which are richlv endowed and those which are 
 deficient, have at the same time the merit of having pro- 
 vision for functions which others have not, and the defect of 
 not having provision for functions which others have. 
 
 By systematically collating a List of the Functions and 
 Functionaries of existing Institutions, whether Superior Au- 
 thority, Parliament, Councils, Principal Officers, Courts of 
 Justice, or Inferior Officers, so as to exhibit them in compa- 
 rison with other Institutions of the same kind, the requisites 
 will be at once disclosed, as w-ell as uU existing means of 
 providing for them. 
 
 Let the Government start w'ith the principle of abolishing 
 nothing, but of combining and reorganizing. Grant an 
 amnesty for the past, and the victims high and low of the 
 present system will concur with the greatest readiness in 
 producing an alteration of circumstances, which make their 
 offices as irksome to themselves as short of good or produc- 
 tive of evil to the public. It will not require months, nor 
 even many blue books to do this eftectually. Let a svstematic 
 outline be framed at head quarters, and let each Department, 
 Court, or Office, be required to make a Return of the means 
 provided for fulfilling the requisite functions in a compact 
 tabular form, omitting details and explanations till they be 
 called for. Let the Ministry, as far as the prerogative will 
 allow (and it will allow much), develop the different Depart- 
 ments, Courts and Offices, giving to each its needful organiza- 
 tion, and ask from the Legislature the necessary powers to 
 supply deficiencies. 
 
 c
 
 34 Ohstniction of Public JBusiitess. 
 
 The Departments of State being well organized, it would 
 no longer be necessary to have Special commissions of Inquiry, 
 or special means of making new laws, or a new office for 
 administering every new law. Every Office M'ould furnish its 
 contingent of Inquiry, of Legislation, and of Administration. 
 Instead of the Isolation of Offices as at present constituted, 
 deprived to a great extent of practical intercourse with each 
 other, with the superior Departments, with the Legislature, 
 and with the Public, the common organization would produce 
 common sympathy, common action, and ready intercourse 
 with all other Institutions and Bodies with which ther^. may 
 be relation. 
 
 The Minister and the Legislature having fulfilled their 
 appropriate function of creating Institutions adequate to the 
 purpose, would be relieved largely of the task of legislating in 
 detail, and would be restored to their proper function of 
 superintending the Administration of Affairs, and providing for 
 new exigencies as they arose.. 
 
 The Institutions being properly constituted, furnished with 
 needful facilities, and subject to proper responsibilities, would 
 be so trustworthy that their action need not be fettered by so 
 much detail. The Laws might become principally the expres- 
 sion of general purposes, which the Functionaries should 
 administer by all usual and necessary means. Nor if the 
 functions were properly distributed would this state of things 
 imply a degree of discretion inconsistent with freedom. The 
 Officers would practically have less arbitrary discretion than 
 they now have, under a system which continually imposes 
 upon the same individual Officer, without appropriate checks, 
 functions of every kind however opposite — legislative, judi- 
 cial, inquisitorial, administrative, ministerial. 
 
 But the greatest advantage of all would be the re-estab- 
 lishing of a common Law as to such matters and enabling the 
 people from one end of the kingdom to the other to know 
 the nature and uses of the different Departments of Govern- 
 ment which are now veiled under the present diversity and
 
 Ohstruction of Puhlia Business. 35 
 
 complication, and thus to avoid the practice often adopted, 
 of (leiiyinii; the means of accomplishing purposes by the want 
 of which tlie pul)lic suffer loss a hundred-fold. 
 
 I have been led to these conclusions by the experience of 
 many years in legislative and official matters under men of 
 every complexion of politics and of cliaracter; all of whom 
 have been baflflcd and defeated by the existing system. 
 
 Your space does not admit of details ; but with your 
 ])crmission I will treat of some parts of the subject more 
 fuUv, yet summarily, in subsequent numbers. 
 
 S. 
 
 [Our Correspondent's qualifications and experience entitle his 
 statements to the utmost attention. But he must permit us to observe, 
 tliat the whole evil lies at the door of The Minister for the time ; The 
 Minister, and he only, has the means of Effectual Organization. — Ed.] 
 
 Letter II. 
 
 London, 10th April, 1S48. 
 Sir, 
 
 In treating of the subject of these letters, it is diffi- 
 cult to give a full idea of the remedy, without entering into 
 details ; and in giving details, to keep within due limits, or 
 to avoid the obscurity which usually attends the attempt to 
 l)c l)ricf. 
 
 The object of my former letter was to show that the 
 Ministry cannot act with effect without organized aid in the 
 subordinate dcjiartments of Government, whether general or 
 local; and without an organized Parliament. And although 
 it must be admitted that the organization must originate 
 with the Minister, yet to accomplish these ends, requiring 
 general concurrence, it was felt that the Government needed 
 
 c 2
 
 36 Obstruction of Public Business. 
 
 the co-operation of the people at large, or, at least, that they 
 should he so instructed in the ends and machinerv of govern- 
 ment, that they might not, hy their prejudices or hy their 
 indifference, interpose an ohstruction or deny their aid to 
 measures calculated to secure those ends in a right manner. 
 
 I shall not at present touch upon this point, which 
 involves more particularly the state of our Local Governments, 
 hut confine myself to the organization of Parhament, and 
 the machinery which the Government possesses, or should 
 possess, for enahling it to present its measures in a shape to 
 encounter the greater activity and keener scrutiny which 
 would result from the organization of Parliament being more 
 perfect. 
 
 In the publications referred to in my last letter, the 
 necessity for a further division of labour in legislative mea- 
 sures was shown by the varied pursuits and occupations of 
 many of the most distinguished Members of Parhament ; 
 and the means of accomplishing that division with more or 
 less effect was also shown. It was recommended that the 
 House of Commons should be divided into some ten Com- 
 mittees of fifty mem1)ers each ; of which Committees five 
 should provide for the local distribution of matters — England, 
 Scotland, Ireland, Colonies, Foreign Affairs ; and five should 
 provide for the subject distribution of matters — as Revenue, 
 Expenditure, Trade, Law, and general matters, Lil)rary, 
 Privileges, &c. : that the House and these Committees 
 should sit on alternate days, by which it was calculated that 
 the time of the House would be extended at least fourfold, 
 (a greater increase being precluded by the occasional neces- 
 sity of two or three Committees meeting in conference on 
 the same measure) ; that the business would be conducted 
 more methodically; that a greater numl)cr of Members could 
 share in useful labours, and tlius be induced to forbear from 
 seeking distinction in much speaking; while the number of 
 the Committees (fifty) would afford a guarantee for a fair and 
 open discussion, and prevent the chance of good measures 
 being frustrated by intrigue and jobbery.
 
 Obstruction of Public Business. 37 
 
 If those General Committees were divided into Special 
 Committees of five, to consider matters of subordinate detail, 
 with power as in the case of the General Committees to 
 communicate with other Special Committees, the fullest 
 provision would be given for delil)cration and for controlling 
 legislation. 
 
 By an arrangement of this nature, Parliament would lose 
 much of its indisposition to entertain matters of recognized 
 defect or grievance, which are now injuriously postponed for 
 years ; and the principles upon which such matters should be 
 conducted would he soon determined, and assume the vulgar 
 but valuable position of common place. Parliamentary In- 
 quiries, Petitions, Bills, Returns, and all such matters, would 
 be, as of course, assigned to the Committee to which their sub- 
 ject should belong; and if the Members and Officers of the 
 Committee should not become full and ready-minded, there 
 would be, at least, in its Library an accessible store of needful 
 information. The important office of Clerk of the Parliaments, 
 which has sunk into a sinecure, if not abolished, should be 
 restored and well organized ; while the corresponding officers 
 of the Clerk-Assistant of the House of Lords and the Clerk 
 of the House of Commons should be furnished with all 
 needful facilities, and as far as it may be necessary organized 
 also ; so that the Crown, the two Houses, and their Com- 
 mittees, should have all availaljle aid. Nor need this be 
 done at once, nor involve extensive arrangements: the better 
 distribution of the business would not only suggest the 
 requisite improvements in the arrangements of the two 
 Houses, already much better manned and organized tlian 
 many Public Departments are, but it would have the imme- 
 diate effect of producing a better distribution of business in 
 the Official Departments, in the higher offices first, and gradu- 
 ally in the inferior ones ; and thus, by bringing the informa- 
 tion in a less crude and undigested state before Parliament, 
 render additional aid unnecessary. 
 
 To enable the Government, however, to cope Mith the 
 mprovcd arrangements, it must be provided with better and
 
 38 Obstruction of Public Business, 
 
 more regular and established means of inquiry, and of pre- 
 paring the details of legislation- This need not involve one 
 farthing additional expense. And it would, if well managed, 
 get rid of that paralysis, the characteristic of modern states- 
 manship, which results from the terror of responsibility, 
 making each Minister feel that he is to be responsible, not 
 only for the principle and purpose of his measures, but for 
 every detail, however minute, and deterring him from en- 
 countering a measure, confessedly necessary, till he is master 
 of details as well as principles. 
 
 Any improvement in this direction can be realized only 
 by the Minister establishing the distinction between what is 
 administrative and what is ministerial ; aided, as above sug- 
 gested, by better provision for inquiry and for preparing the 
 details of legislation. He should require his ministerial 
 officers, upon their responsibility, to suggest the appropriate 
 details, reserving to himself the determination of the principle 
 and policy, and the ultimate decision after open discussion of 
 the fitness of details. This division of duty and responsi- 
 bility should be recognized by Parliament; and it should be 
 made a point of constitutional principle, that as the Sovereign 
 may do nothing without the advice of her Ministers, each 
 Minister, as to matters within his province, shovdd be advised 
 by his princijial subordinates, who should be held responsible 
 for such advice, while the Minister should be at liberty to 
 reject or overrule it. 
 
 Let us suppose that the Minister is provided with a well- 
 constituted Board of Inquiry; and that a matter of public 
 import — such, for instance, as the amendment of the Income 
 Tax — is pressed upon his consideration. lie calls upon the 
 Officers whose duty it is to inquire, to ascertain, with the 
 aid of the principal ministerial Officers of Revenue, the present 
 state of the matter generally, what has been done or proposed 
 before, or elsewhere, Avith the objections that liave beeii 
 made, and to collate the whole, so that all matters which 
 relate to the same subject, however opposite their character, 
 may be brought together ; and also to ascertain all sugges-
 
 Obstruction of Public Business, 39 
 
 tions of remedies and treat them in the same manner, super- 
 adding the pros and cons; suggesting how, if the Minister 
 sliould adopt any suggestion, it should be carried into effect ; 
 and finally, their own recommendations in its behalf. Let 
 this report — made in a settled form, rejecting surplusage, 
 compact and methodical, so as to be at once full and easy of 
 reference — l)e published, and opportunity be given for its 
 discussion in the press, the Minister all the while standing 
 by and quietly forming his opinion, not only of the abstract 
 and official merits of the various views, but of the policy (in the 
 larger sense) of adopting any, and what, and applying tliem 
 in legislation. 
 
 As a further practical test, let him require the Officers 
 charged with the preparation of the details of legislation, to 
 collate the present law in the form of an enactment or digest, 
 to realize in the sliape of a Bill the recommendations of the 
 Orticers of Inquiry, and also, to a greater or less extent, the 
 alternative measures; pointing out what is impracticable, 
 what is difficult, what requires collateral amendment or alter- 
 ation, and if need be pointing out other and better means. 
 Let the Bill so prepared be published and circulated. 
 
 The Minister will then be placed in a much more credit- 
 able position than he is now. Instead of being compromised 
 by imperfect measures, suggested by persons practically 
 irresponsible, often ill-informed, or but partially informed 
 upon the subject matter, his measures will usually be com- 
 prehensive and complete. There Mill be fewer objections ; 
 for one set of objections will be answered by another, or 
 swallowed up by apt and judicious provisions realizing the 
 objects of both. The obvious result would be, that he would 
 seldomcr have to retract or qualify measures alwut which the 
 public expectations have been raised. And if he should, the 
 responsibility would mainly devolve upon his j^rincipal 
 Officers ; while the Public, knowing beforehand all the exi- 
 gencies and difficulties of the case, would l)e less disposed 
 to regard it as his duty to perform impossibilities.
 
 40 Ohstructioii of Puhlic Business. 
 
 Since the restricted discussion of Petitions, the Minister 
 needs these special aids in a greater degree; and he needs 
 them the more for that liis early training has rarely made 
 him conversant with details, which he is apt to despise from 
 his ignorance of their relation to his purpose. 
 
 Some weeks ago, you mentioned a plan of preparing 
 legislative measures, which, in its main features, appears to 
 meet the wants of the case in all its bearings : but, having 
 already reached the limits of the space which you can afford 
 me on tliis occasion, I must forbear from any further state- 
 ments of it.* 
 
 The above arrangements would be attended by these 
 advantages. Parliament would be capable of appreciating 
 measures in detail, and of entertaining them in such manner 
 that the claims of all localities, Imperial, Colonial, Provincial, 
 may be regarded in a fair degree. The work may be so dis- 
 tributed over time, that subjects may not at one period be 
 unduly postponed, and at another be unduly precipitated. 
 Everv question of pubhc import may make a steady progress, 
 from the incipient statement of a defect or grievance, through 
 inquiry and deliberation, till it reach the state of a law. The 
 law may be so matured as to offer the fewest possible hin- 
 drances and difficulties to the people, and to the Officers 
 charged with the administration of it, whether in the Execu- 
 tive Offices or in the Courts of Judicature. And as regards 
 those imperfections which are unavoidable, there would be a 
 fair prospect of importing amendments which experience 
 may suggest, without disturliing the framework of the law, 
 and without introducing inconsistencies calculated to make 
 further occasion to amend it ad infinitum, instead of gradually 
 
 completing and perfecting it. 
 
 S. 
 
 * See articles entitled '• Aids to Correct Lawmaking," in " Spec- 
 tator " of 5th and 2f;th Febraary.
 
 Obstruction of Pahllc Business. 41 
 
 Letter III. 
 
 London, l7th April, 1848. 
 
 SfK, 
 
 Great credit is due to Lord Stanley for the practical 
 steps he has taken to meet a jrcncrally acknowledged evil, 
 the encounter with which everybody has hitherto avoided. 
 He is entitled to the more credit on account of his introduc- 
 tion of the question without party feeling and without party 
 considerations. The subject well deserves a full share of the 
 Session, since all other measures depend upon it for their 
 completeness and for their early success. 
 
 Before the passing of the Reform Act, Reformers were 
 forewarned that the want of organization would offer effec- 
 tive obstruction to the working out of their fair purposes. 
 Every year's experience has justified the prophecy. It is 
 now of paramount importance to meet the difficulty, as 
 regards ])oth the multitude of measures which await the de- 
 termination of the Legislature and the future working of our 
 political system. The vindication of the constitution, in its 
 present form, must be found in the practical results which 
 are realized under it or by its means. And if its basis be 
 extended, as it probably must be sooner or later, the irre- 
 sistible pressure upon existing institutions can only be 
 moderated bv arrangements, which after providing for the 
 reception of complaints shall insure a fair consideration of 
 them. Public men are apt to plead that they make great 
 progress, comparing present results with past ; but though 
 they may thereby rescue tliemselves from an imputation 
 often unjustly cast upon tlicm, it is not the right standard or 
 the standard that will permanently avail. The progress 
 must be measured by the rapidity of their operations com- 
 pared with the demand for exerrion. It is not, however, 
 rapidity tliat is so much required, as a steady onward pro- 
 gress without hesitation or vacillation.
 
 42 Obstritction of Public Business. 
 
 Oil these accounts, I attach much value to the efforts 
 now made by Lord Stanley. Althougli the contemplated 
 results are limited, they are valuable because they involve a 
 distinct recognition of the evil, and because they must 
 eventuate in complete results of the same useful character. 
 
 Lord Stanley proposes to enable either House to defer 
 from one session to the next, measures which have come 
 from the other House, and which for want of time cannot 
 be well considered at once, and in the interval to refer 
 them to a competent legal adviser for his investigation and 
 report. 
 
 These objects are in the right direction ; but the necessity 
 for them would be to a great extent removed, and the end 
 more entirely reached, if the arrangements of the Govern- 
 ment and of the two Houses for inquiry and for legislation 
 were on a proper footing. 
 
 Previous inquiry and systematic legislation, by lessening 
 delay and removing obstructions, would place so much time 
 at the disposal of Parliament — would reduce so far the 
 number of occasions on which it is necessary to withdraw a 
 Bill for amendment — and would establish among Members 
 of Parliament to so much greater extent;,a common under- 
 standing as to the province, objects, and means of legislation 
 — that the distracting pressure which is now felt would in all 
 probability not occur except upon very rare occasions. 
 
 The delays and failures do not, as is commonly sup- 
 posed, arise exclusively or principally from the wording^of 
 measures, but from want of first ascertaining what the law is, 
 what the grievance is, and the collateral as well as the direct 
 matters which, to give effect to the reform, need alteration, 
 or the mutual adaptation of the new and the old. This class 
 of obstruction is to be met by previous inquiry. Delays 
 also arise from the imperfect state of information in the 
 House. Members learn by objection ; and as ill-informed 
 persons often put questions the most puzzling and the least
 
 Ohstniction of Public Business. 43 
 
 susceptible of iiu answer, objection is frequently successful 
 through the mere inability of the Minister to answer it. 
 Systematic reports, founded upon inquiries, is the remedy for 
 this branch of the evil. Moreover, Members are now and 
 then factious. They make untenable objections through 
 wilfulness as well as ignorance. The timely publication of 
 these reports, by creating a consciousness on the part of 
 Members that the public knows that they know the real 
 state of the matter, will get rid of obstruction of this kind. 
 Further, such systematic reports would often render unne- 
 cessary inquiry by either House, or if inquiry must be made, 
 facilitate and limit it; and thus remove another cause of 
 clay. 
 
 The Officers who draw the Bills having assisted in the 
 preparation of such Reports, would be cognizant of their 
 contents. The provisions of the Bills would be full and 
 complete ; and being well considered, the arrangement would 
 be good, for the arrangement depends upon the mastery of 
 the subject ; and the language, for the most part, depends 
 upon the arrangement. 
 
 All this labour should be performed before the Bill is 
 introduced. The Officer to whom Lord Stanley purposes to 
 refer the Bills would have an invidious and hopeless task of 
 it if it were not undertaken, in part at least, till the Bills had 
 passed one of the Houses. If tlie Bills had not been written 
 after some common and well-established method, liis work 
 would be too heavv for him, even if the whole of the recess 
 
 ml ^ 
 
 should be employed upon it : for it would not be sufficient 
 that he should point out inconsistency and error — he should 
 show also by what means it is to be corrected, and tluit in 
 mode and in terms. 
 
 The remedy, too, being confined to one class of Bills 
 only, it would not be co-extensive with the mischief. 
 
 It seems to be necessary that the arrangements should 
 extend to all Bills, both before thev are introduced and 
 during their passage through both Houses of Parliament till 
 they become law, and even when they have become law ; and 
 that to this end the whole force of labourers already at our
 
 44 Obstruction of Puhlic Business. 
 
 command, and engaged in tliis work — the Law- Advisers, the 
 Draftsmen, Index-Makers, Printers, Clerks, should be placed 
 in intercourse, and made to combine their energies in one 
 common scheme of action; a result that may be brought 
 about by the easiest means. 
 
 Let the Law Advisers of the different departments draw 
 or revise the Bills, or the provisions relating to the matters 
 of their own departments, as they do now ; but, instead of 
 rivalling each other in diversity of manner, language, and 
 even of law, let them, by means of a system of indexing, 
 brinfnns: together all matters of the same nature in the manner 
 of a concordance, ascertain in what respects they differ; and 
 let the discrepancies so discovered be referred to a Board of 
 Reference which may consist of some of their number under 
 the presidency of an eminent Lawyer; and let the determina- 
 tion of tliat Board rule the practice, unless the point in 
 question impinge upon matters of policy, in which case the 
 Head of the Department should bring it before his colleagues, 
 who for that purpose, and for the purpose of establishing 
 common views and common action in the different depart- 
 ments of the Government, might constitute a Committee of 
 Privy Council for matters of Law and Legislation. 
 
 If a similar Committee were appointed by each House, 
 we need not doubt that gradually our Laws would attain as 
 much "uniformity in language, in form, in arrangement, 
 and in matter," as is attainable in human productions 
 acted upon by multitudinous assemblies like our Houses 
 of Parliament. 
 
 The Criminal Code, and the budget of Law Measures 
 which have from time to time been recommended by the 
 highest authorities of the Law, might by such means be 
 advanced by regular steps, and by so much relieve ordinary 
 legislation from details with which it is loaded through the 
 imperfection of our general system of law. 
 
 Considering that the remedy for the gigantic evils of
 
 Obstruction of Public Business. 45 
 
 which we are now treatins: is to be obtained without creatinir 
 new offices, but simply l)y giving effect to existing ones — 
 calling upon all ti) assist in the work of legislation, to the 
 extent in all cases of furnishing the needful information, and 
 in some of supplying the provisions of new enactments in 
 detail or consolidating the existing law — I doubt not that 
 every class of statesmen would willingly second any efforts in 
 this direction, of which Lord Stanley's proposition has the; 
 merit of being a first step. 
 
 It is from no disposition to undervalue that effort that I 
 urge the consideration of the whole subject, but because I 
 know that though our public men are sensible of the mischief, 
 they are so distracted by overwhelming engagements that 
 they cannot master the matter ; and not being masters of the 
 matter, they despair of obtaining that concurrence whicli in 
 this country is necessary for any extensive enterprise. It is 
 much to be desired that the opportunity which Lord Stanlcv's 
 energy has created should not be lost ; but that in both 
 Houses the subject will be fully considered, and that the 
 Government will be strengthened by a general expression of 
 opinion in favour of an improvement of the present state of 
 things ; which, in face of the Statute-book — one huge bill of 
 indictment of practical misfeazances on the part of the Legis- 
 lature — it is impossible to justify. 
 
 S.
 
 46 Ohstructioii of Public Business. 
 
 Letter IV. 
 
 London, 24th April, 1848. 
 Sir, 
 
 Li my first letter on tliis subject, I referred generallj^ to 
 the liindrance occasioned to the Government by the want of 
 organization of every department of public authority, and by 
 the want of intelligence on the part of the people as to the 
 nature and uses of the different Departments of Government, 
 which led to unreasonable demands on the one hand, and to 
 unreasonable denials of necessary means on the other ; and I 
 suggested, that by due organization, each Department might 
 furnish its contingent of inquiry, of legislation, and of admi- 
 nistration, without the necessity of having Special Commis- 
 sions, or special means of making new laws, or a new Office 
 for administering every new Law. 
 
 ■ In my second letter, the subject was treated more fully in 
 reference to the two Houses of Parliament and the Officers of 
 the Crown in attendance upon Parliament — the Clerk of the 
 Parliament, the Clerk Assistant of the House of Lords, and 
 the Clerk of the House of Commons ; the distribution of 
 business among Committees of the former, and the organiza- 
 tion of the latter, being recommended. I also pointed out 
 the necessity of enabling the Government to cope with im- 
 proved arrangements by providing them with better, more 
 regular, and established means of inquiry and of preparing the 
 details of legislation ; and I indicated the course of proceed- 
 ing that might generally be adopted on matters of inquiry. 
 
 In my third letter, the mode of constituting and working 
 the subordinate machinery for preparing the details of legis- 
 lation was considered, principally in reference to Lord 
 Stanley's measure ; and it was stated that the remedv for the 
 evils of which we are treating could be obtained without
 
 Ohstniction of Pnhiic JJusiness. 47 
 
 creating new offices, but simply by giving eft'cct to existing 
 ones — calling upon all to assist in the work of legislation to 
 the extent at least of furnishing the needful information. 
 
 It is proposed to confine the present letter to this last 
 point, and to show one class of means by which the respective 
 departments may be made available in aid of a General 
 Board of Inquir)-, so as at once to lighten the labour by 
 dividing it among many, and so as to give the most effectual 
 assistance to Ministers without waiting till the demand for 
 information has become urgent ; and at the same tiuie to 
 improve the efficiency of all the Offices, with due regard to 
 economy. 
 
 Under the present state of things, there is an embarrassing 
 abundance of materials for Legislation and Administration ; 
 there is a multitude of Officers ready and willing to do the 
 work; but, being untrained and undisciplined, more apt to 
 encumber the Minister with their help than to relieve him. 
 The public intelligence, apprized of the existence of evils 
 and the scope of remedies, becomes eager for practical 
 measures ; while official persons, caring about the current 
 business of the day, are not able to avail themselves either 
 of the state of public intelligence or of the information 
 within their own reach. When the inquiry is to be made, 
 the necessary aid is to be called into existence, to be consti- 
 tuted, trained, and put in motion ; the work is to be done at 
 double the expense and with half the efficiency. Tlie method 
 is not only bad but incomplete ; and, after much labour, a 
 mass of crudities is the first result ; and the information is 
 more calculated to suggest doubt and difficulty than to aflbrd 
 the clue to the solution of tlie problems to be solved, much 
 less the foundation of practical legislation. Hence, officials, 
 feeling compelled to reject the measures which their experi- 
 ence shows to be ill adapted for the purpose, and unprepared 
 to substitute more fitting ones, earn unjustly the imputation 
 of resisting improvements. 
 
 These general propositions will find their illustration in
 
 48 Ohstruction of Public Bimness. 
 
 some one instance or more within every one's experience. 
 We all know how many Committees and Commissions have 
 been appointed — how many Reports, Returns, Accounts, 
 Volumes of Statistics, and Indexes, issue annually from tlic 
 Parliamentary Press. In short, there are few questions upon 
 which further inquiry is necessary ; but the information is an 
 undigested heap, which overwhelms and distracts. The pro- 
 secution of further inquiry, without method or design, is calcu- 
 lated to increase the evil — to add to the information without 
 increasing intelligence of the subject. Thus it is that, in 
 spite -of all that has been done, every Minister is lamentably 
 deficient in information available at his moment of need. The 
 multiplicity, the practical worthlessness, and the dispropor- 
 tionate costliness of the Parliamentary Blue Books, has passed 
 into a proverb. The industry of a few erects the fabric whicli 
 is usually suffered to remain a record of misapplied or result- 
 less exertion. This tendency to accumulate materials without 
 practical effect is augmented by the want of Depositors and 
 Depositaries for them. It becomes easier to do anevf what 
 cannot be readily found ; and although everybody is aware of 
 its existence, the easier task is encountered for the nonce, to 
 yield hereafter its contribution to the mass of confusion. 
 
 The solution of this difficulty (as well as of others) is to 
 be found, as was suggested in my first letter, in the general 
 adoption of expedients already in partial use in some of our 
 offices, but it is believed in none of them in an efficient 
 form. I mean, in the present instance, a Library and a 
 Librarian. 
 
 Many Pul)lic Offices are without Libraries ; some have 
 Libraries without Librarians; some have Librarians whose skill 
 is of the slenderest; and where there are Libraries, and even 
 Librarians, the special value is lost in the accumulation of 
 works having no special relation to the purposes of tlie office. 
 The Library often consists of a collection of the Statutes at 
 large, of Parliamentary Publications, of Hansard's Parlia- 
 mentary Debates, files of newspapers and gazettes, with a 
 miscellaneous collection of works of various kinds. But the
 
 Obstruct ion of Public Busineas. 40 
 
 literature of the subject of tlie Department, its history, its 
 topography or its local application, its statistics, its law, and 
 the views, the theories, the complaints promulgated by the 
 Press, find no appointed place. There is nothing deserving 
 the name of a Collection ; and whatever there is, is lost in the 
 undistinguished mass. Indeed, Libraries are of very modern 
 date — that of the House of Commons even is, compa- 
 ratively, but a few years old ; and those of many Public 
 Offices, such as they are, more recent still. 
 
 To make an Official Library available for practical purposes, 
 it should be formed upon the following principles. It should 
 consist almost exclusively of books, maps, and papers, relating 
 to the subjects of the Department. They should be at hand, 
 classed and ready for use. All the material that is likely to be 
 required should be there, but unencumliered with Avorks of 
 an irrelevant nature. Instead of the Statutes at Large, let 
 the Statutes relating to the Affairs of the Department be 
 separated from the rest. Let the same rule be observed with 
 Hansard's Debates, with the Parliamentary Papers, with 
 Law-books. Let the Library be a perfect impregnation of the 
 subject. If it be necessary to have books of reference of a 
 general kind, let them be placed aside. Let all works on the 
 subject of the Department be procured as they are published ; 
 and it would not be amiss to make a collection of old 
 ])amphlets and books of a former day which are necessar)'' to 
 illustrate the Debates of Parliament, formal State Papers, 
 the Statutes, and the Decisions of the Courts. 
 
 Practical men of business will say that this is all unne- 
 cessary for the business of the day ; but the Statesman will 
 hold different language. It is all very well to adhere to 
 current practice to discharge promptly tlie matters which 
 press for execution; but the Legislator and the Administrator 
 must take a higher and wider range of view: they must be 
 informed even of the notions which have existence in the 
 Press, for in a notion just started may be discerned the germ 
 of a theory that will ]-)revail; and they may find in the 
 
 D
 
 50 Ohstruction of Piiblic Business. 
 
 history of the past an explanation of the present; their 
 motto shoukl be " Respice, circumspice, aspice, et prospice ;" 
 and though they must needs act in accordance with the 
 principles and feeUngs that prevail in their time, it should 
 be with such reference to the probabilities and even the 
 possibilities of the future, that their present measure may 
 not encounter overthrow by the force of an unexpected 
 check. Above all, while they should use their subordinates 
 as instruments, they should not be hindered by them ; and 
 that this may not be so, it is necessary that their subordinates 
 should in some degree be imbued with, or at least should 
 appreciate, the spirit by which the Statesman should be 
 governed. 
 
 For this reason, among others, the formation of a Library 
 is important in reference to the humbler Official Agencies. 
 The selection of the proper matter for the business of the 
 Office is an excellent discipline to the Librarian ; who should 
 not only catalogue the contents of his Library, but to a greater 
 or less extent index them. The habit of meeting calls for 
 information on every occasion would give him a ready 
 intelligence which would distinguish him from a mere 
 bookworm. 
 
 If the Librarians and Statists of the different Departments 
 were to be collected in a similar manner to that suggested 
 for the Law Advisers, with a Library and other resources in 
 common, they might avoid travelling over common ground, 
 and by their mutual advice and assistance render not only 
 the general results but their processes more complete and 
 more economical. 
 
 The general Library might consist of general collections, 
 such as the Statutes at large, the Parliamentary Debates, 
 General Indexes and Catalogues — in short, of the materials 
 out of which the special collections are made, bearing to the 
 special collections the same relation as the journal bears to 
 the ledger in account-keeping. The arrangement of the
 
 Ohstrnction of Pvhlic Bminess. 51 
 
 General Library would probably be historical ; bringing toge- 
 ther all matters which occurred about the same time. It is 
 obvious, tliat by such combined arrangements the state of 
 the subject and its relation to otlicr matters would usually 
 be indicated fulh% and point the way to future inquiry. The 
 task of collecting would not only accomplish this result, but 
 train a body of inquirers and practical legislators ; while for 
 the ordinary execution and administration of affairs, this 
 information and this skill would have many uses and many 
 good effects, which it is unnecessary to particularize more 
 minutely than by stating that they would be the opposite 
 of those effects which are to be deprecated in the present 
 system. 
 
 In the limited space that you can afford me, I am com- 
 pelled to state general results — it is impossible to specify 
 details; but I should add some remarks upon important 
 objects of this the Information Department of the Public 
 Service, which has been so grievously neglected till of late 
 years. 
 
 Maps are of very recent use in some of the principal 
 offices ; and some of the inferior offices are wholly without 
 them. From the want of maps indicating localities, the 
 strangest mistakes are made in legislation. New districts 
 are made for new laws without adequate cause, and even 
 without reference to the districts which exist for other pur- 
 poses. This gives rise to conflict of jurisdiction, and to the 
 omission of places from the operation of the law. 
 
 Statistics, too, from not being based on the distribution 
 of matters in given districts, become a medley of inapphcable 
 numbers instead of intelligible statement, and, it is to be 
 feared, instruments of one-sided exaggerations. If syste- 
 matically collected, they would be less expensive, less trou- 
 blesome, and more trustworthy than returns usually are. 
 
 The Press teems with instances of the failure or supposed 
 
 d2
 
 52 Obstruction of Public Business, 
 
 failure of our Laws, and with illustrations of their actual 
 working. It would be of inestimable value to collect these 
 as they occur. 
 
 The same remark applies to cases which occur in the 
 Courts. The systematic collection of such matters would 
 obviate the necessity of getting up evidence, and supply 
 much more trustworthy material for legislation. Let the 
 newspapers which are bought for official use be turned to 
 this account, and let such materials be from time to time 
 reduced into a summary report for the service of the principal 
 Officers of Government. 
 
 But apart from, or rather in aid of, the purposes of 
 inquiry, of legislation, and of administration, the Libraries of 
 Public Departments might be made serviceable for public 
 instruction. It is of little use for the Government to have 
 information which the Public have not: the measures 
 founded upon it will appear to be beyond or short of the 
 occasion, and be regarded, on that account, as objectionable. 
 On the other hand, it is of dangerous consequence that the 
 Public should be affected by facts and by views of which the 
 Government are practically not cognizant, from not having 
 those facts and those views present to their minds : it is of 
 importance, therefore, that they should be systematically 
 informed of such facts and views; but, inasmuch as the 
 Government, pressed upon by the affairs of the day, cannot 
 attend to such matters piecemeal, they should be collected, — 
 which, apart from considerations of convenience, is the better 
 form of having them brought to the mind for purposes of 
 general legislation and general administration. 
 
 On these accounts, it appears to be desirable that the 
 Libraries of the Public Departments should, under suitable 
 regulations, ha open to the Public, as the British Museum is. 
 Public Writers would be enabled to find ampler material not 
 only in an authentic but in a ready form, and be rescued 
 from what the "Standard" some vears ago described as
 
 Ohstructioii of Public Business. 53 
 
 " the wicked want of a topic/' — engendering smart writing 
 and reckless declamation, at the expense of more sedate and 
 sober treatment. 
 
 S. 
 
 Letter Y 
 
 London, 1st May, 1848. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I am anxious that it sliould not be understood that I 
 recommend Organization, however perfect, in substitution of 
 the higher intellectual action, and of the freedom of spirit 
 and of sentiment, that leaven the material tendencies of the 
 practical business-like people of this country. In dwelKng 
 upon a subject for any length of time, it is almost impossible 
 to avoid leaving the impression that one is recommending a 
 panacea— something which is to supply the place of every- 
 thing else. This correspondence originated in your article 
 " Government at a stand-still ;" and began with an endeavour 
 to point out, that a main cause of hindrance to the action of 
 statesmanship in this country was the want of organization 
 of every department of public authority. The supposition 
 of means presupposed the existence of the object. Other 
 sources of evil might exist : the want of entire correspond- 
 ence of feelino- between the Parliament and the nation at 
 large or of some sections of it— the ignorance, the inca- 
 pacity, the indolence of some of our public men— the true 
 or false principles which prevail — might form topics of 
 remark, but were not referred to as part of my subject. I 
 assumed that we have the best, or that if the best does not 
 prevail under the present system, it would have play under 
 an improved organization ; which implies that not one or a 
 few qualities are given effect to, but all, and that the better 
 qualities and the better principles, in proportion as they 
 should be reahzed in practice, would vindicate their claim to 
 have a foremost place. So it is, under the presen system.
 
 54 Obstruction of Public Business. 
 
 matters improve, but slowly. The object is to substitute for 
 mobbish, irregular, and disorderly efforts, combined and 
 disciplined action, directed by the highest statesmanship^ 
 informed by apt learning and knowledge, and animated not 
 by a pedantic, but by a humane and philosophical spirit. 
 
 Intellectual persons are apt to undervalue the means by 
 which their aspirations are wrought out. They do not 
 willingly recognize that the genius of the Poet, the wisdom 
 of the Legislator, the learning of the Student, like the powers 
 of Gunpowder, of Steam, and of Gas, effect nothing but by 
 physical means, and that their results have always been in 
 the proportion of the facilities which those means have 
 afforded. 
 
 That from time to time the means have overlaid the ends, 
 may be true ; but this does not suggest the abandonment of 
 the means, but the counteraction of those tendencies which 
 in their excess produce such results. 
 
 In a country where there is no Parliament, and no Press, 
 the Bureaucracy rules and restricts everything within its own 
 bounds ; and if there were a Parliament without a Press, its 
 authority would be scarcely less ; but with a Parliament and 
 a Press we need not fear the supremacy of the Official System; 
 and our aim should be to put it upon so complete a footing 
 that it should become an effective aid and ally, and not, as it 
 often is now, a costly hindrance. 
 
 In the recommendations which I offered in ray last letter, 
 I suggested means of insuring the intelligence of the Public 
 Officers, and applying that intelligence to the service of the 
 Minister and of the Public. 
 
 With this saving recollection of the ultimate ends and 
 objects of my present efforts to secure attention to the 
 machinery of statesmanship, I will pass on to another field 
 for improvement : I mean the Judicatures. For the present
 
 Ohstruction of Puhlic Businesfi. 05 
 
 I will say nothing of the constituents of our Courts, how 
 few of the requisite facilities our Judges have ; how imper- 
 feet are the distribution of the subject matters of juris- 
 diction among the Judges ; how imperfect the distribution of 
 business over time ; how great the deficiency of means to 
 ascertain the statistics of the operation of the Courts, and of 
 insuring that things appointed to be done are in fact done; 
 how great the fetters of form, how small the utility ; nor 
 shall I refer, but by way of passing remark, to the almost 
 total absence of means, in the shape of an appropriate staff 
 of officers, to enable the Judges to perform their adminis- 
 trative duties. My present position is, that the Legislature 
 and Judicatures have no intercourse with nor direct relation 
 to each other ; that they act not concurrently, but antagonis- 
 tically; that it is one of the pleasures of Westminster Hall 
 to dwell upon the sins and follies of St. Stephen's Chapel, 
 without rendering much, if any, assistance to do better ; in 
 short, instead of proceeding upon the same general prin- 
 ciples, the one being a realizer or applier of the work of the 
 other, two separate sets of principles are in constant action ; 
 and the Courts too frequently take the attitude of perverse 
 critics of the work of the Legislature. It is impossible to 
 deny that some hesitation and even repugnance is allowable. 
 If the Legislature will transmit to the Courts puzzles to be 
 solved, instead of plain directions, a degree of banter or of 
 sarcasm may be natural, although not altogether seemly. It 
 is an evil of great magnitude, since it is calculated to weaken 
 authority by exciting contempt. 
 
 By the establishment of a Minister having cognizance of 
 matters of Law and Justice, who might preside over the 
 Committee of Privy Council for Law and Legislation, re- 
 ferred to in a former letter, the deficiency would be in a 
 degree supplied. 
 
 But the Minister, coming to a task so long neglected, 
 must not encounter with the natural difficulties of his subject, 
 the total want of systematic organization of the Judicatures.
 
 56 Ohstruction of Public Business* 
 
 It would be at least desirable, that the difficulties which are 
 experienced in the course of the practice of the Courts 
 should be noted, not in an angry or jocose manner by the 
 Bench, to be echoed by the Bar, but by an appointed Re- 
 porter. By contributing their experience of the miscarriages 
 of legislation in a decorous manner, the Judges might assist 
 in preventing a recurrence of those miscarriages, without 
 mingling the functions of Judge with those of Legislator. 
 By dividing this labour of reporting upon difficulties and 
 miscarriages, among several Reporters ,having charge of 
 different ranges of law and practice, those Officers w^ould 
 become so impregnated with the specialties of their respective 
 matters, as to offer the fittest means of keeping Legislation 
 in harmony with the principles that prevail in the Judi- 
 catures, so far as it is desiral)le to maintain that harmony. 
 They might form a part of the College of Legal Officers 
 appointed to assist in the preparation, and revision, and 
 recordins: of le2;islative measures. If all Judicatures — the 
 House of Lords, the Privy Council, the Court of Chancery, 
 the Courts of Law in England, Scotland, and Ireland — 
 furnished members to this College : and if the respective 
 members appointed to report the same matter, were instructed 
 to meet together, and make a joint report on it, — say it is 
 some branch of jurisdiction, of doctrine, of pleading, of 
 ev-idence, of form, or of procedure, — the common action 
 would elicit common principles, and gradually place us, in 
 that respect, upon a level with foreign Jurists, and possibly, 
 owing to our more practical habits, upon a higher level — 
 that of principle aptly realized by practice. 
 
 In these suggestions we speak of those things which are 
 within reach — of what might be at once done with the means 
 at our conmiand ; but there can be no doubt that for ren- 
 dering the administration of justice through all its stages 
 effective, we need a Law University, or some equivalent. 
 This is not only a necessary accompaniment of a Code or a 
 general Consolidation of the Law, but probably the means by 
 which it is to be effected as well as secured. Let it be a
 
 Obstruction of Public Business. .07 
 
 condition of participation in the magnificent treasure assigned 
 to the administration of justice, — to the ample emoluments 
 and honours of the Chancellorship and other judicial offices, 
 to the lesser hut no less ample emoluments and honours 
 assigned to the inferior legal offices, which abound in our 
 system,- — that no one shall be eligible unless he shall have 
 served for a given period in the Law University, actually 
 taking some part in the duty of reporting, of digesting, of 
 writing, of revising, of recording, of commenting upon our 
 laws. Substitute such a simple, and to the nation and to the 
 individual profitable rule, for the absurd one of eating so 
 many dinners, and so called practising so many years. Such 
 a condition fulfils all the requisites. It could not be per- 
 formed without insuring in some degree the qualification 
 which it is intended to provide. The Judge, the Counsel, the 
 Practitioner, will have had the same training, in addition to 
 such as the peculiar functions of their branch of the profes- 
 sion may require. The Student, in assisting in making the 
 necessary additions or alterations of the general law, will 
 learn it in its present state. The Judge, Counsel, or Prac- 
 titioner, on learning the alterations and additions, will not 
 have to learn new principles and new systems. The mul- 
 titude of members will not only admit of, but require tlie 
 best organization. The dogmatic form of teaching will not 
 prevail exclusively. In recording additions, the past will be 
 learnt, with an ever accruing present developing and illus- 
 trating the old. And not only may the best organization be 
 obtained by this means, but it may be obtained by little or 
 no expense to the state. 
 
 I must not in this paper venture upon the detail of the 
 means by which our legislative and legal systems may be 
 thus regenerated and developed. It is sufficient to add, for 
 the present, that the feeling in favour of a Law University, 
 either through a union of the present Inns of Court or bv an 
 independent institution, is becoming general among all classes 
 of lawyers. They find in the present pressure of business an 
 absolute need for laying a good foundation of positive acquire-
 
 58 Ohstruction ofPuhlic Business, 
 
 ment, which cannot be supplied in after hfe; and of allaying or 
 regulating that pruriency of indefinite and inapplicable legis- 
 lation which makes it necessary that they should go to school 
 again to learn the new systems and new practices annually 
 propounded by our Legislature, without thought of the past, 
 of what they are doing in other directions, and of the prac- 
 tical results of the combination of the whole. 
 
 It would not be difficult to show that by the present state 
 of things the national expenditure is very much increased in 
 all the Departments of the State, and the general taxation of 
 the Public, in an indirect as well as a direct form, much aug- 
 mented without corresponding benefit to any class whatever. 
 But I must conclude. 
 
 S.
 
 V 
 
 OFFICIAL SURVEY.
 
 f;i 
 
 Suggestions for carryinq out an Official Survey, with a, 
 view to ascertain the State and Condition of the 
 Official Departments, and the means of rendering 
 them more efficient and complete. 
 
 I. — That a Survey be made of all Departments, Offices, 
 and Institutions, by means of a Return of the Officers 
 of which they consist, to be made in a tabular manner, 
 somewhat after that of the annexed Table. See pp. 
 63, 64. 
 
 II. — That the Heads of the Office be requested to estimate 
 the proportion of time, on the average, during which 
 each Officer is engaged on the respective functions 
 that he performs. 
 
 III. — That the amount of time so employed, with the 
 Salaries corresponding to such proportion of time, 
 be placed opposite the Office or Function (according 
 to the annexed Table).* 
 
 IV. — That for the purpose of forming the foundation of 
 the future regulation, adjustment, and consolidation 
 of Offices, a Return be made under the following 
 heads : 
 
 • Same Tabic as No. 1, with tlio sum brought out in opposite columns.
 
 62 Official Survey. 
 
 NAME OF DEPARTMENX 
 
 I. The Agenda and the Appropriate Quali- 
 fications NECESSARY FOR THEIR EXECUTION. 
 
 II. The Officers and their Relation to the 
 Institution. 
 
 III. The Acts and Attendances of those Officers. 
 
 IV. The Hindrances to which they are Sub- 
 
 ject, and the Facilities which they need. 
 
 V. Their Remuneration and their Responsibi- 
 lities. 
 
 VI. Their Estates, Properties, Revenues, Grants, 
 Fees, &c., and their Expenditure. 
 
 VII. The Laws and Decisions relating to their 
 Offices. 
 
 VIII. The Records, Memorials, and Publications 
 relating to them. 
 
 IX. The Matters in Controversy relating to 
 their Offices, and Measures resorted to 
 
 FOR determining THEM. 
 
 X. Miscellanea which will not fall under 
 
 THE foregoing HEADS. 
 
 These heads are so arranged, that if it should be thought 
 inconvenient to undertake the whole extent of the 
 Survey at once, selections may be made of parts, and 
 it will be found that each part is calculated to develop 
 in important particulars the present state of our 
 Official System, and its means of improvement.
 
 Official Survey. 63 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 Office as it is. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President or Chief and Members. 
 
 Executive Officers. 
 
 Clerks, Book-keepers, &c. 
 
 Special Clerks. 
 
 Household and Attendants. 
 
 Total Number of Officers. 
 
 [Insert the Names in the placeSj according to the present arrangement.]
 
 64 Official Survey. 
 
 TABLE II. 
 
 Office as it is Proposku to be. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President or Chief. 
 
 Members. 
 
 Staff. 
 
 [Name of OfHcer.] 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 
 Referees. 
 
 Office Clerks. 
 
 Special Clerks, 
 
 Accountant and Registering Clerks. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants and Household- 
 
 Total Number of Officers. 
 
 [Insert Names according to the Functions fuliillcd.]
 
 Official Survey. G5 
 
 GENERAL NOTES, 
 Explanatory of Tables Nos. i. and ir. 
 
 Headship. 
 
 Membership. 
 
 Officersliip. 
 
 Clerkship. 
 
 Special Clerks, 
 
 Accountants and Statistical Clerks. 
 
 Mechanical Agents. 
 
 Attendants and Household. 
 
 Give Instructions under these heads as io the manner ut 
 which the Tables are to be filled up. The distribution should 
 correspond, as nearly as possible, with the proposed Organi- 
 zation, except so far as a different arrangement has been 
 established.
 
 66 Official Survey. 
 
 [As a matter of prudence, the Survey should precede the 
 Report of any precise Scheme of Organization. No individual 
 could reach all the objects and occasions of Official Organiza- 
 tion. If, therefore, any oae were bold enough to propound 
 an entire plan, he would be assailed on all sides by objections, 
 which, though capable of being met by the proper develop- 
 ment and adjustment of the plan, would discredit and dis- 
 courage his labours, and excite a degree of prejudice unfavor- 
 able to the adoption of the results. By making a Survey, 
 especially in the manner proposed, the very officers them- 
 selves would give the materials to be compiled, and would 
 themselves suggest the deficiencies and means of obviating 
 them. It should be understood that no man's position should 
 be made worse, but rather better. The profit to the public 
 should be sought in the greater efficiency of Ministers of 
 State, in the economy of expenditure indirectly produced, 
 and in the solution of so many questions which embarrass 
 affairs, and practically injure the Constitution by weakening 
 faith in its legitimate action, and exciting the demand for 
 larger changes than would be otherwise requisite or even 
 thought of. 
 
 The object of the second and third recommendations is to 
 show, by a comparison of the present Offices with the pro- 
 posed ameliorations, that the improvement will not involve 
 more cost to the State ; that it will be simply a new 
 Distribution of Force.]
 
 Official Survey. (17 
 
 LIST OF TIIF. DErARTMENTS AND OFFICES 
 
 (with TIIEIIl CO.XSTITUENT OfFICES AND DEPARTMENTS) 
 
 TAKEN COLLECTIVELY. 
 
 Tliis List is a necessary prelude to a Survey, and the foun- 
 dation of it. It may easily be formed from the Red 
 Book; but from new jurisdictions being incorporated 
 by the Legislature in existing Offices, the List will not 
 be correct if the popular designation be always 
 adhered to. 
 
 On this account it is desirable that the Officers charsed 
 with the superintendence of this Survey should com- 
 municate in the first instance with each Office, for 
 the purpose of obtaining correct particulars. 
 
 Name of Department. 
 
 Name of Office. 
 
 Name of Department of Office. 
 
 Name of Officer. 
 
 Name of Assistant. 
 
 Agenda. 
 L Principal Object, with its Secondary and Subor- 
 dinate Objects. 
 
 II. Principal Object (as before). 
 
 III. Principal Object (as before). 
 
 Let each Principal Object and subject-matter of jurisdic- 
 tion be distinctly stated as above, although they may 
 be executed by the same machinery. 
 
 It is needful to exhibit collectively the Objects which are 
 placed in the same Office, that the scope of its juris- 
 diction may be shown. If it should be mingled with 
 the following Table, the larger considerations involved 
 
 E 2
 
 68 Official Svrvci/. 
 
 in the displaoement of jurisdictions would be con- 
 cealed in the detail, which is unfortunately the too 
 frequent characteristic both of our Administration and 
 of our Legislation. Some Offices have every species 
 of matter under their cognizance with a manifest 
 defect of means and result. The statement of such 
 things would at once mark where there should be 
 separation, where union or combination, and, perhaps, 
 consolidation or amalgamation. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 
 Agenda. 
 (Under each principal Object.) 
 
 Principal Agenda or Duties : 
 with its 
 
 Secondary Agenda, or duties ; 
 with its 
 
 Subordinate Agenda or Duties. 
 
 These Agenda include all practical details, from the highest 
 to the lowest, placed one under another in distinct 
 enumeration, so that they may not be confounded 
 with one another, and so that the incidents of each 
 may, if necessary, be marked. This Table will form an 
 useful basis for many of the Tables which are men- 
 tioned hereafter. 
 
 Results similar to those mentioned in the case of the 
 Objects of our Offices will follow from this distinct 
 enumeration. The nature of Official Duty, the incom- 
 pleteness with which in many cases it is performed, or 
 provided for, and the want of facilities under which 
 our inferior Officers sometimes labour, will become 
 apparent.
 
 OJicial Survey. 
 
 %d 
 
 
 Name 
 
 of Department, 
 Agenda. 
 
 &c. 
 
 To 
 To 
 
 Administrative. 
 
 
 To 
 To 
 
 ectory or Official. 
 
 To 
 To 
 
 Inquisitorial. 
 
 
 To 
 To 
 
 Special, 
 
 To 
 To 
 
 Legislative. 
 
 
 To 
 To 
 
 Local. 
 
 To 
 To 
 
 Judicial. 
 
 
 Superintendence and Conirol. 
 To 
 To 
 
 To 
 To 
 
 Financial. 
 
 
 Registration, Record, and 
 Publication. 
 To 
 To 
 
 It is important to distinguish tlic Agenda according to 
 the nature of the functions engaged in their performance, in 
 order that it may be ascertained whether any portion of such 
 Agenda may not be referred, with similar Agenda, to some 
 body more fitly constituted to entertain it, and also to 
 ascertain (if such Agenda be retained) whether the Officers 
 and arrangements are on such a footing as to provide for its 
 fair performance in due season. Indications of the nature 
 of the Agenda and of the functions are given in other parts 
 of this communication, and might without difficulty be em- 
 bodied in the form of instructions for the guidance of th e 
 Officers in making the returns. 
 
 Each of the above heads might in the case of a very 
 extensive Office be made separate Tables, but it is 
 better to show the wliole together, that the extent to 
 which incompatible functions are accumulated in the 
 same hands mav be made clear,
 
 70 Ofivial Sarveij. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 Agenda and Qualifications. 
 
 The matter involved in this Section is the correlative of 
 examination and of reramieration, and a primary essential 
 in Official Organization. 
 
 It is astonishing how much friction is occasioned in 
 public offices by a disregard of the personal and professional 
 qualifications. Excellent people are put in false positions, 
 and practically incapacitated by the admixture of functions 
 for which they are not fitted. A person of muscular system 
 is put to an occupation requiring thought and reflection, and 
 a nervous person to one requiring physical more than intel- 
 lectual habit. The reflective is put to the work of the 
 active, and the active to the work of the reflective ; and each 
 feeling conscious of ability, and of his desire to act to the best 
 of it, and, unconscious of his inability in some directions, 
 feels asfo-rieved at what he rerards as the undue claim on 
 his exertions. By requiring that work be done according to 
 instructions, and by making the payment dependent on the 
 execution of it, in compliance with those instructions, a 
 good deal of this class of difficulty would be obviated. The 
 Officer would soon learn the extent of his own capacity, and 
 would lend assistance to arrangements calculated to remove 
 the hindrances to which he is subject, and to supply the 
 facilities which he needs. It should be the office of the 
 Treasurer to assess a scale of remuneration for the items of 
 service involved in the greater service constituting the func- 
 tion, which would teach when, and where, and how, assist- 
 ance might be obtained, and facilitate its attainment. By 
 associating with a person of reflective ability, one of active 
 habits and one of a mixed character, there would follow an 
 harmonious exertion, and the further practical result of a 
 large augmentation of steady and eff'ectual work.
 
 Offivlal Harvey. 71 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 
 Agenda and Officers' Assistants. 
 
 Aiienda and Instruments or Documents. 
 
 Agenda and Occasions. 
 
 Agenda and Time Occupied. 
 
 Agenda and Remuneration, 
 
 Agenda and Implements. 
 
 Agenda and Place of Action. 
 
 Agenda and Procedure. 
 
 Agenda and Process. 
 
 Each of these Tables has its use in bringing out the prac- 
 tical working of the Offices, and the occasion for the 
 respective functions and agencies recommended in 
 the accompanying papers. 
 
 The extent of the Establishment, the nature of the aid, the 
 distribution of the functions, the ordering of tlic pro- 
 cedure, and the distribution of the work over time 
 and over persons, the adjustment of the remuneration, 
 the arrangement of many bye matters will be depen- 
 dent upon the matters involved in these Tables. 
 They will be useful for discipline ; they will not be 
 less useful in the fair adjustment of the claims of the 
 Officers, and in enabling the authorities to remodel 
 and arrange the Offices, so as at once to do justice to 
 the public and the public servants on assignable prin- 
 ciples, appreciable by all persons.
 
 72 
 
 OJicial Sarveij. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 Acts axd Attendances. 
 
 Part I. 
 Acts performed. When and where. 
 
 Part II. 
 Acts pendhig. 
 
 Acts in arrear. 
 
 When introduced. 
 When due. 
 
 Part III. 
 
 Calendar Table showing attendances throughout the year. 
 
 Part IV. 
 Monthly Summary of Acts and Fees in respect thereof. 
 Tvlonthly Summary of Attendances and Fees in respect 
 thereof. 
 
 Or, where such Acts or attendances are not paid by Fees 
 but by a Salary, the proportion of Salary that may fairly be 
 assigned thereto. 
 
 Remuneration should be dependent partly on acts and 
 partly on attendance, and to that end tliese Tal)les 
 would be useful. But their especial purpose is to 
 brin"" out the distribution of work over time, and to 
 show the eftects of a l^etter organization, and that it 
 would not increase either the force or the expense. 
 It would show where Offices fail from want of force, 
 where from want of organization. It would show, 
 too, how time may be better economised, and prompti- 
 tude be obtained, without undue pressure upon any 
 member of the Official body.
 
 Official /V«/Tey. 73 
 
 Nr.me of Department, &c. 
 Hindrances to which srujKCT. 
 
 [These Hindrances are usually — 
 
 1. The State of the Law under which the Office acts. 
 
 2. The Inaccessil)ility of the Legislature. 
 
 3. The Inaccessibility of the .Judicatures. 
 
 4. The Liaccessibility of the higher Administrative 
 
 Dej)artments. 
 
 5. The Inaccessibility of Officers in communication.] 
 
 Many other Hindrances might be particularized, such as. — 
 
 A want of the proper means of enabling a Chief to execute 
 his various functions of administration, of inquiry, of 
 registration, of financial control, of official direction, 
 of a special nature, of a local nature, of superintendence 
 and control, and of registration and record. 
 
 A want of gradation of skill to meet the exigencies of the 
 Chief. 
 
 A want of the proper means of ensuring the separate 
 purposes of distinctive jurisdictions of a different 
 nature, placed in the same hands. 
 
 A want of proper means of ensuring the conservation of 
 institutions, and of the public interests. 
 
 A want of the proper means of eliciting all the considera- 
 tions involved in a matter of administration. 
 
 A want of homogeneousness in Offices, &c., to enable a 
 person who has filled a place in one from applying his 
 skill and experience in another. 
 
 A want of instruction and training, to enable the inferior 
 Officer to become qualified for higher position, and to 
 give full assistance to his superior. 
 
 A want of the proper means of obtaining, for the Legisla- 
 ture, the Administrative Departments and the Tri- 
 bunals, the necessary scientitic, aiul ])rofessional, and 
 practical aid, not of an oflicial character, in a manner 
 to be available.
 
 4 Official Surveij. 
 
 A want of proper means of observation and of inquiry, and 
 of determining matters (in controversy) of a public 
 nature. 
 
 A vrant of means of ol)taining and collecting information 
 and intelliirence as to the matters of the Office which 
 may occur or exist elsewhere. 
 
 A want of means to execute those works of legislation or 
 improvement which are necessary to facilitate the 
 business of the Office. 
 
 A u'ant of proper intercourse with Offices connected with 
 the same branch of Administration, or executing 
 simJlar functions. 
 
 A want of proper means of making legislative inquiries and 
 framinor lesjislative instruments. 
 
 A want of means to obtain the adjudication of doubtful 
 questions ; and of preparing matters for judicial con- 
 sideration. 
 
 A want of proper means in inferior jurisdictions, to insure 
 the full performance of all the acts necessary to a 
 judicial conclusion. 
 
 A want of the proper means of ascertaining whether the 
 work of an Office is commensurate with its establish- 
 ment. 
 
 A M-ant of the proper means to assess the rewards of 
 service, both ordinary and special. 
 
 A want of proper means to incur special expenditure for 
 proper objects, essential to the Avell-doing of an 
 institution, and the success of its object. 
 
 A want of similarity of constitution, whereby the amalga- 
 mation or consolidation of Officers is hindered. 
 
 A want of means to encourage and reward the efficient 
 service of the Officers, especially for services of a 
 special nature. 
 
 A want of the proper means of constituting a Board, and 
 ensuring its due action, without undue controversy 
 and difficulty. 
 
 A want of the proper means of preparing official matters 
 for the Chief or Board.
 
 Ofwial Siu'ccii. 75 
 
 A want of proper responsibility of Offices in relation to 
 their special expenditure. 
 
 A want of means of internal audit in each Office. 
 
 A want of proper means to economize the space of official 
 houses. 
 
 A want of proper intercourse witli the mechanical aids of 
 Printing and Stationery. 
 
 A want of means to obtain refreshments during or after the 
 hours of business, when engaged in the performance 
 of official duty. 
 
 A want of proper means to secure the continuity of 
 service. 
 
 A want of proper means to secure the continuity of suc- 
 cession in offices. 
 
 A want of gradation of service, whereby promotion may be 
 gradually made from the lowest office to the highest. 
 
 A want of the means of providing for the timely retirement 
 of superiinuated persons. 
 
 A want of the proper means of importing from one service 
 to another, persons qualified to render useful public 
 service. 
 
 A want of proper means to obtain supernumerary aid, in 
 case of occasional pressure of business. 
 
 A want of proper means of adjusting the vacations and 
 absences of members and officers, for the purposes of 
 health and business. 
 
 A want of the projier means of ensuring the due promo- 
 tion of qualified public officers. 
 
 A want of the proper means to o1)tain special aid for mat- 
 ters of an extraordinary nature. 
 
 A want of proper means to ensure the proper distribution 
 of business over time : and the economical application 
 of the time and resources of the office. 
 A want of proper means to ensure the constant and 
 regular progress of matters referred to Commissions 
 and Offices. 
 A want of proper means of ensuring to the Chief a full 
 knowledge of the matters of his administration without
 
 76 Official Surcetj. 
 
 undue labour and difficulty, or risk of misrepresenta- 
 tion, intentional or unintentional. 
 
 A want of proper means of superintendence and control, 
 to ensure the execution of the directions and orders 
 of the authorities. 
 
 A want of sufficient means to execute the duties of a 
 (small) office, without throwing incompatible duties 
 upon persons partially qualified. 
 
 A want of means of regular and systematic access to the 
 administrative departments, having the superintend- 
 ence and control of inferior offices. 
 
 A want of means for ensuring the responsibility of the 
 officers of the different departments. 
 
 A want of proper means to arrange and deposit the papers 
 and records of offices. 
 
 A want of proper means of publicity, by publication in the 
 public prints, or by circular. 
 
 A want of proper means of collecting, recording, and ren- 
 dering available the statistics of an office. 
 
 A want of the proper means of communicating to the 
 public information of a public nature, calculated to 
 prepare the public mind for the reception and adop- 
 tion of public measures. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 Facilities required. 
 
 [The Facilities will consist mainly in the removal of all 
 well founded causes of Hindrance, but there are some or- 
 dinary ones which it may be well to recite in order to found 
 thereon a Chart of Facilities which may be generally applied.] 
 1. A proper distribution of functions with persons 
 properly trained to fulfil them. 
 
 (The distribution will facilitate the appoint- 
 ment of such persons.)
 
 Official Survinj. 77 
 
 2. A proper Code of Instructions for the use of sucli 
 
 persons. 
 
 3. A proper Outfit. 
 
 4. A proper place of business conveniently situated 
 
 and adequately furnished with articles necessar)- 
 for the convenient performance of the duties. 
 
 5. Proper convenience for suitable refreshment. 
 These obvious matters need more special regard than they 
 
 have ; a private trader considers them because his profits are 
 dependent upon the efficiency of his workmen. What Mr. 
 Thomas Cubitt has found convenient for his workmen, 
 should be supplied to all Public Officers ; their comfort 
 should be scrupulously considered, that the discipline re- 
 quisite may not be made difficvilt by apparent injustice. 
 
 Some of the matters above indicated will appear to the un- 
 observant to be trivial, and beside the purpose ; I speak 
 as a Witness of my own personal experience, and 
 of my observation of the effect of the neglect of such 
 things on the efficiency of establishments. A very insigni- 
 ficant cause will interrupt an undertaking which cannot 
 be revived from want of opportunity. 
 
 A good workman will work under great disadvantages but 
 our arrangements should be for persons of the average 
 kind ; besides a good workman will manifestly do less if 
 his time be frittered by seeking for his materials and 
 doing that which an inferior hand of more appropriate 
 qualifications could do better. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 
 Remuneration. 
 
 Remuneration is the chief means of energizing everv 
 Establishment. But the usual mode of Remuneration of 
 Public Officers is generally calculated to jnoduce the worst
 
 78 Official Survey. 
 
 effect. It has no relation to service — not much to quahfi- 
 catiou — and little relation to means of existence. It should 
 be made to depend upon work, so far as work depends upon 
 the workman. He should be paid in respect of the work ; 
 but if at any time the work should be insufficient, a stipu- 
 lated sum in respect of the time of attendance during which 
 lie is not occupied. It would he, a useful thing in new- 
 Offices, well organized, to make the payment a dividend of 
 the Parliamentary Grant or the Fees (or other Fund out 
 of which the office is maintained), in proportion to the 
 respective results of the exertions of the different Workers 
 or Departments of Workers. At all events, some means 
 of Remuneration should be placed in the hands of the Chief 
 of an Office, to be paid to the Workers according to their 
 exertions. 
 
 Nothing is so absurd as the payment of all the salaries 
 without reference to acts, or attendance, or to amount of 
 service. Whether there be arrears or none — whether the 
 work be ill, reluctantly, or well performed, the salary is paid. 
 It would not be impracticable to adjust the Remuneration in 
 such a manner as to encourage the good and discourage the 
 bad; to be just to the Officer and just to the Public also. 
 The very exact nature of the routine into which almost all 
 official business falls, and into which it may be made to fall, 
 affords a facility for adjustment which in some other services, 
 such as the military and the naval, could not be. 
 
 But the Remuneration of a Civil Officer, like that of a 
 Military Officer, should be estimated on the whole period of 
 service. He should be so fairly confident of his course of 
 promotion as to feel that what he does to-day is but a step in 
 his progress, if he does nothing to forfeit it. 
 
 A system of Payment of Fees is, upon the whole, the best, 
 and not difficult of adjustment, and the only one that can 
 protect the Public from being charged with overmuch ser- 
 vice in some cases and too little in others.
 
 Official Siu'veij. 70 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 Responsibilities. 
 
 Under this head sliould ])e stated all forms and means 
 of Official Responsihility : whether by Bond or Recognizance, 
 Fine or Forfeiture, Remuneration measured by complete or 
 accurate service ; Returns of work done, Audit of accounts. 
 Reports; and any and what form of Superintendence or 
 
 Control. 
 
 [The responsiljility of all Officers should be ensured by 
 a Report made periodically to their immediate Superior, and it 
 might be made in a summary manner, upon the plan of the 
 Survey herein proposed, or in a similar manner to the Co- 
 lonial Blue-books. 
 
 Each Report should consist of so many sections corres- 
 ponding with the subject-matters of the jurisdiction : one 
 Report for each leading class of subject-matter where distinct 
 matters were performed by the Office, and separate sections 
 in such Report being allotted to the other heads of the pro- 
 posed Survey ; the whole being prefaced by a short summary 
 Report calling attention to matters of particular moment, or 
 to such matters as the Officer having the superintendence 
 and control of the Reporting Office may have thought fit to 
 require to be so treated. 
 
 An examination of the Reports which are now made to 
 the Crown and to Parliament, would furnish ample illus- 
 trations of excellent methods, and furnish illustrations of 
 EvUanda in order to prevent the value of this expedient 
 beinij lessened by an undue bulkiness and confusion. 
 
 The proposed reports would reduce the number of 
 Returns and Blue-books, and at no distant period occasion 
 in many ways a great saving of expense.] 
 
 It will not be reasonable to expect that inferior Officers 
 will be willing to incur the odium of stating instances in 
 detail, nor will it always be prudent to allow that oppor- 
 tunity for vindictive imputation by means of specific state- 
 ments to be published. But measures should be taken to 
 ascertain in a general maimer, sufficient for administrative
 
 80 Official Survey. 
 
 legislation, the points of hindrance which occur, and it may, 
 therefore, not be inexpedient to invite confidential commu- 
 nications upon the understanding that their contents will be 
 compiled for the above purpose, but that the specific details 
 will not be gone into. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 
 Estates, Properties, and Revenues of at,l kimds, 
 
 AND Expenditure. 
 
 Each Office should furnish a List or Inventory of all 
 Properties and of the Persons by whom used, and also a 
 Balance Sheet and Estimate of its Receipts and Expenditure. 
 For this purpose it should be charged with the Rent and 
 expense of its House, of its Stationery and Stores, and of all 
 expenses occasioned by the service which it has in charge ; 
 it should also state all sources of Revenue : and on the other 
 side, it should give every item of Expense. 
 
 The form should be the same for all Offices. 
 
 This is necessary to exhibit all the Expenditure, and to 
 show by whom it is incurred, and to check all needless 
 expenditure, and without difficulty the same method might 
 be adopted in the internal management of each office. Each 
 Officer (or Department) should be charged with the expense 
 of his room, fittings and furniture, lighting and warming, 
 his stationery, and so on. No method short of this will 
 curb the wastefulness of expenditure. The arrangements for 
 keeping the necessary Accounts will probably not be greater 
 than they are now, and, even if greater, the habits of general 
 accuracy and prudence which such a system of economy, 
 coupled with a well considered liberality in right ^directions 
 is calculated to engender, would compensate for any addi- 
 tional expense and trouble by the higher spirit and tone of 
 Official Persons of all ranks. The very internal audit by 
 which these matters would be checked must incidentally 
 facilitate discipline and control in other matters.
 
 Official Survey. 
 
 81 
 
 I slioultl add a recommendation wliich I have made 
 elsewhere, but which will be less and less necessary as our 
 official affairs arc improved, viz., that every Chief of a 
 Department or Office should have at his disposal a sum of 
 money to be applied by him for the service of his Department 
 without the necessity of applying to the Treasury in the 
 first instance, but upon condition that it be specially reported 
 afterwards. 
 
 Nothing so discourages Ministers and Officers of all ranks 
 as the inability to do their duty from the mere want of 
 means. If there were such a fund to be applied under the 
 control of a Special Officer, so as not to await the slow pro- 
 gress of Treasury movements, occasioned as that progress is 
 by its overwhelming business, some part of the evil which 
 cankers mhiisterial enterprize would be got rid of. 
 
 This Return may be made 
 
 Revenue. 
 I)r. 
 
 To Revenues of Property. 
 To Receipts of Fees. 
 To Parliamentary Grant. 
 To House. 
 
 To Fittings and Furniture. 
 To Stationery. 
 
 To Special Service Fund. 
 (All moneys and all moneys' 
 worth.) 
 
 by a Balance Sheet, thus : — 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 Cr. 
 By Establishment. 
 By Management of Funds 
 and incidental services. 
 
 By House and Building, and 
 
 incidental services 
 By Fittings, Furniture, and 
 
 incidental services. 
 By Coverings, Clothing, and 
 
 incidental services. 
 By Provisions and incidental 
 
 services. 
 By Stationery and incidental 
 
 services. 
 By Carriage and incidental 
 
 services. 
 By Gifts, Loans, Charities, 
 
 and incidental services. 
 By Savings, Insurance, and 
 
 incidental services. 
 By Special Services. (See 
 
 Return.) 
 
 F
 
 82 Official Survey. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 Laws affecting it. 
 
 A Chronological List of the Statutes and parts of Sta- 
 tutes applicable to the Department, &c., and also a Statement 
 of the Statutes arranged according to the respective subject- 
 matters of the jurisdiction. 
 
 The state of the Law is a principal cause of Official Hin- 
 drance. It doubles the expenditure of many Departments, 
 not directly and apparently by litigation, but by augmenting 
 the amount of general business, while it produces a weakness 
 and want of energy which are fearfully at variance with the 
 public interest. 
 
 The aid of each Officer thus obtained would facilitate the 
 grand work of Consolidation/ the want of which is univer- 
 sally recognized. 
 
 The Consolidation of the Law is a topic of immediate concern, 
 but there is a fear of expense, and of the extent of the 
 labour. By dividing it among many, and by bringing 
 many minds and experiences to bear directly upon the 
 work in an uniform maimer, especially in the collec- 
 tion of materials the task may be made both less exten- 
 sive, and less costly, but it will still be necessary to 
 place over the operation a presiding authority capable of 
 applying the results, and stimulating exertion. Li the 
 course of these papers a suggestion of the kind is offered. 
 It is of immediate concern in the present posture of 
 affairs and worthy of special regard.
 
 Official Survey. 83 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 Decisions relating to it. 
 
 This matter is an accompaniment to the last, and should 
 have attention for the same reasons, and similar lists should 
 be made. 
 
 Many persons regard a measure of tliis sort, as the first step 
 towards a Consolidation of the Law, and some as a means 
 of lessening the necessity of consolidation. 
 
 It is indispensably necessary for the efficiency of Public 
 Offices, M'hich often become lax because the law is 
 doubtful and cannot be vindicated with confidence. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 Records, and Memorials and Publications relating 
 
 TO IT. 
 
 This Return will comprise Parliamentary R eports. Books, 
 and all Matters specially relating to the Office. 
 
 The object of this recommendation is to ascertain the 
 state of information on every subject ; to stimulate the intel- 
 ligence of every class of Officers ; and to rescue our Bureau- 
 cracy from being to so great an extent the slaves of mere 
 routine, and enabling them to assist the higher Ministers in 
 the performance of their duty. 
 
 It would also be the means of cultivating public intelli- 
 gence on official matters, by w'ay of preparation for the 
 measures which Govenmients may subsequently introduce, 
 and thus facilitate their progress through Parliament. (See 
 Letter IV.) 
 
 The Form might be, as in the case of the Returns of Laws and 
 of Decisions, both Chronological and according to 
 subject matter. But whatever the plan, regard should 
 
 F 2
 
 84 Official Survey. 
 
 ])e had to the occasions upon which information may he 
 required, and that the result of such an effort should he 
 the foundation of a Lihrary and such a system of 
 Registration and Record as will enable the Office to 
 keep it up afterwards, by fresh accessions of matter 
 properly arranged. 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 Matters in controversy and Means of determining 
 
 THEM. 
 
 A Table, either Chronological or arranged according to 
 the Agenda. 
 
 This is a touchstone of the state of matters within an 
 Office, and of its relations to other Departments of State. 
 It will exhibit the hindrances of the state of the Law, and 
 of the state of the Tribunals, and of the relation of higher 
 and other Offices, and show the value of many of the sug- 
 gestions which I have offered. It will prepare the Offices 
 themselves to make recommendations, and suggest the 
 matters which, without this head, might not press upon 
 their attention. 
 
 In carrying out the object in this respect, separate lists 
 should be made of the matters now in controversy and of 
 the matters which have been in controversy. 
 
 A statement of the controversies which have arisen among 
 our Colonial Officers and elsewhere, would of itself be an 
 excellent means of legislating generally for our Officers. 
 The experience of past miscarriages, through this cause, 
 has availed very little for avoiding the recurrence of 
 them, simply because they have been treated as isolated 
 instances and not embodied in any shape for general 
 instruction and example. By this means alone, includ- 
 ing, of course, the proper preventions for similar mis- 
 chief, the Colonial Office would be relieved of much 
 embarrassment and of a great hindrance to its efficiency.
 
 Official Survey. 85 
 
 Name of Department, &c. 
 
 Miscellanea which will not i-all under aky of the 
 
 foregoikg heads. 
 
 It is not apprehended that this head will be required, but 
 it will be useful to those who may find a difficulty in applying 
 the fore,iz;oing heads ; though any difficulty of that kind 
 should be met by empowering some Officer to give instruc- 
 tions as to the scope of each head and the manner of 
 treating it. 
 
 There is a Head of this nature in the Report of the Select 
 Committee of the House of Commons on petitions, 
 which might be much lessened if there existed any 
 general arrangement of topics corresponding with the 
 Official divisions and subdivisions of Departments and 
 Functions. 
 
 Till such an arrangement can be adopted, some such list of 
 sundries is the only means of preventing the omission of 
 matters which arc not easily placed. 
 
 Besides, there might prolmbly be an alphabetical list of all 
 the topics, witli reference to the divisions in which they 
 will be found to be treated. 
 
 General Remarks. 
 
 It may be well to request each Department (of any mag- 
 nitude) to appoint an Officer to prepare these Returns, and 
 communicate with the above-named Officer. Lesser De- 
 partments and Offices should return by their Chief or 
 Organ. It will provide for prompt action without much 
 expense. 
 
 If the arrangement proposed with regard to the Privy 
 Council should be adopted, these Returns might be made 
 to the respective Committees to be by them collated and 
 arranged and reported upon not only as their first M'ork, 
 but as the means of mustering their respective fields of 
 exertion.
 
 86 Official Survey, 
 
 Local Government Departments and Offices. 
 
 [The Government Departments and Offices connected 
 uith localities more or less extensive and more or less in- 
 dependent, will furnish illustration for our use ; and, perhaps, 
 in many cases the authorities of those localities may be 
 glad to avail themselves of the general result of such Survey, 
 conducted in the manner proposed. The Offices to which I 
 refer are : — 
 
 1. Colonial Governments. 
 
 2. Provincial Government. 
 
 3. Municipal (County) Government. 
 
 4. Municipal (Borough) Government. 
 
 5. Special District Government. 
 
 6. Parochial Government. 
 
 7. Any other Government. 
 
 Nothing would so effectually exemplify the sort of 
 reforms that are needed, as a comparison of the Local 
 Departments and Offices existing under so great a variety 
 of circumstances, agreeing probably in all, or almost all, 
 their essentials, but yet needing some excellencies possessed 
 by others. 
 
 I should recommend that a Survey should be made of 
 each, and that the result be embodied in a Return in a 
 Tabular Form somewhat after the manner indicated in the 
 Table I, and also according to the Scheme of Offices as 
 known.]
 
 REMARKS ON PRINCIPLES 
 
 APPLICABLE TO 
 
 OFFICES AND OFFICERS.
 
 89 
 
 GENERAL EXPLANATORY REMARKS UPON 
 THE PRINCIPLES TO BE APPLIED TO THE 
 CONSTITUTION OF OFFICES AND OFFICERS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 I. A SuGGicsTED Application to Departments of Admin- 
 istration ; and 
 
 II, A Suggested Application to Departments or Exe- 
 cution ; and 
 
 III. Incidentally the mode on Which Reforms may he 
 
 GRADUALLY INTRODUCED ; AND 
 
 IV. Observations on the Considerations to be regarded 
 
 IN respect to Offices and Officers. 
 
 Action on the Survey. 
 
 Supposing the Survey to be determined upon, it will not be 
 inexpedient to consider the possible action thereon, both with 
 a view to its right direction to its end, and to the application 
 of its principles to those cases which must arise in Legislative or 
 in Financial Administration while such Survey is in progress. 
 Mv own conclusions are formed from observation ; but even if 
 those with whom the authority to act rests, should have been 
 led by a similar experience to the same results, I think that 
 it would be ])olitic by some means to obtain the concurrent 
 action of Public Functionaries, and that, for that purpose, it is 
 necessary that they also should be led to consider the matter, 
 not only from the point of view of the Offices to which they havo 
 been accustomed, but also upon those considerations which do 
 determine the nature of Offices generally and ought to deter-
 
 90 Remarhs on Offices, &c. 
 
 mine the nature of all, except so far as their specialty may 
 require. 
 
 The supply of wants where the Offices are considered by 
 their Officers to be deficient will conciliate the support of 
 those Officers, and expectation of promotion, and of aug- 
 mentation of Salary will conciliate others, while the general 
 spread of fair dealing will, I am sure, animate many. 
 
 Without the specific information which a Survey or a more 
 elaborate working out of m.y own materials will give, the 
 treatment of the subject, must necessarily be in outline ; but 
 the fuller notes that I shall have to make on the difierent 
 Officers, and also on the considerations applicable to Depart- 
 ments or Offices and Officers generally, will fill up that outline 
 sufficiently for practical purposes. 
 
 Parliament, 
 
 I pass over Parliament, because in the present state of 
 opinion, it is not prepared for more internal organization 
 which has already advanced much by the energy of the 
 Speakers and the good sense of tlie House, since 1832, and I 
 will proceed to apply the suggestions to the Privy Council, 
 the Council of Administration of the State, which will enable 
 me to show the complete Organization of that branch of the 
 Official system ; and afterwards I propose to pass to the Execu- 
 tive Officers of State, who, though exercising many duties which 
 constitute their functions of an administrative character, may 
 be regarded rather as executive than administrative, since that 
 characteristic prevails in the functions of their Offices. 
 
 The Tribunals. 
 
 I postpone Tribunals to the conclusion, or perhaps, to a 
 separate effort. The Tribunals, which, though in almost all 
 structural respects, they have the same requirements, and the 
 same, or similar organizations as other Official Departments, 
 yet from their more entire subjection to publicity and established 
 rules of action, have a more definite character, and are less 
 amenable to regulation by any means short of the power of 
 Parliament. 
 
 These Institutions should be included in any Survey, for
 
 Remarks on Offices, dc. 91 
 
 in tho Reforms of the Law that are now in progress, it is 
 of essential importance to learn from a collation of all Courts, 
 the proper constituents of a Court, whether it he of a mixed 
 Judicial and Administrative nature, as the Court of Chancery, 
 or a merely Judicial nature, as our Courts of Law, or 
 principally of an Administrative nature, as our ('ourts of 
 Bankruptcy. The costliness and delays of the Courts of 
 Justice, as well as the miscarriage of their proceedings, aro 
 owing quite as much to the organization of tho Courts, as to 
 the state of the Law. 
 
 Coincidence of Official Organization and Legislation. 
 
 It is a curious fact worthy of remark, and of inmiediate 
 practical application, that that outline which constitutes the 
 l)est outline of Official Organization is the best outline of any 
 instrument of Legislation. The explanation is, that a Law is 
 but an authoritative recounting of the scope of administration 
 and its modes of action ; and, therefore, where they are fitly 
 contrived the exact representation of its nature and operation 
 will correspond with it. 
 
 It will follow, that in consolidating and organizing our 
 Official Establishments, and providing them with due Legis- 
 lation, we shall in fact consolidate much of our Law, and on 
 the other hand in consolidating our Law, we shall produce a 
 like effect on our Official Listitutions, and thus facilitate 
 their improvement, and at the same time diminish and econo- 
 mize their labour and the national expense. 
 
 Principle of Official Organization. 
 
 I propose, first, to treat of the most leading consideration, 
 and at the risk of appearing pedantic, to start, with a proposition 
 which is tho key and test of the whole scheme, and tho 
 practical means of adjustment. 
 
 It is, that the principle and groundwork of Official Or- 
 canization is, that — the State — the Councils of the State — 
 every ^linister of State^every Department of the State — 
 every Office — every Officer — has need of j)rovision for the 
 execution of
 
 92 Remarks on Offices, dc. 
 
 Matters of A ciministration ; 
 
 of Inquiry ; 
 
 of Legislation ; 
 
 of Adjudication; 
 
 of Finance ; 
 
 of Direction ; 
 
 of Special nature ; 
 
 of Local nature ; 
 
 of Superintendence and Control ; and 
 
 of Registration, Record, and Publication, 
 and should, in some form or other, to a greater or less extent, 
 have such provision. 
 
 The nature of the provision will depend on the extent and 
 range of the matters which require such service ; and also upon 
 the provision which is to be found in other Departments, or 
 Offices, higher or lower. 
 
 The higher Administrative Departments being complete, 
 the lower will not need the same degree of completeness in the 
 same particulars of service, but these particulars may be repre- 
 sented by a single Office : and this Office being complete, 
 other Offices may have an Officer of inferior grade. Thus in 
 the higher or special Office, the provision will be by a high 
 or special Functionary and his Staft'of Officers ; in the lowest, 
 by a mere Book, or Book-keeper ; in the intermediate, by an 
 Office, or Officer, or Agent, Clerk, or Assistant. 
 
 PuESENT State of Things. 
 
 In a rough maimer, the State is provided for by the Min- 
 isters of State : — 
 
 Administration, — Premier, or First Lord. 
 Inquiry, — Lord President of the Council. 
 
 , — Lord Privy Seal. 
 
 Adjudication, — Lord Chancellor. 
 Finance, — Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 Direction, — Secretaries of State. 
 Local Matters, — Secretaries of State. 
 Special Matters, — Chief Conmiissiouer of Works and 
 Buildings, Postmaster-General.
 
 Remarks on Offices, dec. 93 
 
 Superintendenco and Control, — Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer, President of Board of Control. 
 
 Registration, Record, and Publication, — Lord Chancellor, 
 Master of the Rolls, Secretary of State. 
 
 The Councils of State, the Parliament, and the Privy 
 Council, are so provided for by the presence of the Ministers 
 of State therein, but not by appropriate, or adequate, organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 In short, it would bo difficult to find any Function which 
 does not exist somewhere or other. Our problem is, to indi- 
 vidualize, develop, define, energise, and regulate it, that it 
 may serve the State (by serving the INIinister) to the fullest 
 extent of the need. 
 
 The List of the Business which each Minister has on hand, 
 with the matters therein involved, and the Functions which 
 are requisite to fulfil those matters to the extent of the need, 
 the long pendency of the questions, and the contradiction of 
 principles and methods employed in the measures of the 
 different Departments, attest the nature of the need. 
 
 Application of Principle to Privy Council. 
 
 For the reason I have mentioned, I pass to the Privy 
 Council, which is susceptible of readier adjustment, and should 
 suggest, that as opportunity offers. Committees should be formed 
 as follows, or in some such manner :— 
 Committee of Direction: 
 President of the Council ; 
 Lord Privy Seal ; 
 
 Together with the respective Members of all other Com- 
 mittees of Privy Council who take cognizance of the 
 peculiar functions of this Committee. 
 Committee Of Administration : 
 All who are of the Cabinet ; 
 All who have been of the Cabinet ; 
 Together with the respective Members, &c. 
 Committee of Inqitiry and Lnformation : 
 All who are of the Cabinet ; 
 All Ministers, Members of the Privy Council ; 
 Together with the respective Members, tS:c.
 
 94 Remarks on Offices, dc. 
 
 Committee oe Law and Legislation : 
 
 All Privy Councillors who arc Members of either House 
 
 of Parliament ; 
 All Privy Councillors who have been Members of either 
 
 House of Parliament ; 
 Together with the respective Members, &c. 
 
 Committee of Judicial ISIatters : 
 
 All Privy Councillors who are on the Bench of the 
 
 Superior Courts ; 
 All Privy Councillors who have been on the Bench of 
 
 the Superior Courts ; 
 Together with the respective Members, &c. 
 
 Committee of Financial and Trade Matters : 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill the offices of First Lord 
 of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 President of the Board of Trade, and Commissioners of 
 the Treasury ; 
 All Privy Councillors who have filled such offices. 
 Together with the respective Members, &c. 
 
 Committee of Special Matters : 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill the Offices of Commis- 
 sioners of the Treasury, Commissioners of Works, 
 Postmaster-General, Commissioners of the Poor Laws; 
 All Privy Councillors who have filled such Offices ; 
 Together with the respective Members, &c. 
 
 Committee of Local Matters : 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill the Offices of Secretary of 
 State ; 
 
 All Privy Councillors who have filled the Offices of Secre- 
 tary of State ; 
 
 Together with the respective Members, &c. 
 
 Committee of Superintendence and Control : 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill the Offices of President of 
 
 the JJoard of Control, Comptroller of the Exchequer ; 
 All Privy Councillors who have filled such offices. 
 Together with the respective Members, &c.
 
 Remarks on Offices, dc. d5 
 
 Committer of Registuation and Record : 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill any Office of Record ; 
 All Privy Councillors who Ikivc been Chancellors, Masters 
 
 of the Rolls, or filled any Office of Record ; 
 Together with the respective Members, &c. 
 The function of the Privy Council is to advise the Sove- 
 reign, and its proper subsidiary functions would be to collect, 
 receive, collate, and digest all available information for that 
 purj)Ose. 
 
 The later practice has been to cast upon them duties of a 
 more active nature, which belong more properly to the Secre- 
 taries of State ; and these Officers on the other hand have been 
 charged with the collection of information. 
 
 Nature or Organization and Distribution of Functions 
 OF Committees of Privy Council. 
 
 In the foregoing statement I have pointed out how the 
 entire body of the Privy Council should be divided into Com- 
 mittees corresponding with the Departments of Administra- 
 tive function. 
 
 In the Tables to be found in the sixth Division of these 
 Papers, will be shown of what nature might be the Organiza- 
 tion of each Committee and the distribution of the Functions. 
 
 At present the Privy Council consists of several Com- 
 mittees, the Elder one being the Committee of Trade and 
 Plantations, the next the Judicial Committee, and that of 
 later origin, the Committee of Education. 
 
 It is obvious from these examples, that the system of the 
 Privy Council is one of great pliancy, and under arrangements 
 of a more regular kind might be made to fulfil the ])urposes of 
 Commissions, to which, on so many accounts, there is reason- 
 able objection, and to aid the Executive Dej)artments. 
 
 A corollary of the establishment of a sound constitutional 
 system of administration, providing appropriately for advice 
 and information, and for execution, would be the eventual 
 amalgamation of all Commissions and of their Functions, in 
 the well known Departments and Offices of State, and in the 
 Functions of those Departments aud Offices.
 
 96 RemarTcs on Offices, dc. 
 
 The intermediate operation by which these results miorht 
 be obtained, would be by uniting in action with the Chiefs 
 of Departments, the heads of their subordinate Departments, 
 and consolidating their Establishments under the same general 
 system of Official action. 
 
 Separation' of Departments of Advice and of Execution. 
 
 In any consideration of the Official system with a view to 
 permanent arrangements, the solution of much difficulty would 
 be found in more strictly adhering to the Constitutional nature 
 of those Departments ; to give to the former that portion of 
 Administration which consists of Advice, and to the latter that 
 portion of Administration which consists of Execution, and as 
 a corollary to give to each of these Departments for their 
 assistance, a class of functionaries mainly suitable for the one 
 purpose rather than for the other. Thus, instead of each of those 
 Departments being made omnicompetent, which would not be 
 possible without complete organization, each might be perfectly 
 constituted, and so be enabled to do its proper business more 
 effectually while it would derive from its fellows the benefit 
 of their aid in their own proper matters. 
 
 The risk of collision is to beobviated as it is obviated in Par- 
 liament, by making the Members of the Executive Departments 
 Members of the Committees ; and organizing both the Advice 
 Departments and the Executive Departments on the same 
 general model, with only a difference in quantity of special 
 service in the direction of the speciality of the Department ; 
 at the same time giving Execution entirely to one, and Advice, 
 or rather Information, Inquiry, and the detailed work of Legis- 
 lation entirely to the other. 
 
 The Special Needs. 
 
 Late circumstances have shown that there is Need, not of 
 work, but of workmen in right places, so disposed that they 
 may help instead of hindering each other, and so that the 
 functions may be such as to be within the mastery of the 
 personage who fills the Office, and not as the case now is, in
 
 Remarls on Ofices, ^^c. 97 
 
 some, and not a few instances, so incom])atll)lo as to make it 
 obvious that any man, however qualified he may be for the main 
 part of his Office, must perforce (on account of his peculiar 
 qualification for that, and the incidental absence of other quali- 
 fications) be unfit for the other part of his Office. 
 
 Moreover, there is Need of a system by which a greater 
 number of intelligences and influences may be brought into 
 play in the concoction, deliberation, and maturation of mea- 
 sures, without interfering with each other, so that there may 
 be greater correspondence with public opinion and feeling, 
 and at the same time greater unity of sentiment and action 
 in the Administration. 
 
 Offices of Secretary of State. 
 
 The Secretaries of State constitute the Chief Executive 
 Functionaries. Their Jurisdiction is of an Executive character 
 throughout the Localities which they respectively represent. 
 The subjects are of the same description. The Secretary of 
 State for Home Affairs probably has within his sphere more 
 or less connection with every matter that comes within 
 the cognizance of the other Secretaries of State, except the 
 dij)lomacy incidental both to the Departments of Colonial 
 Affairs and Foreign Affairs, arising from the more entirely 
 independent positions of the other Authorities with which they 
 have relation, and which diplomacy constitutes at once the 
 characteristic and the difficulty of those Departments, — a cir- 
 cumstance often overlooked in considering Colonial ques- 
 tions. 
 
 The Office of Secretary of State in its several Depart- 
 ments is now rich in every species of required Agency. The 
 problem is, how shall the Secretary of State obtain from his 
 Assistants such a mode of aid as will enable him to act 
 promptly yet safely. It is supposed that if instead of having a 
 great number of subordinate Officers, each with his special 
 rant^e of duty, with all functions self-contained, and to a great 
 extent excluding the aid of others, they were required so to 
 shape their Reports as to bring the separate divisions of 
 matter clearly before him, in one form, and so that he might take 
 counsel readily of other Officers charged with these matters, 
 
 G
 
 98 Jlemarh on OJices, &c. 
 
 he could unite the directness and promptness of volition 
 which are requisite, with that consideration of matters which 
 will make his action wise and prudent. 
 
 To this end it is proposed, not to change the organization 
 of the Office of Secretary of State, but to develop and arrange 
 it in such a manner that each Secretary of State may really 
 and truly preside over it, and all Official Departments under 
 his Department. 
 
 The interchange of the higher Officers of these Depart- 
 ments of the Office of Secretary of State, and also of the 
 Departments of Privy Councils and other Offices, would tend 
 to increase the efficiency of Estabhshments, and to prevent 
 that stagnation and ultimate destruction of Official ability 
 which results from placing men of much active mental 
 capacity in circumstances of limited routine. A man who, in 
 the course of his Official career, has had opportunities of 
 experience abroad in the Colonies, and in Foreign Countries, 
 as well as at home, will be likely to be a more enlightened and 
 better informed functionary than one Mdiose whole life has been 
 passed in a Civil Service, perhaps in a single office at home. 
 On the other hand, our Colonial Governments, and our Foreign 
 Embassies would be strengthened by the infusion of special skill 
 and information acquired in this country, and both one and the 
 other would be instruments for collecting and receiving infor- 
 mation of present importance to matters under consideration; 
 it would simply be that some of our Forces were stationed 
 abroad, instead of being all stationed at home. This would 
 prevent the employment of Special Commissions, except upon 
 very rare occasions. Of course, if such interchange were to 
 take place with the Colonies, the inhabitants of the Colonies 
 should share in the Imperial Service, which would lead to 
 the establishment of links of connection favourable to the 
 maintenance of sound relations with the Colonies. Of course, 
 this is a suggestion that could be applied but gradually, for 
 the narrowness of our official training and experience would 
 preclude the selection of many persons who have attained 
 high place from being appointed, with advantage to them- 
 selves, or to the services in other positions of the same rank 
 in the Foreign or Colonial Service.
 
 Remarhs on Ojficcs, &c. 99 
 
 COVTRAST nRTWEKV TIIR OfFICES OF THE TREASURY, SECRE- 
 TARIES OF State and Committees of Privy Council. 
 
 The Departments of the Treasury and of the Secretaries of 
 State would differ from, on the one hand, an Administrative 
 Committee of the Privy Council, and on the other, from an 
 Ordinary Executive Office, in the followinfj respects. From 
 the former, in that they will have a Special Officer or Com- 
 missioner for each Special Division, instead of a Committee; 
 and from the latter, in that they will have a larger range of 
 Assistants and Agencies, being the respective Depart- 
 ments under them. Many of the Chief Oflticcrs of the Staff, 
 and of these Departments, might with advantage, and without 
 additional expense, be Special Commissioners or Referees. It 
 will be therefore seen that the distribution proposed has 
 reference merely to the distribution of function, not of the per- 
 sonnel, which will of course depend on other considerations. 
 
 Application of the System to the Treasury. 
 
 The application of the jurisdiction of the Treasury to the 
 entire range of concerns is unquestionable, and it may be added 
 that the Treasury might by its arrangements (and indeed needs 
 and ought to do so) establish a perfect Official System, by 
 which it would not only dispatch more effectually its own 
 affairs, but, perhaps, more than any other Office could do, remove 
 the hindrances to which our Official System is subject. It is 
 due to the partial and specific manner in which it is now 
 oftentimes compelled to deal with questions, — to the want of 
 established principles of action, ranging over the whole of the 
 same class of cases, — to the delay arising from the extent of its 
 work, and occasionally to its oppressiveness in the ai)plication 
 of its rules of economy, and to the injustice occasionally com- 
 mitted towards individual Officers, operating to deter and to 
 discourage other Departments, that schemes of improve- 
 ment, and the public affairs are in so backward a condition. 
 There is not a sufficient amount of openness and fair-dealing 
 in its system; and the result is that that system has made the 
 Government less to be relied u])on in its engagementsthan almost 
 any individual, and this from no other fault than, as I believe, 
 
 G 'J
 
 100 Remarks on OJlces, <&c. 
 
 its action by close, instead of open means ; by a narrow, instead 
 of an adequate agency. 
 
 A Return of all matters tbat await its doing would demon- 
 strate these positions. By a system of Officering that should 
 make its proceedings more open, more prompt, more amenable 
 to the opinion of its own members, yet not so as to curb indi- 
 vidual action, the greatest Reform of modern times would be 
 effected, which would be the foster-parent of almost every 
 other legitimate Reform. 
 
 Mode op Application to the Treasury. 
 
 I should suggest that in this (as in all other cases), 
 the earliest step should be to develop the Establishment, by 
 appointing one or more Officers, which it now wants or appears 
 to want ; and the first which I would suggest would be the 
 Remembrancer and the Controller, and perhaps the Super- 
 intendent, to note what is to be done, when and where ; and 
 to see that it is done then and there, or at least that the 
 Arrear is notified at once, and measures taken for the disposal 
 of it, or at least for its being done at the proper time or occasion. 
 
 It is impossible in Offices, as it is with individuals, to 
 change habits of long standing; and the best plan is to supply 
 them with special aid, which does not directly disturb those 
 habits, but which will relieve the pressure upon them; and if 
 these be good, will assist them to escape. 
 
 It is all the more important that this step should be taken 
 with the Treasury, as it would better enable it to ap])ly the 
 experience to other Offices. 
 
 Model Office. 
 
 I have sometimes thought that one of the best expedients 
 to eflect a gradual change would be to establish, in connexion 
 with the Treasury, a Model Office, through which all Clerks 
 must pass, on their way to other Departments. 
 
 It probably would not be put on a thorough footing till 
 the result of the Official Survey should be ascertained ; but 
 with the aid of some experienced Officers, it might be made 
 the means of collating, receiving, compiling, and digesting the 
 Returns which should be made, and which might be the
 
 Jiemarks on Offices, dec. lul 
 
 foundatioii of a sound natural system for generations to 
 
 conic. 
 
 I am very much inclined to press this matter, for by tho 
 aid of a corps of Clerks and ]3ook-keepers corresponding with 
 tho functions I have indicated, I believe that not only would 
 the general ])lan be develo])ed on paper, but it \Yould be to a 
 very great extent worked out in practice. 
 
 It is of so much the greater importance to establish special 
 means, as the interruption of current business, however imper- 
 fectly carried on, always occasions irretrievable mischief, and 
 it is a proved axiom in all Reforms, that the new method should 
 for a while proceed pari passu with the old, till the old is so 
 nearly worn out as to interpose no obstruction to the progress 
 of the improvement, and admit of its entire abolition. 
 
 A Model Office would have this merit, that instead of dis- 
 missing Officers who are rendered unnecessary on the reduction 
 of Offices, they may bo drafted into it as into a Depot, and be 
 avaikible to proceed thence as Supernumeraries, or to fill places 
 in new Offices, instead of the costly and disastrous practice of 
 filling such Offices with Clerks entirely untrained. 
 
 Illustrations of Application. 
 
 The Privy Council and its Committees, the Offices of the 
 Secretary of State, and the Offices of the Treasury, furnish all 
 the illustrations of the practical ap])lication of the principles 
 contended for, except perhaps as regards sundry matters of 
 detail, and the distribution of agencies over localities. The 
 former will be supplied by the Office of Woods and Forests 
 and the Office of Works and Buildings, of which one will give 
 all the specialties relating to the management of Estates and 
 Properties, especially of the landed kind, and the other all that 
 relates to Housing all sorts of persons, to works and buildings 
 of every description, with all the special detail involved in 
 either, and also some amount of local agency ; but the Revenue 
 Departments generally, the Inland Revenue, and the Customs 
 Revenue, and perhaps tho Poor Law Department, and tho 
 Department of the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, 
 furnish the most complete systems of local agency.
 
 102 Ilcmarks on O^ces, dc. 
 
 So that as regards the General Departments of Govern- 
 ment, the filling out of this outline by the information to be 
 derived from the Survey, will give so complete a view of what 
 is necessary in our Official System, as to make it inexpedient to 
 go into the details of the nuiltitude of minor Offices, many 
 of which, it is conceived, ought to be consolidated with the 
 main institutions of which they are subjects, by attaching to 
 them proper Offices of Account, &c., from the Chief Depart- 
 ments to which they belong. Thus relieved of much of that 
 Accounting and Official detail which embarrasses their more 
 Special Functions, and needlessly augments their Establish- 
 ments, they would be made more effective for their purposes. 
 
 Kequisites of Minor Offices. 
 
 It should, however, bo repeated (as remarked earlier in 
 this paper), that no Office, however small, should be without 
 its Register of matters. And probably, wherever an Officer 
 should exist, he should have, either by himself, or in connec- 
 tion with some other Officer, taking cognizance of cognate 
 matters, a Clerk and Book-keeper, and, if need be, an Agent 
 or Assistant, and if need be, an Examiner or llegistering 
 Officer. By adopting uniformly in limited Offices this limited 
 organization, after one method, the persons so employed might 
 bo easily drafted into other Establishments. In such cases, 
 care should be taken not to commit the injustice of re- 
 garding such Officers and Clerks as not belonging to the Civil 
 Establishments. They should rather be regarded as Officers 
 and Soldiers detached on Special Service, and entitled to be 
 restored to their position when the occasion ceases. By this 
 means it would become much easier to modify Establish- 
 ments, for Chiefs would not then be deterred by the painful 
 feeling that the parties discharged are thrown on the world 
 without resources. It may be remarked, at the same time, 
 that on the other hand, it should no longer be considered 
 tliat Official employment of an inferior kind disqualifies for 
 other employment; but it should be required as a test for 
 competing for Government employment, that the individual is 
 fit to do eometbing eltse, if the necessity should arise.
 
 Remarks uu VJJiccs, ike. ]03 
 
 Offices. 
 General Remarks. 
 
 Not an inconsiderable part of the deviation from a conmion 
 system has arisen from the practice of acting upon partial 
 views in relation to occasions of the Creation of Offices and to 
 the preliminaries to regular operations — the formation of 
 Offices — the Extension of Offices — the Consolidation of Offices, 
 and the Abolition of Offices. Each of these occasions should be 
 regarded, and to avoid the recurrence of similar miscarriages, 
 some principles and general scheme of action should be 
 established for the guidance of the Administration, both for 
 action on each occasion, and for the general superintendence 
 and control of Offices. 
 
 The establishment of an Office has been left too frequently 
 to the Minister who has been the author of the measure, and 
 too little to the control of the Treasurv. The establishment 
 of a general system would diminish this evil, if, indeed, it 
 did not take away the necessity of making a new Office at 
 all. 
 
 Sometimes, and not unfrequently, it has happened in the 
 case of new Offices, that their state and conditions have not 
 been pre-appointed, but they have been left to commence ope- 
 rations in a state of inorganization, and allowed to grow of 
 themselves into some sort of practical action, corrcs])onding 
 with the special nature and habit of the person who ha])pened 
 first to fdl the Office. 
 
 The foregoing remark as to the independency of Officers in 
 creating and starting Offices applies also to their Administration 
 generally, which has in some instances no reference to any 
 standard but the individual will or notions of the Chief for the 
 time being. 
 
 It nuist be remembered, that a Department or Office is an 
 Institution for the conmion use and benefit of all sorts of 
 persons, brought together to effijct a common good, and therefore 
 nobody is at liberty to allow his idiosyncracies to prevail to an 
 undue extent ; that the function of the Chief or Officer is to 
 dictate or direct the policy, and that all movements in 
 obedience to that ^dictation or direction, should obev a
 
 104 Remarks on Offlces, c{:c. 
 
 course coiTOsponding with tlio ordinary law of Official action, 
 except so far as the necessity of the exigency shall require a 
 deviation. 
 
 It is from the Public Departments and Offices being conducted 
 after the wills and dispositions of individuals, and not accord- 
 ing to a common law or practice adapted to the general nature 
 of Official business, modified as it is in this country by the 
 action of Public and Parliamentary influence that Offices have 
 become to be independent peculiarities, instead of parts of a 
 well-established and well-recognized state of organization. 
 
 Creation of Offices. 
 
 In reference to the Creation of Offices the following general 
 remarks or positions may be offered : — 
 
 No Office for a distinct purpose should be created, unless 
 the matter bo of such overwhelming magnitude, or so special, 
 or so novel, as to require a separate Establishment. An 
 Officer with a few Assistants may be necessary, but gene- 
 rally the proper course will be to add it to an existing 
 Department. If the matter be of the nature of Council or 
 Advice, to a Committee of the Privy Council. If of an 
 Executive nature, to one of the Secretaries of State, or to a 
 Kevenue Department, &c. 
 
 Whenever a new Office is established, a preponderating force 
 should be sent to put it in order; the Estal)lishment should be 
 greater rather than less during the first period of its existence, 
 and afterwards when the routine is settled and the work 
 has become facile, it should either be reduced or charged with 
 more worlc. 
 
 When Offices are distributed according to functions, such 
 additions may be made without difficulty. Sometimes a 
 matter may be so special or novel, as to make it proper for 
 a while to have a special Ofiice ; but such Office should be of the 
 same make and mould, and be so conducted, that when the 
 occasion ceases it may be incorporated with the main Office. 
 For this reason its procedure should follow that of the main 
 Office.
 
 Remarks on Offices, (ke, 105 
 
 Preliminaries to Regular Operations. 
 
 Before commencing the operations of a new Office, it is 
 necessary to take a House, of a proper description, in a suit- 
 able situation, to organize the Establishment, to prepare Re- 
 gulations and Forms, and to train Clerks : and all the above 
 incidents of the position, if set about as they should be in a 
 regular manner, will constitute a suitable means of training ; 
 but the proper course would be to draught Clerks, or at least 
 a certain number of them, from other Establishments, and 
 supply their places by new appointments. 
 
 Every Office with which I have been acquainted has failed, 
 to a great extent, from this cause. 
 
 The Officers of the Department having the superior ad- 
 ministration of the new or altered Office, should be charged 
 with the superintendence of this important task ; and on the 
 day of commencing operations, a special Report should be 
 made of its actual state. 
 
 Of course, these preliminary operations would be facili- 
 tated by its being made the express duty of some particular 
 Officer — of the Treasury, (say, a Surveyor-General of Offices,) 
 who would collect all the desiderata, and with the aid of the 
 pro]>er Departments, design and plan the operation accordingly. 
 
 I know not how to speak emphatically enough on this 
 point. In almost all the Departments M-ith which I am 
 acquainted, there have been instances more or less striking, 
 of the necessity of these recommendations, and even where 
 the Legislature has provided ample time for preparation, 
 it has been too frequently wasted, with a certain perma- 
 nent increase of expenditure, without corresponding success. 
 One main source of the evil is the leaving the establishment 
 of the new Office to the new Officer, who may be very skilled 
 in the subject matter of his Office, but little skilled in Official 
 arraniicmeuts.
 
 106 Remarks on Ojlccs, dec. 
 
 The FoiiMATioN op an Office. 
 
 Auofmcnt for a time the Estcablishment to sucli an extent 
 as will admit of the new operations being carried on without 
 the disturbance of the current business. 
 
 This may be done by increasing the assistance required for 
 the mechanical duties, which is less difficult, or by doubling 
 the Ordinary Staff in those particulars where the pressure is 
 likely to be greater, or not unfrequently by providing those 
 functions in which the Office is deficient, or by a combination 
 of all these. 
 
 An Office seldom retrieves a bad start. It must be remem- 
 bered, that at the commencement of its career, the principles 
 will not have been defined by the Chiefs; the Officers will 
 probably be untrained, and the routine will not be esta- 
 blished. Such has hitherto been the case. By establishing 
 regular principles of Official action, by providing for the 
 training and examination of clerks, and by establishing a 
 common routine much of this evil will be removed, but still 
 it will be prudent to give an increased force at first, say only 
 for a stated period, that there may be leisure to do everything 
 considerately and painstakingly till practice has made the 
 task an easy one. 
 
 I believe, that in the great majority of Cases, the neglect 
 of this ])recaution has been a capital original cause of much 
 Official failure; and sometimes to such an extent, as to lead 
 to the Eventual abolition of an Office, or to its new Con- 
 struction.
 
 Reiiiarh on OJ/icci>, (Sec. 107 
 
 Extension of Offices. 
 
 After an Office has mastered its routine, it will be often 
 found capable of undertakini; new duties, not only without 
 detriment, but with advantage. The more work, the better 
 the discipline and workmanship. 
 
 As observed under the head — Creation of Offices — this may 
 be easily done when the Offices are modelled alike. 
 
 An Office should be so paid, that while it will not receive 
 more remuneration than its work justifies, it will have induce- 
 ment to work its matter out, and do all other needful work 
 that may be put to it. 
 
 There are many ways of extending an Office : — by in- 
 creasing the number of its Departments, or of its Function- 
 aries with Separate Functions ; or by attaching to Existing 
 Departments, or Existing Functionaries, subordinate assist- 
 ants for the whole range of their duty, or for a])propriate 
 divisions of duty, forming part of such range. Such exten- 
 sions may be temporary or permanent, by means of experi- 
 enced Clerks, borrowed from other Offices, or from a general 
 Department, or by means of supernumerary or probationary 
 Clerks, Avho, for the time, occupy a species of brevet rank — 
 waiting for promotion to the next superior rank. 
 
 These Special Employments should be given to Superior 
 Persons of their Class; and so operate immediately as an 
 Instruction to them, and also as a means of giving a move- 
 ment in promotion, calculated to keep alive the hopefulness 
 and zeal of others. 
 
 The Tables which immediately follow, show in various 
 wavs the matters of service involved, and the manner in'which 
 assistance may be supplied or withdrawn, so as to meet in a 
 due degree the requirements of the various details, according 
 to the Occasion, without disturbing the general framework of 
 the organization that may be adopted ; and, also, of so dividing 
 the work amongst inferior hands, that they might at the same 
 time assist their superiors and acquire the information and 
 training necessary for the higher posts.
 
 108 
 
 EcmarJiS on Ofices, dc. 
 
 Examples of Extension by Assistance. 
 
 Accountant. 
 Clerk of 
 
 The Journal. 
 The Ledger. 
 The Statistics. 
 The Specifications. 
 The Estimates. 
 
 Director. 
 CJerk of 
 
 The Direction. 
 
 The Special Aj^encies. 
 
 The Administrative 
 
 Committees. 
 The Special llcfcrces. 
 
 The Local Agencies. 
 
 Secretary. 
 Cierk ot 
 The Board. 
 The Papers. 
 The Correspondence. 
 The Agencies. 
 The Intelligence. 
 
 Actuary. 
 Clerk of 
 The Orders. 
 The Engrossments. 
 The Forms. 
 The Minutes. 
 The Digests. 
 
 Registrar. 
 Clerk of 
 
 The Acts and llecords. 
 The Library. 
 The Indexes. 
 The Registers. 
 The Files. 
 
 Thfasurer. 
 Clerk of 
 
 The Receipts. 
 The Stores. 
 Tiie Cash. 
 The Paymentr. 
 The Bills. 
 
 Auditor. 
 Clerk of 
 
 The Grants and Fees. 
 The Receipts. 
 The Issues. 
 The Vouchers. 
 The Claims. 
 
 Remembrancer. 
 Clerk of 
 
 The Time Agenda. 
 The Personal Agenda. 
 The Subject Agenda. 
 The Special Agenda. 
 The Local Agenda. 
 
 Supkrintendent. 
 Clerk of 
 
 The Complaints. 
 The Defaults. 
 The Localities. 
 The Inspections. 
 The Special Surveys, 
 
 Controller, 
 Clerk of 
 
 The Arrears. 
 The Diaries. 
 The Attendances. 
 The Absences. 
 The Properties. 
 
 This Table will bo useful to indicate not only the means 
 of Extension of the different Offices, but the range of practical 
 duties included therein
 
 Remarks on Offices, &c. 
 
 109 
 
 Examples of Extension by Assistance. 
 
 Administrator. 
 
 Adviser. 
 
 Director . . 
 Secretary 
 Actuary . . 
 Registrar 
 Treasurer . . 
 
 Accountant . . 
 •Auditor . . 
 Remembrancer . . 
 Superintendent . . 
 Controller. . . 
 
 ATcnt. 
 
 Clerk. 
 
 Book-keeper. 
 
 This is the simplest and most effective means of exten- 
 sion. It provides both for gradation of service and continuity 
 of succession in service. Each Officer will by filling his 
 post become fit for that which is above it, while he is imme- 
 diately useful for the entire object, so that every member of 
 the group is acquiring the entire range of experience, and 
 able to assist every other member of the group. It is the 
 arrangement I should prefer for any undertaking such, as the 
 present. It would give every possible degree and kind of 
 practical qualification, without displacement of or hindrance 
 to any.
 
 110 
 
 JRemarJcs on Officer, &c. 
 
 Official Agencies. 
 
 Matters. 
 
 o 
 
 "a 
 
 < 
 
 (I.) Persons, &c. 
 
 [ 
 (II,) Estates and Properties. 
 
 (III.) Domestic Matters, Build- 
 ings, &c. 
 
 (IV.) Fittings, Fixtures, and 
 Furniture. 
 
 [. 
 (V.) Clothing and Coverings. 
 
 [.. 
 (VI.) Provisions and Refresh- 
 ments. 
 
 [ 
 ("\ II.) Stationery, Books, &c, 
 
 (VIII.) Carriages, &;c. 
 
 .[ 
 (IX.) Gifts, Loans, Allowances, 
 
 and Charities. 
 
 [ 
 (X.) Money, Savings, Insurances, 
 
 and Investments. 
 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 U 
 
 a, 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 o 
 o 
 
 Where there is much Action in detail, and there will be 
 in the making and management of many of these matters in 
 some parts of the Official system, it will be wise to secure 
 efficiency by the above division and subordination of func- 
 tions, which will afford at once the means of deserved pro- 
 motion, and at the same time of placing Officers in positions 
 more correspondent with their ages and qualifications. The 
 divisions indicated by the head of the secondary columns are 
 in fact those which take place in professional organizations, 
 though under different designations, and somewhat different 
 arrangements.
 
 Remarks on Offices, dc. 
 Special Agencies. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Matters. 
 
 (T.) Personal 
 
 (II.) Estates and Properties 
 (III.) Housing 
 (IV.) Furniture, &c. . . 
 (V.) Clothing 
 (VI.) Provisions 
 (VII.) Stationery 
 (VIII.) Carriage and Conveyance 
 (IX.) Gifts, Loans and Charities 
 
 (X.) Money, Savings, Insurance, 
 and Investments 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 'c 
 '3 
 c 
 
 .5 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Officers who would have place in these columns are 
 numberless ; they are all those tradesmen who supply our 
 wants under the different heads included in the principal 
 column, which heads are also capable of subdivision. The 
 heads of the parallel columns indicate the divisions of prac- 
 tical matters, which are to be regarded in our estimates and 
 accounts, m our statistics, and in our records of administration 
 and legislation, and judicial action. 
 
 They will be found practically to exist, but not to be recog- 
 nized with distinctness. The special means of accounting, and 
 registering, and bookkeeping, will facilitate these practical 
 distinctions, without embarrassing the action of a Department 
 or Office.
 
 112 
 
 Remarhs on Offices, dc. 
 Local Agencies. 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 Localities. 
 
 a 
 
 '73 
 
 U 
 
 o . 
 
 
 0) 
 
 ex, 
 
 
 
 
 C^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 '3 
 
 > 
 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 
 < 
 
 < 
 
 <o 
 
 U 
 
 PQ 
 
 (I.) Empire. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (II.) England. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (III.) Ireland. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (IV.) Scotland. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (V.) Home Colonies. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (VI.) Metropolitan. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (VII.) County and District. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (VIII.) City and Borough. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ (IX.) Town and Village. 
 
 (X.) Parish and Parochial Dis- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 trict. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 In the process of indexing under these heads, there would 
 arise a multitude, and a classification of topics, waiting for 
 consideration and solution, which would teach ho\y great is 
 the need of a more extensive force properly organized. At 
 the same time, it would show the local relations of matters, 
 and their common relation to the more general State or 
 National matters, and thus in some measure counteract the 
 downward gravitating tendency ito make the special out-top 
 the general considerations, which usually produces an effect 
 the reverse of that intended, viz., the substitution of minute 
 regulation with its fetters of detail, for general principles of 
 universal application, by means of an agency comparatively 
 free and unfettered as it is general in its structure and 
 functions.
 
 Remarks on Of Ices, dec. 113 
 
 Extension of Offices. 
 
 Refeuees. 
 
 Besides the extension of Offices, by means of established 
 agencies, tbc}' might bo increased by the employment of 
 Referees, eitiier permanently or occasionally. But if the 
 system of Referees be used, care should be taken to employ 
 several, and each for definite ends. All the puzzling that 
 lias been experienced by asking opinions, has arisen from 
 ])roper distinctions of object and of mode referable to the 
 occasion not being taken, either by the person employing 
 the Referee or by the Referee himself. The former asks 
 general questions, and the latter gives an opinion as general ; 
 and the former, having committed himself by the appoint- 
 ment of his Referee-Authority, feels bound by the ipse dixit 
 of the latter, or if several are consulted, is simply puzzled. 
 The solution of the difficulty would be found in the employ- 
 ment of several Referees, each to perform his proper task. 
 
 Thus " An Inquiring Referee " might be set to ascertain 
 what are the various views which are entertained, or claimed 
 to be true, on the subject, and to report those various views 
 in a proper manner. 
 
 The " Registering or Literary Referee" would tell what 
 has been said, or done, on the subject, and give an account of 
 the various Memorials and Records applicable thereto. 
 
 The •' Judicial Referee " would investigate and determine 
 disputed (Questions of Principle, that is, of the Scientilic Law 
 applicable to the subject ; or disputed Questions of Fact, that 
 is, of the instances alleged to have occurred. 
 
 The " Legislative Referee " would state the rule in the 
 ]jro])er manner. 
 
 The ''Administrative Referee," Avith the help of the 
 '• Special Referee," would state Avhat would bo fit to be done 
 in the Case; or if the case had its Local Relations, what 
 would be fit to be done in the given jdace. And so with 
 other Referees according to the nature of their functions. 
 
 The whole number thus separately employed, the younger 
 and least authoritative in brintdm: to view the material 
 
 ii
 
 114 Remarks on Offices, dsc. 
 
 elements of the case, and the elder, or more experienced, in 
 tryinw the matters involved, and pronouncing the opinion; 
 would all give, not contradictory, but contributory aid, M'ith 
 more justice to themselves than they usually do, when either 
 at the request of another, or at their own instance, they sit in 
 judgment on matters referred to them. The fact is, that men 
 of the highest authority are often least able to pronounce upon 
 abstract or general views, that is, of a truth in all its possible 
 applications ; partly because their habit is to give judgment on 
 actual cases presented, and partly because they are usually 
 appealed to as an authority not to be questioned ; and partly 
 because, being much employed, and more advanced in life, they 
 are not in the habit of referring to elementary principles, nor of 
 testing rigorously by critical investigation the conclusions 
 which they have come to during long observation and practice. 
 Thus it has happened that when Statesmen and Legislators 
 have appealed to men of Science, the immediate result has often 
 been failure ; which has led to such appeals not being made 
 where they should have been. 
 
 We sadly want, in all branches of the Civil Service, — in Ad- 
 ministration, in Inquiry, in Legislation, in Judicial Matters, 
 in Financial Matters, in Official Matters, in Special Matters, 
 in Local Matters, in Superintendence and Control, and in Regis- 
 tration and Record, — the special aid of scientific men ; and it 
 is a matter of the highest concern to establish a means of asso- 
 ciating them in action with the practical persons of all those 
 Departments of Business. 
 
 It would be worth while, as a matter of State Pohcy, and 
 it is due both to the Savans and to the Artists, that they 
 should be distinctly recognized, and made more available in 
 the Civil Service. 
 
 An honourable body of such persons might advantageously 
 be associated with the Committees and the other Departments 
 of State. 
 
 It would be prudent to give them a position because that 
 would establish a higher degree of responsibility; and by means 
 of tbeir experience and practice, a higher degree of value to 
 their Surveys, Reports, and Estimates. 
 
 To the great body of Legislators, Official Personages,
 
 Remarhs on Offices, &c. 115 
 
 Judicial Personages, and Lawyers, it would be productive of 
 inu(di advantage; for by means of such intercourse, their 
 information would be extended, and their powers of usefulness 
 augmented, — they could not only better ask questions, but 
 better make use of them. 
 
 It would also produce great national results in the popular 
 estimation of scientific knowledge, which would show itself in 
 an improved action, and in an improved tone of sentiment in 
 many directions. 
 
 The List which follows on the next page would give a speci- 
 men of the Classes who might be employed, and the 
 means of orfranizinjj them. 
 
 The subjects may be either more or less than those named 
 in the first column. The degree of Occasion for their employ- 
 ment, could not be ascertained without consulting an Index of 
 the Topics which are embraced in Administrative and Legis- 
 lative Measures ; but it would be as useful as curious to make 
 a list of such Topics. Lord Brougham, in a Speech delivered 
 on Law Reform, related a very remarkable mathematical 
 absurdity which had crept into an Act of Parliament, and the 
 case is by no means singular, for it is very common to use 
 scientific terms in a popular sense and popular terms in a 
 scientific sense, to the great confusion of the interpreter of 
 Statutes, which might be avoided if such matters were referred 
 not to a mere bye-stander as is now often done, but to a respon- 
 sible Officer. 
 
 Some of the matters will appear to the inconsiderate to be 
 uncalled for, and perhaps ridiculous. None have been inserted 
 for which, in the writer's own experience, occasion has not 
 commonly arisen ; and the use of which would not be, even in 
 a commercial sense, highly economical, for Science and Art are 
 both great economists. 
 
 H 2
 
 116 
 
 Remarka on Oficm, &c. 
 
 References. 
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 REFEREES. 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Architectural 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Artistical 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Carrying 
 Chemical 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 Commercial 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * " 
 
 
 Culinary 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'o 
 
 tJD 
 
 Domestic 
 Educational 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 '5 
 o 
 
 Engineering 
 Financial 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 © 
 
 1— 1 
 
 Legal 
 
 Literary 
 
 Local 
 
 Mathematical 
 
 Mechanical 
 
 Medical 
 
 Meteorological 
 
 
 .5 
 
 H-1 
 
 © 
 © 
 
 • 
 
 '5 
 
 
 'o 
 
 O 
 
 is 
 
 '3 
 
 © 
 
 • 
 
 o 
 O 
 
 fcX) 
 
 o 
 
 c 
 n 
 
 to 
 
 .S 
 © 
 
 'EJo 
 © 
 
 pel 
 
 Official 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Personal 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Proprietary 
 
 Physiological 
 
 Political 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Scientific 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Surgical 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 In the different Departments, scientific skill is sometimes 
 ohtained by employing the Savans or Artists, under some 
 Official designation, either to do duties where there are none 
 to perform, or to perform duties for which they are not trained ; 
 and which may absorb their time and energies, and preclude 
 their attention to special matters. The better plan would be 
 to employ such persons directly and specifically for the task, 
 and in such a manner as to make their s])ecial services most 
 available, without admixture of services, which may be per- 
 formed a great deal better by persons of vciy inferior skill, or 
 by a different order of ability.
 
 Remarks on OJ/lces, &c. 1 1 
 
 RnniTCTio.v OF Offices. 
 
 By the transfer of duties of an anomalous kind, for which 
 other Offices exist without adequate work, an oppressed Office 
 may he rehevcd or even reduced; and that result will he pro- 
 duced hy the simple withdrawal of unnecessary Officers, who, by 
 force of the principle of adjusting: Remuneration to service, 
 will be induced to relincpiish an Office which does not provide 
 sufficient work to give them adec^uate remuneration to maintain 
 them . 
 
 The chief objection to the reduction of Offices, as usually 
 conducted, is, that it becomes necessary to place incompatible 
 duties in the same hands, incompatible functions required to 
 be performed at the same time, or at dilFerent places, at too 
 short intervals, or of a nature to demand ([ualifications so 
 different, that they do not usually reside in the same indi- 
 vidual. The result is, that one is often neglected for the 
 other, and each becomes, in turn, in arrear. 
 
 If the OHlccs should be formed on the same general prin- 
 ciple, the end proposed by a reduction of Offices would usually 
 be effected by Consolidation. 
 
 Consolidation of Officfs. 
 
 The Consolidation of Offices, like the Consolidation of the 
 Law, is a want of the day. Economy in every shape is thus 
 obtained with better work. It should not be a Consolidation 
 by throwing incompatible functions on the same Officer ; 
 but by adding Office to Office till each proper functionary 
 has his full sup])ly of duty, and till provision is made not 
 only for present services, hut for continuitij of service^ and 
 contimdty of succession in service^ and also for maJcing a due 
 ])roportion between direction, superintendence, and control, 
 and the subordinate officers and labourers. 
 
 Hitherto Consolidation has been resorted to more for the 
 sake of Economy than of efficiency. The Efficiency should be 
 the first object ; and the inunediatc effect, or at least the con- 
 sequence, will bo a vast saving of expense, occasioned by the
 
 118 Remarhs on Offices, &c. 
 
 better performance of the \York. To starve the work is to 
 create an apparent saving and an unseen expense. To work 
 painstakingly is to create an apparent expense and a real 
 
 saving. 
 
 Abolition of Offices, 
 
 The abolition of an Office demands great care in collaterals. 
 An Office falls into desuetude sometimes through the care- 
 lessness of the Officers paid by salaries without reference to 
 work ; but though the Office is in desuetude, the demand for 
 its service, which occasioned its existence, is often not so. This 
 is discovered afterwards, and it becomes necessary hastily 
 to restore what was inconsiderately abolished. 
 
 The proper plan would be never wholly to abolish the 
 functions, though the Office is abolished, but to assign those 
 functions to analogous functionaries. 
 
 Many unforeseen difficulties may be thus avoided. 
 
 An inquiry would probably give very useful memoranda on 
 this head. 
 
 Officers. 
 
 General Remarks. 
 
 These considerations bring me to the questions incident to 
 the selection and appointment of Officers and Clerks, — to their 
 instruction and training, examination, trial, or probation, — 
 to their promotion and superannuation, and to their treatment 
 ari intelligent Officers, who usually quit other walks of life, in 
 the belief that they may, if prudent, safely rely upon success 
 in the public service. 
 
 I have found so much mischief done to the public service 
 by the hopelessness of Employts, that I am disposed to press 
 the consideration of this topic even upon dry Economical 
 grounds ; but I am satisfied, that apart from our sense of 
 right, and the desire to act thereon, it is important to the 
 comfort and success of all who are in authority over them, 
 especially under the present false system of renmneration. 
 
 Nothing can supply the place of disinterested and judi-
 
 Remarhs on Offices, &c. 119 
 
 cious zeal ; and there are few unwilling to exert themselves 
 in a worthy public object, while they feel themselves sus- 
 tained at the time, and on the road to advancement. Damp 
 this feeling, and it soon becomes a cold calculation : how 
 little nmst I do to keep position ; and one need not say that 
 the exertion soon fsills below the proper standard. 
 
 Having a good Officer, it is necessary to keep him so by 
 all proper means; and after a well settled condition in regard 
 to present renmneration, promotion, and ultimate provision, 
 I know of none so simple as a judicious outfit, by which I 
 mean the Apartments, Depositaries, and all other requisites 
 for the convenient discharge of his duty. 
 
 The Outfit. 
 
 Every article of outfit should bo directed specifically to its 
 purpose ; and it would be well if every Chief were to do as 
 Pitt did — have in his room, properly arranged, a number 
 of Tables or Stands, or other accessible depositaries, on which 
 were placed the matters needing attention, and to which, when 
 he desired, or was in a condition to consider a subject, he at 
 once went. He had under his eye, and therefore within the 
 means of recollection, what he had to do, and he could do it 
 as the thought, or the inclination, or the opportunity sug- 
 gested or permitted. 
 
 The Outfit should consist not only of chairs and tables, but 
 of the necessary instructions in detail, as well as other Office 
 books, properly made and ready to begin with. 
 
 The Outfit is matter of primary concern. A careful con- 
 sideration of such thincTs at the outset of an Office, and at the 
 outset of every Officei-'s career, would conduce to efficiency 
 and to economy, almost as much as any other means. 
 
 Office Accessories. 
 
 The room in which every principal Officer, Chief, or Subor- 
 dinate sits, should be a perfect embodiment of the matters and 
 an impregnation of the spirit of his Office. He should see 
 nothing there which does not belong to his Office, or which is
 
 120 RemarJcs on Offices, &c. 
 
 not neccssavy for the service thereof. On the walls the depo- 
 sitaries of papers and the hooks; above them, tlie maps and 
 illustrations of his matters; and on the tables, all the matters 
 which await his attention. Over the mantel-piece, with the 
 almanack and the timepiece, a tabular statement of all the 
 Dependencies and Offices under him, and of the Officers in 
 other Departments who are allied to tlie matters of his own. 
 
 The remembrancer of the day should be under his eye, with 
 a list of all agenda that await his consideration. 
 
 Very great minds have been practically useless, because they 
 scorned the facilities which humbler men used, and have 
 overlooked their business, because the proper Officer was 
 neglectful or intriguing. It is a first step of success to become 
 familiar with the names of things and their relations ; and to 
 know what and how much is to be done, is like repentance, a 
 large step in advance towards amendment, and energetic, 
 resultful action. 
 
 When one Officer or Minister goes out, and another comes in 
 the latter should lind that the chair is the only place necessary 
 to be filled; it is necessary for the training not only of the Officer, 
 but of all who are in relation with him — his assistants, clerks, 
 and attendants — that method should prevail in his arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 To say that it would be irksome, is to say that he is to that 
 extent not trained for business, and that he will accordingly be 
 more or less troublesome to everybody placed in contact with 
 him. 
 
 This, it will be observed, is not an idle and fanciful sufrws- 
 tion ; it is the very means of transacting business with ease. 
 The exactness that everybody requires of railway and public 
 conveyances we should impose on ourselves. 
 
 And if it be fairly pursued, we shall find the effects of those 
 unbusiness-like qualities, which all have in a dcgi-ee, proportion- 
 ately lessened. 
 
 Facilitirs Fon Officers, 
 
 Every Officer should liave a Diary and Journal, single or 
 combined, and enter in the former all matters to be done and
 
 Remarks on Offices^ dc. 121 
 
 the time of doing thorn, find in the hitter all matters done ; 
 and the Officer shonld ho tau<,dit hy the mode in which his 
 claims are dealt with, that this is not to bo regarded as a 
 fetter, bnt as a record of claims, when the opportunity of 
 advancement comes; for the correct, and intelligent, and 
 punctual manner in which work has been actually done, will 
 be a far better test of fitness for higher employment than an 
 examination (though that sliould not be dispensed with), while 
 it prevents the Candidate for promotion from being tempted 
 by his hopes, to neglect the present in his efforts to acquire 
 the future employment. 
 
 AVliat the Chief has, other Officers, according to their 
 occasions of service, should also have. 
 
 No facility should be denied, — indeed it should be insisted 
 on, that if the qualities of the Officer are such that he cannot 
 fulfil the whole range of the duties of his post, he should have 
 the needful assistance, subject, of course, to such adjustment of 
 remuneration as will not make the Public a loser by the 
 arrangement. 
 
 This is a matter of interest to the Office as well as to the 
 Officer. It is the business of Organization to take care that 
 nobody's defects shall thwart the purpose. The weak are to 
 be reinforced by the strong, the inexperienced by the expe- 
 rienced, and one kind of capacity sto))ping short at a point by 
 another which begins there ; and the whole so carefully 
 allotted in the range of routine, that all may feel and nppear 
 to be in their place and appreciated for their true merits, 
 without thought even of their defects; an object perhaps not 
 entirely attainable, but worthy of the effort to attain it. 
 
 PllKPAnATION OF Ol-FK'ERS. 
 
 The instruction and training of Officers should be obtained 
 by special means specifically adapted to the service in which 
 they arc employed ; but a general instruction and training 
 should be given, which nioy be obtained by the Clerk passing 
 through the Copying, or AV'riting, and Drawing Departments, 
 and eti'ect niav be tjiven to the traininij bv examininir the
 
 122 Remarks on Offices, do. 
 
 Officer in the Law o'l the Department and in the Official 
 Instructions. 
 
 The copyinjT should be extended beyond the copying of 
 letters, to the copying of extracts, abstracts, outlines and 
 indexes, and precis papers ; in short, to whatever is calculated 
 to make them acquainted with the matter as well as the form. 
 
 They should also be attached to the regular service of the 
 Officers, that they may learn the routine of business, and the 
 occasions for the use of the forms which they copy. 
 
 The trouble of instructing Clerks for the nonce, often 
 induces the Chiefs to forego their services, and thus deprives 
 the Public immediately of these services, oppresses the Chief 
 with unnecessary labour, and deprives the Clerks of oppor- 
 tunities of learning. 
 
 Different Offices have adopted different methods of instruc- 
 tion and different periods of probation. These should be ascer- 
 tained, and more extensively applied. 
 
 Instruction should not, however, be confined to Mechanical 
 Matters. Care should be taken that the whole scope and pur- 
 pose of the Office, and of the several parts of its procedure, are 
 understood. Many fail more from not entertaining a right 
 idea of the situation, than from inability to act, while without 
 a knowledge of the object the Assistant finds it difficult to 
 understand the directions of his Superior. 
 
 By passing through the Departments of the Office, and 
 assisting in all its functions, this evil may be lessened. 
 
 Appointment of Officers. 
 
 The selection and appointment of Officers is the great diffi- 
 culty of the Civil Service. By prescribing instruction, training, 
 and probation, the abuse of patronage may be limited, and its 
 fair objects secured. 
 
 No appointment should be made without such ordeals, and the 
 appointments should be notified in some Public Official Gazette. 
 
 This would still be consistent with the nomination of per- 
 sons by the Government of the day, while it would protect the 
 I^lembers of the Government from the assertion of untenable 
 claims. To limit such claims the qualifications for each Office 
 .should be ascertained, and such instructions given to the
 
 Remarhs on Offices, dc. 123 
 
 Examiners as would impose upon them the ohligation of 
 ensurin<; the desired objects in this respect, which instruc- 
 tions shoukl be published for the information of the Public 
 generally, and of Applicants in particular. 
 
 As different services require different (jualifications, there 
 would be no difficulty in finding places suitable for persons of 
 every calibre, and by filling the places accordingly, the greatest 
 efficiency would be the result. It requires but little obser- 
 vation to discover that the finest intelligences are often very 
 inefficient doers, and that very good doers are often very inapt 
 without the aid of better intelligences. 
 
 Nor should rank bo given entirely to one or the other; but 
 the gradation of Offices should be so managed as to give dignity 
 as well as place to all kinds of talent, and so to dispose each 
 kind that it may support and be supported by others. 
 
 Union op Functions in the same Person. 
 
 There are some Functions which may be conveniently em- 
 bodied in the same Person. On the other hand, there are 
 some which are entirely incompatible. 
 
 The followincj should not be combined : — 
 Direction and Execution. 
 Execution and Registration. 
 Treasure-keeping and Accounting. 
 Accounting and Auditing. 
 
 The prohibitions in this direction, in many Statutes, will 
 furnish at once indications of the object and scope of this 
 remark, and precedents for its application. 
 
 Further, each Function should be considered in the light — 
 
 First, of a Stationary Office, where the works are to be 
 done at the same place, and of a Moving Office, where the 
 works are to be done at dillerent places, and Secondly, in 
 respect to Works requiring to be done within a given time, 
 and in respect to works to be done together within the same 
 time. 
 
 The Official System is too stationary. The want of External 
 Agency occasions much delay and much useless correspondence.
 
 124 Remarks on Offices, &c. 
 
 We should imitate ]3anlcers and many other callings that 
 unite the two means. The jNIessenger might (if a superior 
 person were employed), fulfil this requisite, and to some 
 extent it should be employed, not casually, but systematically. 
 The Record of the transaction to be effected by a Minute, 
 instead of by a letter and reply, and probably a larger series of 
 communications. 
 
 It is by the combination of all means, in a convenient 
 manner, that we may hope to make the Official System as 
 facile and prompt as systems of private business. 
 
 Discipline of Officers. 
 
 Each Officer besides keeping a Remembrancer or Diary, 
 should report periodically to his immediate Chief. 
 
 Each Officer should make, maintain, and keep his " Kit " 
 according to Pt,egulation. 
 
 The Diary should note all matters wherewith, from time 
 to time, he may be charged, and how, when, and where he 
 discharged them. 
 
 The Mode of Remuneration would afford also means of 
 enforcing discipline ; and so would the Leave of Absence, which 
 would be subject to there being no arrears with him or in his 
 Department. 
 
 The Remuneration should be for attendance, for acts, and for 
 having no arrears ; and no leave of absence (except in cases of 
 illness, &c.,) should be allowable where there were arrears. 
 Indeed, it would be an useful rule that no Clerk should leave 
 till the work of the day, week, or other period, was complete — 
 a rule apparently hard but really indulgent, for it would lead to 
 such activity and promptitude that the whole Office would do 
 more, and according to the above principle earn more, while 
 the penalty for arrears would scarcely ever accrue. It is a mis- 
 take to suppose that good discipline is disagreeable. It renders 
 the work so facile that it partakes more of pleasure than labour, 
 but an unpunctual, irregular individual may, without the aid 
 of a strict rule, which brings the penalty quickly upon him, 
 mar the interests of the whole Office.
 
 Remarks on O^ces, t&c*. 125 
 
 Promotion of Officers. 
 
 Tlicro is an universal feeling that the Public Service cainiot 
 1)0 performed without a well-regulated System of Promotion, 
 whic-li shall mako Promotion the result of skill and good 
 behaviour, or nearly so. 
 
 The System of Promotion might be a composite one. 
 
 One in three might be direct from class to class in the 
 Office. 
 
 One in three might be the best man of the next class, 
 throughout the whole or a given range of Officers. 
 
 One in three without reference to rotation or previous 
 official service, the special aptitude and merit being inserted in 
 appointment. 
 
 This scheme, coupled with the precautions taken for secur- 
 ing a proper person on admission, and for securing proper 
 service, would meet the objects of the contending principles 
 which require to be regarded. 
 
 It would prevent that carelessness which results from the 
 certainty of Promotion without merit ; it would prevent undue 
 success in one Department, while in others the Promotion is 
 stagnant ; and it would give the Government opportunities of 
 availing itself of those special qualifications which have been 
 begotten and matured in other services public or private, and 
 also enable it to encourage special merit, developed at an early 
 period of life. 
 
 The order of Promotion should be determined by the 
 general rule, which should be tliat each Ofiiccr should pass 
 through the inferior grades before he can succeed to the higher, 
 or through each kind of service, which is a proper aid to 
 another. 
 
 The main test in every case should bo the skill, diligence 
 and faithfulness, with which the duties of past services have 
 l)een performed. 
 
 ASSIMIL.VTIO.V OF SkRVCE. 
 
 All the Services should be amalgamated or assimilated, so 
 that to belong to any would give title to Promotion in the rest 
 if the needful acquirements were possessed, and so that all
 
 126 Remarks on Offices, 6cc. 
 
 should obtain status and consideration from holding a place in 
 
 any Service. 
 
 The removal of the difficulty in filling Colonial Gover- 
 norships, the stiffness of notion and faculty which comes 
 from a man being a mere anything, and activity of pro- 
 motion, with many other advantages, would follow from the 
 eventual assimilation of all the services. 
 
 It might be a means of reducing the dead weight of Pen- 
 sions ; and also of providing quieter employment in their 
 later years for those whose physical energies have become un- 
 equal to more active employments. 
 
 A man trained in one employment often brings most 
 valuable methods into the other, which he adopts, and a force 
 which a man who know^s no other pursuits seldom has. 
 
 Besides, the introduction of some degree of the discipline 
 of other services would not be without its value in the Civil 
 Service, as there are many instances to prove. 
 
 Superannuation of Officers. 
 
 The Superannuation of Officers should take place at certain 
 fixed periods, as in the case of the American Judges : but 
 persons competent to work, might claim work in the Super- 
 numerary Department, and should be employed on such terms 
 and in such manner as to insure that they do not remain in 
 service after they have ceased to be able to act. 
 
 The Provision for Superannuation should be set apart and 
 assigned to the Officer as the payment arises, but should not 
 be available to him or to his family till he attain the age of 
 Superannuation, or become disabled, or dies. 
 
 The Fund should be managed by a Special Board of 
 Officers ; and all claims should be determined by a Court of 
 Claims, upon lleprcsentations made by the persons entitled, in 
 a prescribed manner. 
 
 Among the Public Officers a good deal of misapprehension 
 is afloat as to the nature of the Superannuation Fund, which 
 should be removed by an explicit statement, or exposition of 
 the law under which it is created, and of the right thereby 
 acquired.
 
 Remarks on Offices, dc. 127 
 
 Resignation or Decease of Officers. 
 
 On the Decease or Resignation of Officers, it should be the 
 duty of the Superintendent to receive the " Kit " of the Officer ; 
 to report it to the Controller, and to hand it over to the Officer 
 who shall succeed. 
 
 Without loss of time, all claims of the Crown should be 
 ascertained and enforced, and a Discharge given to the Officer or 
 his Representatives. 
 
 If there be reason to withhold the Discharge, the grounds 
 should be specially reported, and the matter should be referred 
 to the proper Judicial Officer of the Department. 
 
 Very great injustice has sometimes been done to Officers 
 by withholding, for a long space of time, their Discharge or 
 Quietus, and the practice of Government does not appear to 
 be worthy of its dignity. Nor is it safe to itself. It is ques- 
 tionable whether it does not often happen that from its own 
 laches it practically forfeits the security which has been given 
 by its Accountants. As a matter of discipline over the De- 
 partments of Control, Special Reports should be made to the 
 Chief Controlling Authority, of the state of the accounts, &c., 
 of its Retiring, or Deceased Officer, and of the measures taken 
 to enforce the Crown claims. 
 
 College of Offickrs 
 
 The plan suggested in these papers proceeds upon the 
 assumption that for every distinct class of service, provi- 
 sion should be made by two distinct and definite means : 
 the one, an Office fully constituted for its purpose, with a 
 sufficient number of functionaries to exhaust the service; the 
 other, an Officer in each Office corresponding with the general 
 scope of the duties of such Department. Each means is 
 employed to counteract an objectionable tendencv : first, that 
 of the great Department, which operates to overrule all other 
 Offices by a narrow routine, and so prevents the development 
 of their Special Objects ; and secondly, that of the other 
 Offices attempting in the pursuit of their Special Objects, to
 
 128 Reinarl'8 on O flees, S^c. 
 
 evade unnecessarily the General I-awofsucli great Department, 
 and by the inadequacy of their machinery to do that imperfectly 
 Avhich the great Department would, by its better organization, 
 do more perfectly. 
 
 The united objects above adverted to might also bo effec- 
 tually obtained by a further expedient, namely, by a College 
 of Officers of the same class. This measure, by employing 
 the whole ranffe of Officers connected with this branch of 
 the service, in the same undertaking, might give a force com- 
 mensurate with the most laborious action within the most 
 limited period, and with the addition of Volunteers for Special 
 Services (such services to be computed on the occasion of 
 claims for promotion), might enable the Government easily 
 to cope with such measures as the Organization of Offices and 
 the Consolidation of the Law. But it is manifest that where 
 many are concerned they must act upon a common plan and 
 under common instructions. 
 
 Indeed, by the expedient of each Principal Officer working 
 out completely the necessary instructions for his own special 
 Office, and consolidating the Law relating to it under the 
 observations of his fellows in the same walk, the task would bo 
 performed without much difficulty. 
 
 This arrangement would, moreover, have a special value 
 in digesting and collating the experience of different Officers of 
 the same class. The Stipendiary Magistrates for the Metropolis 
 often for a long time differ in practice from the want of this 
 intercourse, and the same effect is experienced by almost every 
 other class of Officers. They should be organized in the same 
 way as an Office, that their action may be of a regular and 
 responsible kind, and conducive to practical results. 
 
 Official Intercouuse. 
 
 There is atopic of some practical importance which should 
 not be omitted. It involves some difficulties, but concerns so 
 nearly the success of Official undertakings of the highest order, 
 and the good understanding of the service, that it should be 
 bad in account. It is the Intercourse between the Chiefs of
 
 OFFICIAL OCCASIONS.
 
 OFFICIAL OCCASIONS. 
 
 Of The Minister. 
 
 Of Ministers of Departments. 
 
 Of Heads of Departments. 
 
 Of the Officer and Clerk. 
 
 Of the Member of Parhament. 
 
 Of the Pubhc. 
 
 Of the Press. 
 
 Of Special Interests. 
 
 Resume. 
 
 In the former divisions of tliis work, we discussed 
 the causes of the Obstruction of the Public Business, and sug- 
 gested some leading means for obviating it, and the means of 
 making a Survey by wliich to obtain general results founded 
 upon every excellent existing practice, and by which to obtain 
 the general co-operation of Functionaries. 
 
 Next anticipating, by the aid of observation already ex- 
 tensively applied to such matters, the results of such Survey, 
 we recommended a framework of Organization and suggested 
 the principles upon which it sliould be constructed, and also 
 sundry considerations to be regarded in this branch of the 
 Administration of affairs, particularly in regard to the making, 
 unmaking, and altering of Offices ; and the making and 
 government of Officers. 
 
 K 2
 
 148 Official Occasions. 
 
 And in the course of the work \\q have indicated, or 
 brought to recollection, the great mass of business now pend- 
 ing, and to which it is 'necessarj^ that this, or some' other 
 machinery, should be applied for its consideration and solu- 
 tion bv the Minister and tliose who. in everv grade of Official 
 life, are entrusted Avith the duty of assistance. 
 
 It will be difficult for those who liave not personally been 
 martyrs or victims to the j)resent disorganization, or in- 
 organization, of our Official System to go along with us in the 
 statements and suggestions which we have offered, and many 
 who are the victims, but who have not thought of the evils 
 under which they suffer, but loving that form of labour, in 
 which their life is cast, and may be, priding themselves upon 
 being the special and even exclusive Ministers of such 
 labour, have come to regard such a state of things as one to 
 be commended and cherished. 
 
 There is frequently in a Department or Office one 
 person, the master as well as tlie victim of all its concerns : 
 who governs the Chiefs, the Equals, and all l)cneath him, 
 of whom all exclaim, '•' what could be done if So-and-so 
 should die or retire ? " and whose name is in every one's 
 mouth as the sole possessor of the knowledge of the Office. 
 Such an one may be regarded as at once its bane and anti- 
 dote. By preventing all others doing their duty, he creates 
 work for himself ; which he does, or puts aside and postpones, 
 as he can : instead of directly superintending, enforcing, and 
 controlling, as he ought, the operations of all others, animated 
 by his intelligence and impelled by his zeal and assiduity. 
 
 The Mimstek. 
 
 The dutv of The Minister is not confined to Legislation. 
 His greater duty is Administration, of which Legislation is 
 the complement. He is to work out with as nmch effect as 
 he can the existing means for good ; and these failing, to 
 have recourse to Legislation to supply the deficiencies. He 
 needs, therefore, an elaborate machincrv to enable him to
 
 OJicial Occctsions. 149 
 
 prosecute this part of his duty without undue cftbrt. It is 
 necessary that he should know what is done, or claimed to be 
 done, without the intervention of the Government, that he 
 may avoid doing what is already done, or where it is done ; 
 and that where it is not done, he may cause it to be made 
 known for the information and guidance of other communi- 
 ties; and that he may copy successful methods in those things 
 which fall properly within the province of Government. 
 
 To collect information is, therefore, in all cases the duty 
 of Government, and it is no less its duty and its policy to 
 publish it, if it be brief, througli the established organs, and 
 if it be lengthy l)y the ordinary means of publication, by 
 Parliamentary and State Papers. 
 
 That Ijranch of the service which consists of the means 
 of Registration and Record is peculiarly necessary, and for 
 that reason it is provided for by express and adequate 
 means in every Department. It may be made also the 
 means of training Officers for the higher duties. 
 
 It is not so much in the final disposal of measures as in 
 the manner of treatment of questions not ripe, that the 
 leadership is vindicated, and it is the only mode of avoiding 
 that discrepancy between the action and the antecedents 
 which has so discredited modern statesmanship, and hin- 
 dered the progress of improvement. 
 
 It follows, then, that a Minister must be ripe on all ques- 
 tions whatever their state ; and that it is his Office not merely 
 to lead the present action, but really, though insensibly, the 
 future. 
 
 By a method, comprehensive and complete, adapted to 
 the case in hand, he will accomplish this result without dif- 
 ticulty. It is simply the application of a large logic. But 
 as his mind cannot at all times be saturated with the intel- 
 ligence suited to each occasion, and capable of supplying the 
 recollection at a moment, he must have his Remembrancers 
 of all kinds acting upon his method, — conversant witli his 
 views, alive to his practice and exigences, — and capable of 
 aiding him by all the means of advice, by information of 
 the past, of the present, of the views of the best informed, of 
 the points in controversy and of their solution, of dates of
 
 150 Official Occasions. 
 
 transactions, of the moving or influential events, of the per- 
 sons from wliom information is to be obtained, and of the 
 cautions with which it is to be accepted or regarded, — of the 
 prejudices, the feelings, the state of opinion of different 
 classes of persons, — of the law, — of the resources available to 
 the case — pecuniary and official, institutional or voluntary, — 
 of the public interests to be secured, and the private interests 
 to be protected, — of the mischiefs, or the tendencies to mis- 
 chief which may be apprehended, and of the means of reme- 
 dying the mischiefs, or intercepting their tendencies, — of, in 
 short, the objects to be accomplished, the occasions for their 
 accomplishment and use, of the means whereby they may be 
 accomplished, and the developments and adaptations that 
 must be anticipated and provided for. 
 
 He must have men capable of observing, of inquiring, of 
 investigating, of reporting and extracting the information 
 wherever it is, who should act for him as for another self, by 
 his own rule rather than by theirs, — or with, or by, so much 
 of their own rule as they must needs use in obedience to their 
 idiosyncracy. 
 
 But Ministers, like their juniors, are apt to forget that 
 they see further than the juniors, who need an explicit 
 direction of agenda, or a clear indication of the purpose. 
 Frequent intercourse, under the same general system, will 
 teach the observant assistant the direction of the wishes of 
 his Chief, whose pre-occupation may preclude particular 
 instructions ; bat the best guide to the ambitious assistant, 
 is "what should I do if I were Minister?" He must put 
 himself in his master's place, and be prepared to act accord- 
 ingly. Yet, he can do but little, where the general arrange- 
 ments are so imperfect as not to supply readily, on demand, 
 the necessary material. 
 
 It is the office of a Minister not only to develop his own 
 views, but those of the Public, that he may not, when the 
 time for action comes, be forced into an untenable position, 
 where he must either act unsafely or retreat disgracefully. 
 He has to overcome his adversaries, not so much by his own 
 prowess, but by the prowess of his allies opposed to them
 
 Official Occasions. 151 
 
 in views ; and those allies lie must cultivate, by public and 
 general discussion, before he attempts to proceed to action. A 
 Statesman, in short, has three courses, to do promptly that 
 which is right, and all men, or the greater number, are agreed 
 about ; to postpone courteously and not dlscouragingly that 
 which is right and in which agreement is not extensive ; and, 
 lastly, to stir up questions and promote discussion upon those 
 matters, (especially such as are of a bye-order) which are 
 Conducive to right results, but upon which the intelligence 
 and interest of the pulilic have not yet been awakened, and 
 are not likely to be awakened without adventitious aid, such 
 as the publication of the information in the possession of the 
 Government. Alxive all, he is not to repel a crotchet, how- 
 ever crotchety ; but on the contrary, seizing the opportunity 
 as a fair one, expound the matters as they exist, show the 
 principle on which they rest, indicate various considerations 
 which are claimed to apply to their solution, point to the 
 present state of the question, direct attention to the investiga- 
 tions that require to be carried out, and by exhibiting a thorough 
 mastery of the field, conciliate fair dispositions, and a patient 
 reliance on his wisdom, always renicmbering, that though 
 he may be prescient of the fit and certain result, it is not, 
 in a free country, the Statesman's business to apply till 
 agreement has been obtained amongst the public generally, 
 or that portion of the public who govern in such matters. 
 
 Supposing that we have before us the whole range of 
 public service, we shall be better al)lc to judge of the position 
 and exigencies of the Minister. 
 
 All the questions that can be submitted to him involve 
 the same or similar elements, such as — 
 
 1 . The state of the matters to which they relate. 
 
 2. The state of feeling and opinion upon those matters. 
 
 3. The state of doctrine and information upon those 
 
 matters. 
 
 4. The state of the resources regarding them. 
 .5. The history of the past relating to them. 
 
 6. The future prospects. 
 
 7. The public interests affected by them-
 
 152 Official Occasions. 
 
 8. The private interests affected by them. 
 
 9. The localities affected by them. 
 
 10. The personal means by whicli they are to be brought 
 
 about. 
 
 11. The financial means by which they are to be brought 
 
 about. 
 
 12. The judicial means by which they are to be brought 
 
 about. 
 
 13. The ofhcial means by which they are to be brought 
 
 about. 
 
 14. Tlie special means by which they are to be brought 
 
 about. 
 All which implies great cultivation of mind, great experience 
 of life, great powers of application, great knowledge of all 
 availal)Ie resources, great powers of adaptation ; above all, 
 the means of bringing out the latent and quiet powers that 
 reside in the State in opposition to, or in correlation with, 
 the active and noisy, or more demonstrative ; and also the 
 power of postponing, without irritating, till public opinion 
 has had time to inform itself. 
 
 It implies, therefore, a prudent course of action ; a 
 mixture of forbearance for pertinacious importunity, and 
 resistance to positive error ; a mingled candour and frank- 
 ness ; an exposition of all information ; an appreciation of 
 all suggestion ; a development of imperfect plans, and shrewd 
 scrutiny of projects ; a husbanding of present time. 
 
 And it should he added, that some of these require great 
 scientific knowledge and skill ; a discernment of the sources 
 of prejudice, and also an accessibility to all men, and a 
 quickness to catch what is valuable in their projects, and to 
 reject what is crotchety. 
 
 Apart from the questions of detail, which every question 
 involves, it Is necessary to consider many questions of con- 
 duct, resulting from the position of affairs, and the other 
 circumstances alreadv adverted to, and which can onlv be 
 determined by a perfect knowledge of that position, and of 
 those circumstances. 
 
 What considerations does each of these matters imply ?
 
 OJicial Occasions. 1/53 
 
 Are they to be treated per se, or upon general principles ? 
 upon rules of expedience; as much according to general 
 principles as the specialty will permit ? Are they to be 
 treated according to the intelligence of the country, or accord- 
 ing to its ignorance ? according to its permanent interests, or 
 its present prejudice? For the convenience of to-day, or for 
 the convenience of to-morrow, and the next day, and the day 
 after that ? Are we to borrow light from historj'-, or from 
 the practices of other countries ; or from examples to be 
 found in our own ? Are we to follow wholly tlie practical, or 
 wholly the philosophical ? or attempt to disregard the science 
 of the one and the art of the other ? Are we to act ac- 
 cording to the traditions of one office, or of some or more ? 
 Which subject is most entitled to have pre-audience and pre- 
 acceptance ? Are the measures to be the measures of the Go- 
 vernment, or the measures of the Department ? the acts of the 
 Draftsman or of the Minister, or the acts of the Parliament? 
 An enunciation of a distinct purpose, realized by distinct 
 and unmistakeable provisions ? Is it to be a novelty sup- 
 ported by no tradition, or a merely new application of prin- 
 ciple in conformity with the spirit of the constitution, and 
 the general scheme of the law. 
 
 If all these things are to bs regarded, (and which of tliem 
 is not to be regarded?) what accomplishments are needed for 
 the purpose ? what acquirements of all kinds ; and what 
 extent of labour, and if of labour, of time, and if of time and 
 labour, of personal agency, to employ these accomplishments 
 and acquirements to a practical purpose ? 
 
 It is assumed that, in the Minister, Statesman, Legislator 
 Judge, Administrator, we have the higher capacities, which 
 make him master of the policy. But though he mav lie among 
 the wisest of men, still he has to instruct ignorance, and 
 conquer prejudice; to convert the interested bv showing a 
 higher, or wider interest ; and to expose the dishonest bv 
 proving their dishonesty before the world ; to satisfy the 
 scrupulous conservative by pointing to examples of the same 
 policy without mischief, and without blame; to disnrm the 
 jealousy of the friend of the people, and allay the alarm of
 
 154 Oficial Occasions. 
 
 the man of property ; never to betray ignorance, and yet be 
 ready to receive information, and to apply, without mistake, 
 the information he receives; to be open, without rcpulsiveness, 
 to all ; equally cautious of a promise and a refusal ; to show 
 that he is not prompted only by his assistants ; and that he 
 depends upon them, not for their views of policy, but for the 
 details of Organization. 
 
 If such be the necessities of a Minister, what should his 
 Advisers and Agents be ? How M-ell read, how oliservant, 
 how assiduous, how full of resource, how practically skilful, 
 compreliensive, full, accurate, complete, an historian, a 
 writer, a layman, a constitutional lawyer, an official lawyer, a 
 practical lawyer, a man of the world, and (for they are the 
 Minister's ministers, and his nature will be judged by their 
 conduct) able to discern how much of good there is in a 
 crotchet, how the projects of the earnest are to be accepted, 
 without the infusion of ill-timed zeal, of pedantry, or of 
 intolerance, and able to command all men^s wills, because, 
 at least, in all candour and conscientiousness, all that is con- 
 sistent with the situation is adopted, and because the most 
 infatuated is made in all kindness to perceive that it is so. 
 
 But which of us has a tithe of these qualifications, and 
 how are they to be supplied ? shall we refuse to take the aid 
 of several, where they do not reside in one, because the cost 
 is something ? shall we set up a salary against a revenue, a fee 
 against the drainage of the metropolis, and the healths and 
 fortunes of thousands ? 
 
 Let the Salary and the Officers be granted, how are they to 
 be brou'dit together to the end of serving the Minister accord- 
 ing to his necessities rather than according to their own 
 views ? 
 
 It is to these ends that all the minutiae of organization are 
 directed, to the making each part conducive to the olyects 
 and success of the whole; and to make each part conducive 
 to the objects and success of the Minister, and through him, 
 to the objects and success of the Sovereign and the State.
 
 OffiPHil Occasions. 155 
 
 Th& Minister of a Department. 
 
 There seems to be a great misunderstanding of the posi- 
 tion, of the functions, and the proper mode of action of a 
 Minister as Head of a Department. In tliat capacity it is his 
 Office — to administer, to direct, and superintend the PoHcy 
 of his Department, rather than to execute ; and where the 
 action of his Department is in any respect imperfect, to 
 apply promptly the remedy, if it he within the scope of the 
 Prerogative ; and if not, to appeal forthwith to the Legis- 
 lature for its authority. He is master of the Policy rather 
 than of the details ; hut is, or ou^ht to he, co2:nizant of the 
 right working of the details, and of the agency of that 
 working in all its branches, that he may not iind himself 
 defeated in his policy, by the perversion of the details, and 
 thus become the instrument of his own Officers; which, 
 without thought of wrong on their part, will be so, if he 
 have not a force rightly organized for his purpose. 
 
 Besides the great national questions with which Par- 
 liament delights to interest itself, each ^linister has, in his 
 own Department, a multitude of questions, large and small, 
 commonly considered to be of a minor kind, more or less 
 technical, more or less dry, more or less repulsive to every 
 body, but very much like the sleepers of a railroad, or a 
 portion of a steam engine, conducive in a very large degree 
 to the results which every body needs, and which every 
 body desires. 
 
 This multitude of indispensable measures press upon his 
 attention, with only one or two advisers (or avenues to his 
 mind) and one or two principal agents of execution : advisers 
 and agents as much overwhelmed as himself with the current 
 business of the day; and from distraction of mind and want 
 of time, as little able to make a proper resume of the matter 
 as from the same cause, he is to pass the whole in review ; 
 or, which would be better, to discern the principle and scope 
 of the desired measure, or to direct the course of investiga- 
 tion to a profitable termination. 
 
 Hence, in stress of difficulty, the Minister is compelled 
 to refer to others that which he ought to be able to do for 
 himself, or by his immediate well-trained assistants ; and, in
 
 156 Official Occasions. 
 
 selecting others, in ignorance of the objects, of the occasions, 
 and the means, selects agents, in a great measure unfit for 
 the task, who, alike ignorant of the objects and the means, 
 proceed without design and without method, and make a 
 Report which is as confused and indeterminate as the mate- 
 rials furnished bv former efforts, and thus leave the Minister 
 where he was. 
 
 This is the history of twenty years of Official Transac- 
 tions, and the true cause of those miscarriages which have 
 discredited some of our best men — men of high purpose and 
 high intellect, but defective in the smaller arts of Official 
 life, and in the especial art of managing their forces where 
 they were fit, and where they were not so, of willing or 
 creating (as successful undertakers always do and must do) 
 a fit force. 
 
 It is a peculiarity worthy of remark, and of practical 
 observance, that although the claims for attention are multi- 
 tudinous, the measures required are really few, for the multi- 
 tude of claims arise from the practice of considering each 
 subject on its own ground as if it were a thing per se, inso- 
 much that a special constituiion, with a special machinery, is 
 made for every jurisdiction, and the powers of the Minister 
 are overcome by the multitude of the Commissions and 
 Agencies under his presidency, acting under their several 
 systems of administration, law, usage, and practice. 
 
 On the other hand, the Ministry have to execute their 
 special work with establishments peculiarly defective, in 
 ena]jling them to discover the very elements of the questions 
 which they have to solve, — the materials in the shape of 
 past accumulations of information, and past projects of 
 reform, and the opinions of the well informed, whicli are 
 floating in the Press and elsewhere; and also in enabling 
 them, upon the discovery, to collect and bring together in 
 an available shape for their remembrance and use, the results 
 of the discovery. 
 
 Each of the questions that could be enumerated would 
 employ each of the Committees - to whom it is proposed to 
 intrust the Functions of Inquiry, Information, and Advice; 
 * See Official Oi'ganization.
 
 Official Occasions. 157 
 
 and cacli of tlicna would he more calmly regarded, if tlicy 
 were pursued in an orderly manner by the different Com- 
 mittees; accordini; to their respective ranges of function. 
 
 It is to be observed that a great deal of the information 
 would be furnished l)ythe interested parties; or that, at least, 
 they would check the formal statements made by other parties. 
 By methodizing an official system of inquiry and report, 
 much temper and abuse would be excluded, and the discus- 
 sions would assume a more deliberative character. The heat 
 might be thrown off at Public Meetings, in the Press, and in 
 Parliament. 
 
 If the Official Labyrinths should be simplified and made 
 efficient, by being placed on an adequate footing, not merely 
 for the routine of office-work, but for the mind-work, and 
 measure-work, which the Minister has to perform the 
 Minister, Statesman, Legislator, and sometimes Judge — 
 always Administrator, would have for each of these cajia- 
 cities, direct means of aid ; and his Counsellors would be not 
 those only whose office it is to execute his work, and who, 
 therefore, are apt, unconsciously, to regulate their advice by 
 the measure of their own means and opportunities, and 
 may be the specialties of their own position ; but those, who, 
 without those drawbacks, have acquired a mastery of the 
 matter. 
 
 However, the best Organization will fail, if it be not 
 worked in the right maimer : and this is a problem that 
 requires bold, yet delicate treatment. 
 
 The finer the mind, the worse the condition of tiie Min- 
 ister, if he have not learnt the use of the tools with which 
 Official Personages must work. How often do Ave hear of 
 such men being destroyed by their exertions ; and so it must 
 be, if their Staff be not adequate enough, and if it be not so 
 arranged as to act in frank intercourse Avith its Head. 
 
 He now, slave-like, not only works without projjcr 
 means, and without proper instruments, but l)ears the brunt 
 of odium which follows failure, let the cause be what it may, 
 and although his only guilt be, his holding a position in 
 itself unte!:al)le. 
 
 That the state of things will last one's own time, is not
 
 158 Offi,cial Occasions. 
 
 an excuse even to oneself ; for it is by the state of things 
 supposed, being suffered to continue as it is, that one's own 
 time comes. 
 
 It is on all these accounts well worth while to make an 
 Inquiry why and how it^is, that matters have not made more 
 progress, and whether it would not be worth while to have a 
 machinery capable by the singleness of the whole, and by 
 the proper adjustment of its parts, to do what the Ministers 
 have to do. 
 
 The Heads of Departments or Offices, 
 
 Are in the same predicament as the Minister, but without 
 his responsibilities. I know of no instance in which the 
 Head of a Department can fulfil the whole scope of his duties 
 in an effectual manner, or in due tinie. The Agenda in arrear 
 in every Department, taking all divisions of duty into account, 
 is very great. This state of things tells upon the energies of 
 Officers : it is usual to say that people will not reform them- 
 selves, but my experience has taught me that it is oftener 
 because there does not reside within tliem the means of self- 
 reformation, than because they are reluctant. Probably they 
 require some external aid as that of Parliament, or of the 
 Administration, or of some other Department, as a legal 
 authority to act, official authority to appoint a new Officer, 
 or effect a new regulation, or to expend some money ; or, 
 perhaps, the selection and organization of Officers have been 
 so inappropriate and defective, as to be the means of placing 
 them beyond the reach of control. 
 
 A want of Official sympathy, Official intelligence. Official 
 aid may be the means of hindrance. 
 
 The very peace which Official Persons, as well as others 
 desire, would induce them to take the necessary steps for 
 ameliorating their Offices, but finding usually their efforts 
 abortive, they lapse into apathy. 
 
 To obviate this result, there should be at short intervals, 
 some removal which would enable the Functionaries to pro- 
 mote their Officers ; and this might be effected by appointing
 
 Official Occasions. 159 
 
 the most meritorious to special matters. Death and retirement 
 also would give them opportunities for change, and serve to 
 keep the Official System on the move to a wholesome degree. 
 If the Head of Department were required to make an 
 Annual Report, composed of Reports in detail by his Assistant 
 Officers ; the efficiency of his Assistants as well as his own 
 responsibility would be kept alive. 
 
 The Officer and CL^iKiv 
 
 Are considered in the double relations in which they are 
 to be regarded, and with justice and generosity. 
 
 On the one hand it is required that they be fit for, and do, 
 the work to which they are assigned. 
 
 On the other hand, that they receive proper remuneration 
 for the work which they do, and proper appreciation and 
 regard. 
 
 The Member of Parliament and the Public 
 
 Are in like position with the Ministers and Heads of 
 Departments. Both are equally perplexed by the multitude 
 of questions that await their consideration. Both are equally 
 unable to consider each question fully. They become familiar 
 with the matters by frequent reiteration ; but not having tliem 
 presented in a complete manner or in their relation witli other 
 topics, both feel incapable to determine the points of diffi- 
 culty, and do not determine them till they are wearied by 
 much im])ortunity, or till the arrival of some powerful occa- 
 sion which precludes further delay or debate. 
 
 And when the determination is come to, the details are 
 huddled together in the best possible manner that the oppor- 
 tunity permits. 
 
 It is conceived that if the measures be systematically 
 prepared and well discussed, the Meml)ers on the one hand, 
 and the Public on the other, will accord a more discrimi- 
 nating assent and not retard measures of obvious utility by 
 merely blind opposition or apathetic support. 
 
 The habit of referring the several divisions of what is 
 usually called a great measure, to the different Departments
 
 160 Official Occasions. 
 
 and Functionaries, Avill familiarise all to the considerations 
 upon M'hicli the different parts of which it is composed 
 depend. 
 
 Nor are these insignificant considerations; many circum- 
 stances may disturb us, and preclude attention to the minor 
 matters of which the sum of peace and happiness consists : 
 besides every day of a Nation's life, as well as every day of an 
 Individual's life lias its own cares and duties, and we may 
 fairly depend upon our future producing its share of pressing 
 issues. 
 
 The Press 
 
 Has been accused of the tendency to look upon the mere 
 outsides of things, and not to regard the inner condition of 
 the Departments of Public Service, which must affect their 
 conduct, and not to help the efforts of Departments where 
 they require to be sustained by public opinion, or the public 
 purse. 
 
 The Press is an historian, not a philosopher. It tells of 
 results, not of causes. If these were made as apparent as 
 the former, the Press would recount them, and to the extent 
 of its opportunities of knowledge it does. 
 
 If all measures were preluded by a preliminary report, 
 bringing up the accounts of the state of knowledge to the 
 present time, and so arranging the information, that the 
 Press, amid its daily and hourly exigencies, could seize the 
 salient points, or even the less patent matters, without undue 
 difficulty, its interest, as well as its inclination, would lead it 
 to profit by the opportunity; and these expositions of the 
 matter, presenting it probably in a new light as in a new 
 form, would be useful, not merely in assisting to develojD the 
 public intelligence, but in eliciting new views from the 
 official persons by whom the report was made. 
 
 With better knowledge of Official Needs for Pul)lic Ob- 
 jects, the Press would give more efficient aid. There is far 
 too little frankness, and too little regularity and fullness in the 
 ])ublication of Official Matters. It does not arise from any 
 disposition to mystery, nor from any disinclination on the
 
 Official Occcmo)u. 161 
 
 part of Official Persons, to publisli matters that are not in a 
 state of deliberation, but from want of a convenient method : 
 from the raw and husky manner in which Official matters 
 are too frequently published. 
 
 The Government and the People, according to our Con- 
 stitution, as it now is, are one; and the Official System and 
 the Press are in like relation. The habit of cordial action 
 between these Potentates would do much to settle many 
 mooted matters ; and if the intercourse among Departments 
 ■were freer, the intercourse between the Press and the Official 
 System would be freer also. 
 
 Nor is anybody so foolish as not to suppose that there 
 must be some reserves upon proper occasions; but it is very 
 doubtful whether a divulgement of all things would not be 
 the best means of concealment; and whether all parties would 
 not gain more by the early canvassing of every notion presented 
 to a Minister, than is gained now by the partial and imperfect 
 communications he must hold with individuals. 
 
 However, the publication of common matters is the only 
 thing contended for, and this would be of quite as much 
 benefit to the Government as to the Press. 
 
 Special Interests, 
 
 In pressing their claims upon Parliament, upon the Ministry, 
 upon the Public, often do themselves and those whom they 
 address, injustice, by partial and exaggerated statements, and 
 to such a degree that the listener cannot accede acquiescence, 
 still less belief ; and as this sort of folly is indulged in by all 
 opposites, there is induced an equilibrium of inaction. To 
 offend neither, the Minister will do nothing. He cannot 
 promise, for the state of the case precludes that. He cannot 
 investigate, for that would be to call one or other, or both, 
 by names which we are not permitted to use. 
 
 A more thorough investigation in the first instance by 
 disinterested Officers, conducted in a methodical manner, and 
 terminating in a formal synopsis of the whole question, to 
 be subjected to the criticism of the Interest, would, perhaps, 
 
 L
 
 I(j2 O'fficial Occasions. 
 
 spare much of that loose and rash system of incredible asser- 
 tion and allegation, which now often characterise the repre- 
 sentations of contending parties, and (wliich they will perhaps 
 consider to the purpose) hasten the accomplishment of their 
 object. 
 
 There was a time when it was supposed that a Minister 
 knew nothing but what he was told. His chief difficulty 
 now Js, tliat he knows so much that he cannot make use 
 
 of it. 
 
 The formal methods of inquiry and of adjudication here- 
 after indicated, would be useful helps.
 
 OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION. 
 
 L '1
 
 165 
 
 OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION 
 
 General Remarlcs on the Outlines of the Departments 
 and Offices, and on the Special Functions provided 
 for in this Plan of Official Organization. 
 
 The Plan will be found to consist in providing a 
 Department in the Public Service, an Office in each 
 Department, or an Officer in each Office, for each of 
 the following Branches of Service : — 
 
 The Administrative. 
 
 The Directing. 
 
 The Inquiring. 
 
 The Legislative. 
 
 The Judicial. 
 
 The Financial. 
 
 The Special. 
 
 The Local. 
 
 The Superintending and Controlling. 
 
 The Registering and Recording. 
 
 The principle of Official Organization upon which 
 the above arrangement is ibunded is stated in
 
 166 - Official Organization. 
 
 p. 91, ''Remarks on Offices, &c." The division is 
 not fanciful, but suggested by the existing state of 
 things, and by practice and experience more or less 
 general. The names of these Departments, Offices, 
 or Officers, indicate in a great measm^e the functions 
 or matters of which they respectively would have to 
 take cognizance. 
 
 It may be said generally of these Departments or 
 Committees of the Privy Council, or Department of 
 Advice or Information, or of their corresponding 
 Office or Officer in the Departments or Offices of 
 Execution, that — 
 
 The Administrative will take cognizance of mat- 
 ters of policy, and of extraordinary or excep- 
 tional matters, and the action thereon ; 
 
 The Directory, of ordinary matters and the com- 
 mon official action ; 
 
 The Inquiring, of matters of inquiry and infor- 
 mation ; 
 
 The Legislative, of matters of a legislative nature; 
 that is, of the rule of action, whether natural, 
 legal, or customary ; 
 
 The Judicial, of all matters of formal controversy ; 
 The Financial, of resources of all kinds j 
 
 The Special, of all matters of execution involving 
 detail ; 
 
 The Local, of all matters in their local relations ; ■
 
 Official Organization. 1C7 
 
 The Superintending and Controlling, of all matters 
 requiring superintendence, visitation, or con- 
 trol ; 
 
 The Registering and Recording, of all mattei's of 
 registration, record, and publication. 
 
 But in the following Papers, the Objects and the 
 Specific Duties and Functions of each of these Depart- 
 ments, Offices, or Officers, will be found in gi-eater if 
 not in sufficient detail. ; 
 
 Each Department or Committee and its con-e- 
 sponding Table consists of two divisions, viz. 
 
 I. The Body, comprising — 
 
 (I.) The Principal or Head. 
 
 (II.) The Members. 
 
 (III.) The Special Members. 
 
 (IV.) The Staff. 
 
 (V.) The Administrative Committee and 
 
 Referees. 
 
 And— 
 
 II. The Establishment, comprising — 
 
 (I.) The Chief or Office Clerks. 
 
 (II.) The Special Officers. 
 (III.) The Accountant and Statist 
 (IV.) The Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 (V.) The Attendants and Household
 
 168 Official Organization. 
 
 THE MEMBERS. 
 
 A reference to the Table of each Department or 
 Committee will show of whom the Members are to 
 consist. 
 
 The Membership proposed is, in point of fact, 
 simply an adaptation of the existing state of things, 
 from which it scarcely difters. 
 
 The Office might, to a certain extent, be honoraiy 
 ^s the Office of Privy Councillor is. 
 
 The object of associating in Membership the 
 Members of different Committees is to give oppor- 
 tunity to each Member to acquaint himself with the 
 progi-ess of affairs generally; and, at the same time, to 
 point out where, and in what respect, any proposed 
 policy of the Department may impinge upon the 
 pohcy of his own ; and also, to give available advice 
 to the President or Chief of the Department who is 
 charged with the special cognizance of its affairs and 
 with the responsibility. 
 
 THE SPECIAL MEMBERS 
 
 Are also indicated in the Tables of each Committee. 
 They constitute a peculiarity. It is proposed that 
 this Division should consist principally of Function- 
 aries of a high order, who are now in intimate relation 
 with the Administration. It would be an honourable 
 position, to which experienced Official Personages 
 should be called, not only for purposes of distinction.
 
 Official Organization 169 
 
 but in order to give the benetit of their knoAvledge 
 and accomplishments to the Department to which 
 they are assigned. 
 
 It would also give the opportunity of attaching 
 Scientific Personages of long standing and rank, 
 whose age or other circumstances would preclude 
 their taking the more active Office of Administrative 
 Referee in connection with the Administrative Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The Office would be of a more definite official 
 character than that of Member, involving labour and 
 responsibility. 
 
 THE STAFF. 
 
 Each Committee will require the assistance of a 
 Staft". In the case of a fully appointed Department, 
 they might be composed as follows, viz. : a Director, 
 Secretary, Actuary, Registrar, Treasurer, Accountant, 
 Auditor, Remembrancer, Superintendent, and Con- 
 troller ; but if the Department be more limited, some 
 of the services might be combined witli others, so 
 as to lessen the number. 
 
 The requisites and occasions for, and the peculiar 
 functions of each of these Officers will be found more 
 fully detailed and described in the Department of 
 Direction, pp. 199 to 205. 
 
 Some remarks relating to the appropriate per- 
 formance of the duties of these Officers will be found 
 also in the Notes following hereon.
 
 170 Official Organization. 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE AND REFEREES. 
 
 Explanations of this Committee will be found in 
 the Department of Direction, p. 205. 
 
 Each Commissioner will take cognizance of all 
 those matters which are of a nature to be assigned to 
 the peculiar functions of his Office. Thus, the Com- 
 missioner of Administration would have regard to all 
 matters of an Administrative character, as matters 
 affecting the Public Peace, the Pubhc Safety, the 
 Public Health, &c. ; the Commissioner of Judicial 
 Matters, of all questions in dispute ; and so with all 
 the others according to the nature of their Office. 
 A detailed description of the functions of the Com- 
 missioner of Legislation will be found in the Legis- 
 lative Department, under the head of '^ Clerk of 
 Legislative Matters," p. 244, and of the Commis- 
 sioner of Judicial Matters in the Judicial Department, 
 p. 256. 
 
 It will be unnecessary here to give any description 
 of the Referees — they are treated of very fully in a 
 former branch of the subject, viz., under the Remarks 
 on Offices and Officers, pp. 89 — 132, a reference to 
 which will perhaps render further descnption unne- 
 cessary. 
 
 THE CHIEF OR OFFICE CLERKS. 
 
 These consist of an Agent, Public and Official, 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees, Clerk of
 
 Official Orcfanization. 171 
 
 the Minutes and 15ourd, Clerk of the Orders and 
 Correspondence, and Clerk of the Acts and Records. 
 
 A description of the Objects and Duties of these 
 Officers will be found in the Department of Direction^ 
 pp. 206 and 207. 
 
 THE SPECIAL OFFICERS. 
 
 This is the only Class of Officers which diffisr with 
 each Comniittec, The explanations a])pended to each 
 Table indicate at once the nature of their Functions, 
 and the purport of their names. 
 
 The Special Service afforded by these means is a 
 characteristic element of the Plan. In most Offices 
 due Provision is made for Ordinary Matters, but 
 scarcely any for the Extraordinary or Exceptional and 
 occasional. In consequence of which such matters 
 are usually postponed ; or if not postponed, interfere 
 with ordinary operations, and thus induce arrears and 
 confusion. 
 
 Every Office should have some Provision for 
 Special Service. 
 
 It might conduce to a better understanding of the 
 matter, if the Officers of Special Service were formed 
 hito one body, like the Sappers or Miners in the Arnij^ 
 but allotted, as occasion should require, to the 
 Departments or Offices which might stand in need of 
 their services.
 
 172 
 
 Official 0) '(jan ization . 
 
 ACCOUNTANT AND STATIST. 
 
 It is proposed under this Head to employ the 
 Services of one or more persons as Clerks, Book- 
 keepers, and Agents: — thus, if many be employed, 
 there might be a 
 
 / Persons and Establishment. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, &c. 
 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture, &c. 
 Coverings and Clothing. 
 Provisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 Savings, Insurance, Investments, &c. 
 
 Clerk of 
 
 ^ 
 
 If one or two only be employed, it would be his or 
 their duty to have regard to all the matters above 
 enumerated, keeping each matter distinctly and 
 separately in view, and opening a separate Book or 
 separate Account for each, according to the greater 
 or less amount of business transacted. 
 
 It would be necessary to take notice under each 
 Head, according to the nature of the matter, whether
 
 Officitil ( )rr/ff.inzation. 173 
 
 Accounts, Statistics, Transactions, Laws, Inventions, 
 Books, Memorials, or Records, or other Topic of 
 Registration, of all matters incident thereto, and of 
 all Services necessary thereto, whether in the IMakini^ 
 or Sup})ly, the Maintaining, Keeping, Cleaning, or 
 Using. 
 
 A further Description of this Office will be fomid 
 in the Department of Direction, p. 208, and also 
 some incidental Remarks in the Local Department, 
 p. 283. 
 
 THE MECHANICAL ASSISTANTS. 
 
 These consist of the Stationer, the Printer, the 
 Lithographer, the Engraver and the Bookbinder. 
 
 A full description of the essential assistance they 
 are calculated to render, and of the duties and services 
 required of each, will be found in the Department of 
 Direction, p. 209—215. 
 
 This branch of the EstabUshment, like the Special 
 Service, is a characteristic of the Plan. It should be 
 presided over by an intelligent Officer, holding equal 
 rank with the rest, and associating with them for the 
 purpose of gathering a proper intelligence of the 
 Agents and Accessories of the Service, and of the 
 needful adaptation of the means and arrangements.
 
 174 Official Organization. 
 
 THE ATTENDANTS AND HOUSEHOLD. 
 
 These consist of the Officekeeper, the House- 
 keeper, the Doorkeeper, the Messenger, and Porter, 
 and will be found described in the Department of 
 Direction, pp. 214, 215. 
 
 Upon the principle stated in regard to the Special 
 and Mechanical Services, the presidency of this Ser- 
 vice should be in an Officer superior in rank and intel- 
 ligence to those who are usually appointed to such 
 Services. The proper performance of these duties 
 affording the means of much faciHtating the other 
 Departments of the Service. 
 
 Thus it will be seen, that the several Departments 
 will be found to differ only in the Specialties which 
 characterize the matters of the Jurisdiction — that in 
 the main they agree ; and purposely so, that the 
 Officer of one Department may be readily transfeiTcd 
 to another, and that the Minister who has acquired 
 official experience in one, may not find, that on being 
 transferred to another, he has to learn new methods 
 as well as a new subject. 
 
 Explanations of the Special Functions comprised
 
 Official Organization. 175 
 
 in these Tables will be found in the Notes appended 
 to them. These Notes admit of great expansion, but 
 it was thought that, for the immediate puipose, more 
 explanation would not be requisite till objection be 
 made, or difFiculty be felt, when opportunity will be 
 given for further explanation and development. 
 
 In the meantime, it may be useful to make the 
 following cautionary observations on the Tables, which, 
 without a full consideration of the subject-matter, may 
 seem to exceed the occasion. 
 
 In considering the schemes of Offices, special 
 regard should be had to the caution, that the fidl 
 development of the Office by means of an Officer 
 exclusively appointed for each Function, is suggested 
 only for those Offices or Departments where the 
 amount of work is so large and so constant as to 
 justify it : and that where one Officer Avill suffice for 
 any class of functions, or for the same Functions in 
 different Offices, that expedient should be resorted to. 
 It was necessar)'^ to indicate all the Functions for the 
 sake of remedying the neglect of them, which has 
 occasioned so much Hindrance and Delay to large 
 questions of a practical kind involving much detail. 
 
 . The principle is to assign to every Function a 
 Functionary, to require that each Function be per- 
 formed according to its own method, and to assign 
 the Remuneration in respect of each Function ; but 
 if the work be inadequate, to assign several Functions, 
 which may be conveniently combined, to the same 
 Functionary, still preserving the distmction between
 
 176 Oftcial Organization, 
 
 the Functions and their respective methods and Remu- 
 nerations, so that if the quantity and occasions of 
 work sliould render the combination inconvenient they 
 may be separated by appointing superior or inferior 
 Officers to such of the Functions as may require it. 
 
 Thus the Offices of Secretary, Actuary, and 
 Registrar might (possibly, but somewhat objection- 
 ably) be performed by the same person or under the 
 superintendence of one Officer, say the Secretary ; the 
 work of detail being, if necessary, performed by an 
 Assistant Secretary, or Assistant Actuary, or Assistant 
 Registrar, or by Clerks in either case, with salaries 
 coiTcsponding to the nature of the work and the rank 
 of the Officer ; and so of the Offices of Treasurer, 
 Accountant, and Auditor, with similar objection 
 however ; and so of the Offices of Remembrancer, 
 Superintendent, and Controller, with similar objection. 
 
 Proceeding after the same method with the 
 Administrative Committees, the business of these 
 Committees might, if necessary, be transacted by 
 the Staff Officers, eacli representing a different 
 Commissioner, or even by one Administrative Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 The like arrangement might be made with the 
 EstabHshment according to the amount of the work, 
 but always preserving in so doing a distinct repre- 
 sentation of each class of matter, and, if possible, 
 obsei'\Mng the distribution of the Functions of the 
 Office Clerk or Clerks under the Chief Officer. 
 Thus the Accountant and Statist might perform the
 
 Official Organization. 177 
 
 duties assigned to the Clerks ranged beneath him ; 
 and in Hke manner, the Special Officer of the Depart- 
 ment might perform the duties assigned to the Clerks 
 ranged beneath liim ; or, the Office Clerks might, if 
 necessary, each take divisions of the Accountant, 
 Statistical, and Registering Department, and also of 
 the Special Administrative Department ; thus, the 
 same group of five, or the same group of ten, would 
 occupy one or more divisions in each of these 
 Departments, with probably this advantage, that they 
 would be prevented from falling too entirely into 
 mere routine. 
 
 It is always to be remembered, that one object of 
 the distribution of Functions amongst many, is to 
 obtain the union of many Councillors, conversant by 
 practical and habitual action with the elemental 
 matters, upon which their Counsels are to be taken, 
 and thus to prevent the Minister or Chief from being 
 oveiTuled by the idiosyncracy or impracticability of a 
 single, or two, or three Executive Ofiieers, arising 
 from the limited range of capacity, experience, or 
 skill, which is naturally incident to every person. 
 
 Another object would also be attained, viz. that 
 of distributing the Powers of the State in as manv 
 depositaries or channels as would be consistent with 
 the right working of the entire jNIachine. 
 
 In our Economies, we should have regard to the 
 different Conditions and Eflects of Powers embodied 
 in our Machine and acting with it, and in the Direc- 
 tion of its Ends, and of the same Powers out of it, 
 
 M
 
 178 Official Organization. 
 
 quiescent, apathetic or torpid, or acting adversely to it 
 and in opposition to its Ends. 
 
 It is a characteristic of modern affairs, that we 
 have a vast number of highly intelligent persons, 
 sufficiently endowed with the goods of life not to 
 care for pecuniary remuneration, and with faculties 
 of a high or good order, seeking scope and deve- 
 lopement in appropriate action — while our Political 
 System, calculated on the one hand to produce per- 
 sons of this character, is on the other so narrow and 
 incommodious, as not to give place and opportunity 
 for the exercise of these faculties. Hence rivalries 
 in excess — ^jealousies, conceits, presumptions, restless 
 activities, malicious interpositions, and all sorts of 
 counteraction to the Operation of our State Forces. 
 
 The form of things being changed, so as to give 
 place to all principles in due action, that which is 
 evil becomes an instant good. 
 
 This comprehensiveness is the object and aim of an 
 Organization, which, to many who think not of the 
 Cause, will seem to be needlessly full and detailed.
 
 DEPxVRTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION, &c. 
 
 M 2
 
 ISO Official Organization. 
 
 Department, or Committee of Administration 
 (and Direction). 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President. 
 
 (Lord President.) 
 Vice-President. 
 
 (Lord Privy Seal.) 
 
 Members. 
 
 All M'lio are of the Cabinet. 
 
 All who have been of the Cabinet. 
 
 To"-ether with the respective Members of all other Committees 
 
 of Privy Council who take cognizance of the peculiar 
 
 functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 (or Principal Administrative Referees). 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affairs, or of knowledge or skill 
 within the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Administrative Staff. 
 
 Director. 
 Secretary. Actuary. llegistrar. 
 
 Treasurer. Accountant. Auditor. 
 
 Remembrancer. Superintendent. Controller. 
 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Commissioner or Councillor.) 
 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 Of Inquiry. Of Special Matters. 
 
 Of Legislation, Of Local Matters. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. Of Superintendence & ControL 
 Of Finance. Of Registration, Record, and 
 
 Publication. 
 
 Administrative Referees. 
 
 Persons, attached or unattached, who have cognizance of some 
 special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Administrative Department. 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 ISl 
 
 Clerk of i 
 
 CriiEF Officer. 
 
 (Clerks and Agents.) 
 
 Agents — Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of the Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of the Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of the Acts and Records. 
 
 SpEciATi Administrative Officer. 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 
 r the Objects, 
 the Occasions, 
 the Means, 
 the Adaptations. 
 
 the Public Interests (Conservations), 
 the Private Interests (Protections), 
 the ^Mischiefs and Preventions, 
 the Mischiefs and Remedies, 
 the Rights and Vindications. 
 < the Wrongs and Couscquences. 
 
 Assistant Officers. 
 
 Accountant and Statist. 
 
 (Clerks, Book-keepers, and Agents.) 
 
 ' Persons and Establishment. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, &c. 
 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture, and Implements. 
 Coverings and Clothing. 
 Provisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 Savings, Insurance, Investments, &c. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 (Agents, Contractors, or Tradesmen.) 
 Stationer. 
 Bookbinder. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 
 Subordinate Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household). 
 Officekeepcr. 
 Doorkeeper. 
 
 Porter. 
 
 Subordinate Attendants, &c. 
 
 aerk of 
 
 Printer. 
 Copier. 
 
 Housekeeper. 
 Messenger.
 
 182 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 All action implies Administration. The term may be used 
 to denote the entire range of action and all the considerations 
 which it involves ; but in the present case it is used to ex- 
 press the superior range of action more especially, the other 
 ranges being for the sake of practical results, specifically 
 placed under separate functionaries, according to the divisions 
 which have more or less generally obtained in the distribution 
 of functions. 
 
 Administration is to be regarded as the presiding autho- 
 rity having the supreme direction and control, while its im- 
 mediate employment will be to determine the policy, — the 
 Office of Director being to take charge of the action, — the still 
 more subordinate Office of Manager, being to take charge of 
 the details. 
 
 In a well elaborated Scheme, all the Functions except the 
 determination of the policy, will be provided by appropriate 
 Functionaries; but whenever there is division or distribution 
 of Function, there needs a presiding authority to enforce 
 obedience to the general objects of the organization from 
 which each Functionary (according to the greater or less energy 
 he applies to the work), would be disposed to depart in obe- 
 dience to the more special tendencies of his own special 
 nature and pursuit. 
 
 The Administrator, therefore, needs in himself, or in his 
 Assistants, and in his methods of proceeding, a means of 
 ensuring a due regard to the general considerations, to the 
 entirety of the object and plan, — to its application to all 
 occasions — to the selection of the best means out of all the 
 means, aiul also a due regard to tlie adaptations and modi-
 
 Administrative Department 183 
 
 fications whicli must be conceded in practical action. He 
 must secure tlie simultaneity of his work — the union of 
 all intellects and energies, the union of all classes and inte- 
 rests — and this by the subordination of all to the common 
 purpose. No one person has all tlie requirements which this 
 involves. He must supply it by his Councillors and by his 
 Assistants ; by his Advisers and by his Agents. 
 
 Hence the following distribution. Clerk : — 
 I. of the Objects. 
 II. of the Occasions. 
 
 III. of the Means. 
 
 IV. of the Adaptations. 
 
 V. of the Pul)lic Interests Conservation. 
 VI. of the Private Interests Protection. 
 VII. of the Mischiefs and Preventions. 
 VIII. of the Mischiefs and Remedies. 
 IX. of the Rights and Vindications. 
 X. of the Wrongs and Punishments, Offences and 
 Penalties. 
 
 If such a distinct and formal method had been adopted 
 with regard to any of the matters of controversy which are 
 now pending, they would have been settled long since. The 
 enumeration of the matters would have shown where the 
 difficulties lie, (and such an enumeration should be made by 
 the Ministry, if it were only to take stock of tlie matters 
 which demand its intervention), and that the differences are 
 only half what they appear to be. But in the training and 
 management of the Public mind and of the Official mind, the 
 effects would have been great indeed. All that muss of intel- 
 ligence and sound reason, which is created by the organs of 
 public opinion, would have been methodized, and directed 
 more practically to the desired results ; and the correspond- 
 ence of idea, of feeling, and sentiment, which now characterize 
 the state of the pul)lic mind, would have found its apt solution 
 in coincident faculties and habits, adapted to realize tiic 
 common purpose. 
 
 Tiic {Sewerage and Drainage controversies are marked 
 instances of universal agreement in all main particulars, and
 
 184 Official Organization. 
 
 of practical slowness to act. There are others which would 
 justify my recommendations in this respect; which are, that 
 every Report should be shaped upon a plan which would 
 bring out all those considerations in a distinct form, and that 
 for some time to come The Minister (at least), should have 
 corresponding Officers of Advice, that all the projects sub- 
 mitted to him may undergo adequate consideration, upon the 
 basis of distinct principles ; and that he may not be compelled 
 (as he often is now), either to concede his authority without his 
 conviction, to some individual whose plans have gained the 
 public consideration and public acquiescence, or to withhold 
 his authority and incur the condemnation of the public, for 
 demurring to act upon matters on which there is a general or 
 wide agreement of opinion. 
 
 Clerk of the Objects. 
 
 In all measures there are involved objects more or less 
 abstract, more or less concrete, more or less popular, more 
 or less technical, some of which meet the regard of one class 
 of minds, and some of which meet the regard of others ; but 
 seldom does any class of minds regard all the objects ; on the 
 contrary, each class looks on its own side, and either does 
 not see the opposite, or regards it as of small account, or as 
 dangerous, because it is opposite. A Statesman must at least 
 see all sides, and if he be wise will adjust their proportionate 
 deserts, and further, if possible, by conceding all that are not 
 unworthy, win a general support. 
 
 This want of appreciation arises from the complexion of 
 men's minds ; some relish a proposition, but abhor its appli- 
 cations in detail ; and others relish details, but equally abhor 
 a proposition ; and for all common purposes they hold two 
 languages, ahnost as if they were inhabitants of a difl'erent 
 sphere. 
 
 For the Statesman's uses (and as in a representative 
 country most men are more or less Statesmen, for popular 
 use), it is necessary to state the Objects that are to be had in 
 view, or whicli it is claimed should be had in view, as places
 
 Administrative Department. 185 
 
 are indicated upon a map, so that while we are demonstrating 
 the necessity of one we may not be supposed to reject that 
 of others, and that all may have in contemplation the whole 
 range of the subject. 
 
 To accomplish this the practical course would be, to 
 enumerate the individual Objects; to describe them indi- 
 vidually ; to class them ; to define them ; and to name them. 
 Tlie different minds having them in view under the pliase 
 most convenient to their methods of apprehension would to 
 some extent learn the abstract truths of which they formed 
 parts, or of which they were illustrations. 
 
 This task is of a nature so important that a Clerk of the 
 Objects would to an Office of State be of great practical 
 value. On all occasions, when it should be requisite to con- 
 sider the subject, he would do wisely to arrange one after 
 the other, in the manner of a convenient outline, the prin- 
 cipal agenda to be regarded, together with their secondary 
 and subordinate objects, placed relatively and subordinately 
 to their respective principal objects. 
 
 A few practical examples would soon show the uses 
 of this method. It would be found that in soliciting the 
 attention of Ministers and other men of affairs who have not 
 time at their disposal to consider any matter deeply, or even 
 connectedly, he would save half his labour, and yet attain a 
 double, because an early, success. A great waste of time in 
 the progress of public measures results from the difficulty of 
 winning that degree of attention which is necessary to make 
 the mind seize the leading ideas, and to connect the details 
 with those ideas. Minds of remarkable power, but possessed 
 by other objects, often show this want of ready apprehension; 
 and too frequently, by dint of the authority which their 
 sagacity, weight, and position give them, resist the attempt 
 to occupy their minds hy new views. 
 
 The Clerk of the Objects should be a cliief agent ; the 
 master of the field, who should marshal all other contri- 
 butions of advice in a precis or synopsis, as comprehensive, 
 full, and complete as possible. It should comprise the whole 
 or main object, and all the secondary contributorv objects 
 which goto make up the whole. Under the head of objects^
 
 186 Oficial Orgamzation. 
 
 would be included all the results (from the highest to the 
 lowest) proposed to be realised in relation to the subjects in 
 hand. And these would, of course, include every variety of 
 public and private interest, which constitute at once the 
 starting points and goal of both Administrative and Legis- 
 lative enterprise. 
 
 Clerk of the Occasions. 
 
 In all administration it is the Occasion which gives birth 
 to the action ; and, subject to the limitation of means, deter- 
 mines its extent, if not its nature, and supplies its justification. 
 The Occasion constitutes, therefore, a capital point of atten- 
 tion, and demands special regard. 
 
 But it is rare that the Occasion in its fullest sense is within 
 the scope of view of the Administrator whether acting admi- 
 nistratively or legislatively ; that is the whole of the occa- 
 sion, and all the occasions. The consequence is, that in a free 
 country where everything is matter of public deliberation 
 and pujjlic assent, it seldom happens that the measures are 
 entirely justified to the public mind ; whereas, wherever the 
 principle is large and comprehensive, and all the occasions are 
 fully met, it not unfrequently happens that the most ready 
 and emphatic acquiescence is held out. 
 
 But in legislation this Office is peculiarly necessary, for 
 what is popularly said of Acts of Parliament, that they do 
 not hold water, arises from the occasions not being fully 
 met. The principle may be well stated, the means may be 
 well appointed, but the cases provided for are too limited, 
 or some are not provided for at all. On these accounts it is 
 expedient, that special means should be taken to hold in 
 view the entire occasion. 
 
 It would l)e tedious and beyond the purpose to name all 
 the classes of cases on which action may, or may not, take 
 place, — to point out the occasions referred to; but it will 
 suffice to say that one intelligent person would be sufficient 
 to take note of such as ought to be regarded in the parti- 
 culars necessarily requiring attention at any particular time,
 
 A clmmist rative Department. 187 
 
 and that Reports or Projects of Legislation ought specifically to 
 recount them in a separate section, and although the Reporter 
 may not have thought fit to give weight to the suggestion, 
 ought also to mention such as may have been suggested. 
 
 It is here that the suggestions of practical men need and 
 deserve to l)e regarded more than they usually are ; for this 
 is within the field of their experience and of their full com- 
 petency to judge. 
 
 Moreover, by being treated separately in the manner 
 that I have suggested, they are not so likely to restrict the 
 principle or object of the measure or the law, nor embarrass 
 its appointed means. 
 
 In the application of financial control it is more than all 
 necessary that some such provision should be had recourse 
 to, for it is by refusing the necessary expenditure on a too 
 narrow view of the occasions that expenditure so often 
 exceeds the estimate, without producing the result that 
 would liave followed the wise application of the same amount 
 of resources in the first instance. 
 
 Clerk of the Means. 
 
 The same general considerations apply to this head as to 
 the preceding. It is a more laborious division and may 
 require the contributions of many more minds. It is here 
 that the references upon a regular system to competent per- 
 sons may be found beneficial : supposing that there is one 
 combining head or hand to compile their suggestions and 
 show their relative importance. This branch of considera- 
 tions may also be turned to account in checking by publica- 
 tion of the results, the indiscriminate clamour for things 
 impracticable. 
 
 Under the head of means, will fall all means — personal, 
 material, and pecuniary; all personal organizations; all con- 
 structions, and structures ; and all actions and arrangements ; 
 all dispositions and distributions of place or of form ; and as 
 in regard to objects and in regard to occasions, so in regard 
 to means, it is necessary that the whole means and all the
 
 188 Official Organization. 
 
 contributory means should be Lad in view ; nor with the 
 experience that we have now should this be a difficult task. 
 All known means would be almost all means ; at least 
 if all known means were applied to all the purposes to 
 which they are applicable, there would not be nmch room 
 for complaint. But it would be obviously the duty of the 
 Clerk of the Means to take account of all new inventions or 
 new applications, and thus the range would be gradually 
 made Avider and wider. 
 
 Clerk of Adaptations. 
 
 The reason for separating these matters from the last 
 head is, the importance of keeping distinctly in view that 
 which forms part of the original fabric, and that which is to 
 be, or may be, added afterwards. 
 
 Under this head M'ill fall all expedients, adaptations, 
 modifications, developments, training, education, instruction, 
 adjustments, progressions, ameliorations, amendments, — by 
 far the wider field of administration, for it is rare that we are 
 permitted to make anything new, and indeed it may be 
 doubted whether anything which in our language is spoken 
 of as new, is new in the largest sense, and is not after all 
 the best possible, or the largest possible expedient; the finest 
 and best act of administration of which expedience is a 
 synonym. 
 
 A recordation of all illustrations of expedients would give 
 a range of practical resource of which our statesmen have 
 been little aware ; or if aware, have been unable to avail 
 themselves of the materials, because they have not been 
 placed by appropriate means within reach. 
 
 A display of such materials, with the reasons for rejecting 
 some and adopting others, would satisfy our much practical 
 people of the wisdom of many measures accounted failures ; 
 and teach that, what there is in them of failure, is, owing 
 principally to neglecting, or being unable to use, some of tlse 
 materials already applied in other directions.
 
 Admlnistvatlcc Dej^artmeut. 189 
 
 Clerk of the Public Interests Coxservation. 
 
 There is a tendency in every institution to depart from 
 its original purpose, and to be abused l)y its holders and ser- 
 vants in favour of their own objects at the expense of tlie public 
 objects. Sometimes, too, the pressure of temporary consider- 
 ations leads even those who are disinclined to fall short, to 
 yield umvisely. It is expedient that provision should be 
 made to prevent such treacheries; the best is by energizing 
 the members of the institution by rewards dependent upon 
 their faithfulness ; but as the evil springs from sundry sources 
 the means of correction must be equally various. 
 
 These means are first by providing properly for the 
 introduction of every function l)oth active and controlling; 
 and secondly, by the proper use of appropriate energizing 
 stimulants, such as not only remuneration properly adjusted, 
 but reputation, promotion, honours; and thirdly, by pub- 
 licity, by the grant of needful facilities, and the removal of 
 avoidable hindrances. 
 
 The practical mode of operation by the Conservator of 
 Public Interests, would be by receiving intimations of the 
 matters to be regarded on behalf of the respective Depart- 
 ments of State; and by notifying such matters to those 
 departments, and receiving their specific objections or sug- 
 gestions, to be collated with the rest of the matters for con- 
 sideration, and to be urged in proper time and place, and in 
 the proper manner. 
 
 An Office of this sort is, to a certain extent exercised with 
 much advantage by the Clerk of the Public Bills. 
 
 Clerk of the Private Interests Protection. 
 
 Having energized the institution by appropriate means, 
 and also insured obedience to its purpose, there results 
 another necessity in proportion to the success obtained in 
 conservation, the necessity to resist encroachments on the 
 interests of individuals and classes, weaker than the Institu-
 
 190 Official Organization. 
 
 tion. It is requisite, therefore, to afford protection by proper 
 means, among which are to bring out to view all the in- 
 terests so affected, and freely to receive, develop, discuss, 
 and determine the claims and the scope of the rights which 
 may fairly be claimed, so as to show where one set of prin- 
 ciples is bounded by another and others, and also the fair 
 limits of each. Many claims would be discharged in the 
 making: the pretenders would find that they could not 
 state an availaljle justification, while many more would be 
 recognized by the common voice, and all, feeling that the 
 discussion was conducted on just principles, would be led, or 
 forced, to acknowledge the justness of the conclusion. 
 
 The mode of operation will be somewhat after the same 
 manner as that of the Conservator of the Public Interests, 
 with such differences as the absence of organizations will 
 allow. The Petitions to Parliament, the Memorials to Mi- 
 nisters, the Statements in the Public Prints, and the State- 
 ments from other Literary Publications, communicated by the 
 Clerk of the Intelligence mentioned in the Department, 
 of Inquiry, will be means of a practical kind, and probably 
 equal to the occasion. 
 
 Clerk of the Mischiefs and Preventions. 
 
 Of a like nature is the necessity for the Preventives. Some 
 evils are irremediable, and therefore to be met by precautions ; 
 others are to some extent the fruit of ignorance, or careless- 
 ness. Every man's ignorance or carelessness cannot be 
 prevented, but where extensive wrongs are thereby done 
 to innocent persons, it is fit to interpose by means not 
 calculated to check unduly freedom of action and of enter- 
 prise. The Preventives and the experience of their appli- 
 cation in given circumstances, are matters to be noted 
 with great watchfulness, and need this special agency.
 
 Admimstrative Department, 1.91 
 
 Clerk of the Mischiefs and Remedies. 
 
 The same is true of tlie Remedies, and still more of 
 Remedies occasioned by tlie failure of Legislation. The 
 maxim " That there is no wrong without a Remedy," would 
 not have been falsified for centuries, if those Remedies which 
 had been applied to the same grievance elsewhere, had been 
 brought home to the minds of our Administrators. It is so 
 to this day. Laws are passed with most beneficial conse- 
 quences for one purpose or place, and yet withheld from 
 other purposes and places in the same predicament. 
 
 Clerk of the Rights and Vindications. 
 
 The Vindication of tlie Law by the State is often paralyzed 
 by the want of means of prosecution. Scotland and Ireland 
 have public Prosecutors. England has not in most things. 
 
 If all the cases of miscarriage of Law resulting from this 
 cause were known to some authoritative person appointed to 
 collect them, the Minister would be enabled to present him- 
 self to Parliament with confidence to demand a Remedy. 
 
 But it is not merely from the want of means that the 
 Vindication of Law and Right fails ; it fails also from the im- 
 perfection of the means. 
 
 Clerk of the Offences and Penalties. 
 
 This class would include all Wrongs and Punishments, all 
 evil consequences and their causes. 
 
 These are the counter objects of those wliich fall within 
 the scope of the first class of objects. Death, disease, 
 calamities, miscalled accidents, and the frightful series of con- 
 sequences whereby penalty and punishment are inflicted on 
 States and Individuals for wrong doing find place in this list.
 
 192 Official Organization. 
 
 It v.ill require no small energy to make and keep up the list, 
 and to bring it home to the Administrator's mind in justifi- 
 cation of his measures. 
 
 AYithout for ever crj-ing " Death in the pot," it is wise to 
 have the means of holding up to view the possibilities, not to 
 say the probabilities and actualities of the case. 
 
 An Ofhcer charged with collecting such Intelligence would 
 be of inestimable value. It is strange how apt are we 
 to regard instances as isolated, though each week and each 
 day produce its instance ; Ave seldom recount and often forget 
 them. Somewhile ago I was one of a party of six persons, 
 all informed on the subject under consideration. All said 
 as a reason for negativing a proposition that no case had 
 occurred. At length one of them recollected an instance, 
 then another, and it ended with all furnishing one or more 
 instances, and coming to an opposite conclusion. From the 
 want of such means of Verification, the most unquestionable 
 propositions are resisted and defeated, and those persons 
 who earnestly contend for them are scouted as exaggerators 
 or falsifiers of fact. 
 
 On the other hand, the Minister whose mind is over- 
 whelmed with subjects for consideration incurs odium be- 
 cause he refuses to act upon evidence which all the world 
 knows, but which he has not the means of ascertaining in 
 that precise form which should justify a Statesman in altering 
 an Institution. 
 
 The Ordinary Officials are absorbed by the routine busi- 
 ness of the day, the private Secretaries are occupied in their 
 peculiar duties, so that the Minister has no help except in 
 Commissions created for the nonce on a particular subject 
 matter ; which is open to the objection, that though the views 
 entertained by the Commission be true, yet being obtained 
 on the Survey of a particular subject, at a particular time 
 and under temporary influences, they have not the whole- 
 ness and entireness of truth, either in fact or in appearance, 
 and the Minister feels that he must await still further 
 consideration of the subject. 
 
 A set of Officers accustomed to view all matters in
 
 Achninistrative Department. 193 
 
 connexion with one another in all the piiases would coun- 
 teraet the evil, and supply the suitable remedy. 
 
 If in any case it be thought inexpedient to give the 
 Administrator the assistance of so many Special Officers, he 
 might be reinforced by two, one to have charge of his Pri- 
 mary Duty " to provide for" all incidents and exigencies 
 Ordinary and Extraordinary, and the other to have Charge 
 of his Secondary Duty " to take order'' (to use the ancient 
 phrase) for all Matters of emergency or accident for which 
 Provision may not nave been made. 
 
 Under these two leading heads all the Special and 
 Extraordinary Functions of the Administrator will be found 
 to fall. 
 
 If the Administrative Department of the Privy Council 
 be well worked out by a competent band of Officers so 
 allotted, the Executive Departments may be represented in 
 this particular by a Special Administrative Officer without a 
 Staff of Assistants, and inferior Offices may in this particular 
 be so represented by a Clerk. 
 
 The whole body of such Officers and Clerks would form 
 an effective subsidiarv force to tlie Chief Department. 
 
 The above Explanatory Notes are confined to the Special 
 Administrative Officers, which constitute the peculiarity of 
 this Department. 
 
 In the next Department, that of Direction, will be 
 explained, the Officers of the Staff, the Administrative Com- 
 mittee, the Chief Officer and his Subalterns, the Accountant 
 and Statist and his Subalterns, as well as the other Officers of 
 
 tlie Establishment. 
 
 N
 
 DEPARTMENT OF DIRECTION. 
 
 n2
 
 196 Official Organization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Direction. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President. 
 
 (President of the Council.) 
 
 Vice President. 
 
 (Lord PriNy Seal.) 
 
 Membeks. 
 
 All Members of the Privy Council, being Members of the 
 Government, whether of the Cabinet or not. 
 
 Together with the respective Members of all other 
 Committees of Privy Council who take cognizance 
 of the peculiar functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 (or Principal Official Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affairs, or of knowledge or skill 
 within the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Director. 
 Secretary. Actuary. Registrar. 
 
 Treasurer. Accountant. Auditor. 
 
 Remembrancer. Superintendent. Controller. 
 
 Assistant Staff Officees. 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Referees or Commissioners.) 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 
 Of Inquiry. Of Special Matters. 
 
 Of Legislation. Of Local Matters. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. Of Superintendence and Control. 
 
 Of Finance. Of Registration, Record, and 
 
 Publication. 
 
 Official Referees. 
 
 Persons, attached or unattached, who have cognizance of some 
 special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Department of Direction. 197 
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 Chief Officer. 
 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 
 Agents, Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of Acts and Records, 
 
 Special Officer. „,... 
 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 
 Assistant Officers, 
 
 AcCOU>fTANT AND SlATIST. 
 
 (Clerks, Bookkeepers, and Agents.) 
 
 Persons and Establislunent. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, &c. 
 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Fiu-niture, and Implements. 
 Coverings and Clothing. 
 Provisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 l Savings, Insurance, Investments, &c. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Stationer. Bookbinder. 
 
 Printer. Copier. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 
 Subordinate Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household). 
 
 Officekecper. Doorkeeper. 
 
 Housekeeper. Messenger. 
 
 Clerk of ( 
 
 Porter. 
 
 Subordinate Attendants.
 
 198 Official Organization. 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF DIRECTION, 
 
 May be coml)ined with that of Administration, but it 
 would be more convenient to keep them separate. The 
 Department of Administration deals with the higher, or 
 more general, considerations relating to the matter of things : 
 with such as are of a more abstract character. The Depart- 
 ment of Direction, with the more ordinary and more special 
 considerations of an official character, relating to the execu- 
 tion of things, with such as are of a more concrete character. 
 
 Moreover, it is a type of ordinary Offices of all grades, 
 and would be useful for the purpose of distinguishing the 
 Ministerial from the Administrative Function. 
 
 In treating of the Administrative Department, it was said 
 that it was the Office of the Director to take charge of the 
 Action, as contradistinguished to the Office of Administrator 
 on the one hand, which \vas to determine the Policy. 
 
 . Acting on these distinctions, for purposes of convenience 
 if not of real distinction, all the ordinary Offices which go to 
 compose an Office of Direction are considered seriatim. 
 
 This Department might, as professional persons do, per- 
 form the Directory part of the duties of the Administrative 
 Body ; but for a while, at least, it is thought expedient that 
 there should be a class of Officers to collect the rationale of 
 each Office, and thus to facilitate the organization of all, with- 
 out interrupting the ordinary action of business ; for there is, 
 in truth, as much need of a Survey of Official Objects, and of 
 the materials at hand for their solution, as there is of a Survey 
 of Offices for the purpose of Official Organization. And 
 these ends could scarcely be accomplished without employing 
 for a while, a separate machinery : not that that machinery 
 would be additional, for the rehef thereby given to all Offices 
 would enable them generally to detach one of their number 
 upon this service.
 
 Deimrtment of Direction. 199 
 
 Director. 
 
 The Chief, Chairman, or other presiding Officer should 
 be the Director. The duties of the Office are well known. 
 Where there is a President, or Ciiief of a Department, who 
 is Administrator, the Vice-President should be Director with 
 the manageinent of the ordinary business, leaving to the 
 President the weightier matters of policy, and attention to 
 State and Parliamentary matters : the union of these, with 
 Official Duties of a common kind, has occasionally pre- 
 judiced the latter. 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 The Office of Secretary' is well understood. He is the 
 Organ of the Body or Office to which he belongs. He 
 should be ready to receive and express, orally or in writing, 
 the wishes of the body : accessible and facile of communi- 
 cation, and active in the discharge of his duties. It is a 
 proverb — that he usually acquires the power of the Chief, 
 and absorbs the energies of his Department; and, loaded 
 with duties, discharges almost all of them perfunctorily, or 
 with skilful evasions of difficulty. 
 
 Chiefs, jealous of this usurpation, have devoted them- 
 selves to the duties of the Secretary, and forgot their own ; 
 and the affairs of the Department have, from the necessity 
 of the case, fallen into arrear and difficulty. All parties 
 incur blame, and all suffer injustice ; and the end, usually, 
 is either the abolition of the Office, or the placing it upon a 
 footing equally removed from its proper purpose. 
 
 By requiring that the Secretary' shall do nothing without 
 a minute, either general or special, made by the Chief, or 
 sanctioned by him ; and that all acts shall be done by the 
 Clerks, under the direction and superintendence of the Se- 
 cretary, and recorded by the Registrar, the evil may be 
 remedied to the common advantage.
 
 200 Official Organization. 
 
 Actuary. 
 
 This term is not used in the modern sense, as the calcu- 
 lating Officer of an Insurance Company ; but in the Ancient 
 Roman sense, of the Officer Avho drew formal acts. These 
 acts ought to be drawn by an Officer conversant with the 
 matters of the Department, as well as with the legal require- 
 ments of legal documcjits. The Secretary is charged with 
 duties, if not of a more active, yet of a more miscellaneous 
 character ; while the function of the Registrar being to 
 control, not only the acts drawn by the Actuary, but all 
 other acts of Office, the function of drawing the instruments 
 is not compatible with his Office. It is useftd, and indeed 
 important, that the duty should be performed by a distinct 
 Officer ; because, on account of its responsible character, 
 and requiring close attention, it is apt to be delayed till a 
 fitting season, and ev'entually done in haste, and hurry in- 
 consistent with its solemn character. Hence future doubts, 
 difficulties, and litigation, and augmentation of needless and 
 costlv business, which might have been prevented, if the 
 'work had been done timely, and by a person properly quali- 
 fied for the task, and not embarrassed by other duties. 
 
 Registrar. 
 
 The functions of the Registrar are indicated in those of 
 the Secretary. He should be the Recording Officer. It is not 
 unusual to make the Registrar a mere Clerk, in which case the 
 department loses the rich field of training for higher service, 
 and the immediate use of the Officer as a practical Adviser. 
 It cannot but be that an Officer who must consider all sub- 
 jects profoundly, will be a better Adviser than a Secretary, 
 whtise position forces him to consider them more super- 
 ficially, or, at least, more with reference to immediate action 
 than to general principle. The mechanical duties of the 
 Registrar must be done by inferior clerks, but the principal 
 duties should be done by a person of higher standing.
 
 Department of Direction. 201 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 An office too well known to need ii recapitulation of its 
 purpose and particular uses, but in every department it should 
 1)6 filled by some proper person, either alone or with another 
 office. 
 
 It may, however, be observed generally, tliat every tiling 
 turns so much upon money and money considerations, espe- 
 cially in this country, while the energy of an office depends 
 so entirely upon its economy, (that is, the adjustment of 
 its measures to its means, so that it may not alternate in 
 extravagance and parsimony, in impulsive action and timo- 
 rous repose, but move onward steadily and progressively,) 
 that this Officer is an essential requisite in every department. 
 His function should be not merely to control the expense, 
 but activelv assist in ascertaining the available means, and 
 devising the best application of them for the effectuation of 
 the objects of the department. He would superintend the 
 designing, the specifying, the platniing ; the estimating, the 
 contracting for all works of every kind, as well as the appli- 
 cation of the moneys to the purpose. He should be Treasurer 
 in its true and legitimate sense, the husbander of the finances 
 as well as the controller of the application. The evil now is 
 that the expense is incurred, engagements are entered into, 
 and the Treasury is applied to afterwards, or being slow to 
 apprehend the value of the work, it repels, discourages, and 
 rejects, or determines reluctantly. 
 
 Accountant. 
 
 The remark made in respect of the Office of Treasurer 
 applies to this Office also. It may be added, however, that 
 the Accountant, from his mastery of figures, might usefully 
 combine wiih the proper duties of his office, that of Statist. 
 
 It is a Cardinal rule in Official Organization to separate 
 Accounting,where it is required to any extent,from all,or almost 
 all, other Functions; for it not only requires to be followed
 
 202 Official Organization. 
 
 closely and without disturbance, but it becomes sometimes 
 and not unfrequently a justification, if not an excuse for 
 neglecting other matters confided to the same hand, which 
 usually, therefore, fall into arrear. 
 
 Auditor. 
 
 There should be an internal as well as an external Audit ; 
 the same Auditor may, however, discharge his special duties 
 for different Offices. The Audit should take place at the 
 Office, and the Officers should be instructed in all the require- 
 ments of the Audit Office. 
 
 AVhen the duties of an Audit are not extensive, the same 
 Officer may perform the same duties for different Offices ; and 
 such an arrangement is recommended by the means which it 
 would give him of contrasting the expenditure of one Office 
 with that of others. There should also be Auditors for special 
 matters ; for to be a good Auditor requires a fair knowledge 
 of the thing as well as a knowledge of figures. It is for that 
 reason (among others) that in the proposed Organization dis- 
 tinct provision is made for different matters, and the union of 
 accounts with statistics is recommended, and that such ample 
 provision is made for service in the Official Department of 
 the Accountant and Statist. 
 
 Remembrancer. 
 
 This Office is new in nature though not in name. It is 
 proposed as a cure for some of the many evils which attend our 
 official system. It is proposed that he should take cognizance 
 of all things in relation to time, of all occurrences and time 
 appointments, and that upon any matter being appointed to be 
 done at a period however distant, or upon an event however 
 contingent and uncertain, he should note the matter in a proper 
 remembrancer, and that where no time or event should be 
 named, he should assign it to some time or event, so that 
 necessarily, in the ordinary course of things, it must recur to
 
 Department of Direction. 203 
 
 attention. Without this expedient it happens in the most 
 active Offices that orders are given and not obeyed ; that 
 business coming in without immediate occasion for attention 
 is passed over and forgotten, and that the time of the Office, 
 (which is a resource to l)e measured by the Salaries of the 
 Estal)Uslunent, and the cost of the plant, divided by the period 
 of business), is lost or misapplied. Such an Officer, and such 
 duties properly performed, would be of the highest use to the 
 Minister, who could run his eye over periodical reports, and 
 find not only what awaited the attention of his Department, 
 but what was likely to await his attention. 
 
 The Survey will disclose the Official provisions which are 
 already made for the performance of such duties, and it would 
 be desirable that it should also disclose the practical modes by 
 which those duties are carried out. 
 
 Properly arranged, the Return will in this respect show all 
 the occasions which arise, and the order, frequency and 
 casualty of such occasions, with, of course, the varying 
 demands for different kinds and modes of exertion. 
 
 The Calendar would be his instrument of Action — such 
 Calendar should be framed for each Office and Officer after 
 the same model, so that by Consolidation, one Calendar 
 might be ample for all the Calendars of an Office, and all the 
 Calendars of Offices of the same kind might be consolidated 
 and also framed, so that with a glance of the eye the scope of 
 the active exertions of each Office would be indicated. 
 
 It is said that the East India Company adopt or used to adopt 
 a system of the sort by which matters to be done at a great 
 distance of time were noted at once, and when the time came 
 the duties of the occasion were present without much seeking. 
 
 S U PKRI NTEXDENT. 
 
 The duties of the Superintendent extend to the personnel 
 of the Office, to the properties of the personnel in their 
 official capacity. He should visit the places of business and 
 secure the jiroper keei)ing of all things there. He would 
 take cognizance too, of attendances, absences, vacations, and
 
 204 Official Organization. 
 
 holidays, and all that related to the discipUne of the Depart- 
 ment apart from the actual intercourse with their immediate 
 Chiefs. 
 
 The utility of this Officer would depend on the extent of 
 the Department, but it should be provided for, either alone or 
 with other matters ; for one necessity of a better Organiza- 
 tion would be better discipline ; while the Officers should be 
 more indulgently and more judiciously cared for in regard to 
 leaves of absence, which may be made a means of stimulating 
 exertion and also of preventing arrears, the bane of all regu- 
 larity. A very good Chief as to the substantial duties of his 
 Office often performs his duty of superintendence and control 
 most inefficiently, partly from his mind being absorbed in 
 other parts of his duties, and partly from a distaste or disin- 
 clination to press strictly upon others. A firm man devoted 
 to the duty and with the proper means of executing it would 
 be the better expedient. 
 
 Controller. 
 
 If the Office be not extensive this Officer maybe dispensed 
 with, but not hastily. As the Superintendent has charge 
 of the Establishment with regard to the presence or absence 
 of the Officers and the care and custody of the properties 
 assigned to their use ; the Controller should have cognizance 
 of the acts of the Officers in relation to their performance and 
 the payment of remuneration in respect thereof. The Con- 
 troller should report all absences and all forfeitures in respect 
 thereof, and without his Certificate of attendance no payment 
 should be made by the Treasurer or Paymaster, and any pay- 
 ment so made should be disallowed by the Auditor. 
 
 Part of the means of conservation of the Office is as strict 
 a relation as possible between payment of salary and other 
 remuneration and performance of duty, which would do more 
 to energize Officers than almost any other means. 
 
 The report of the Controller should also be necessary to 
 promotion.
 
 Department of Direction. 205 
 
 The Controller should be responsible for the sufficiency of 
 the Establishment and for the general distribution of the 
 work, and also for the adjustment of pay to work as much 
 as possible, which would prevent the Establishment from 
 becoming, or continuing to be, a disproportionate burden to 
 the Public. 
 
 The Administrative Committee. 
 
 In an ordinary Office whose jurisdictions are not extensive 
 this Committee may consist of the same Officers as the Staff 
 (or of the Staff with a special Officer for any division of the 
 duties which require special aid), but sitting periodically for 
 the purpose of taking business in the mass by way of resume 
 and considering special matters within the cognizance of such 
 Committees, a mode of proceeding absolutely necessary for 
 such a review and for the consideration of questions of a 
 higher kind. 
 
 Thus the Officers might sit (as a Board) daily, say 10 or 11 
 o'clock, to dispose of current business ; the Committee 
 sitting later, say at 12 or 1 o'clock, on the special business 
 of the dav. 
 
 The arrangement is calculated so that at least the whole 
 range of business shall come before the Board in the course 
 of a month. 
 
 But where each description of business is great in quantity, 
 it is manifestly proper that the bulk of it should be trans- 
 ferred to other Offices better adapted to execute it. 
 Nevertheless reduced as the business may be, there will be 
 still occasion for such of it as necessarily comes before the 
 Office, to be brought regularly at stated periods before the 
 Chiefs even if it were only to establish habits of regularity 
 and despatch,and to take precaution that nothing should escape 
 notice. There are some things which can be considered 
 in no other manner than in mass by way of Audit and 
 Review.
 
 206 Official Organization. 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT. 
 Chief Officer and Assistants. 
 
 The General object of the Office of Public Agent should be 
 to assist the Public in their intercourse with the Office and 
 it should be his duty whenever any person requires to search 
 the Record, to make an Application, to make a Registration, 
 or to obtain the Intervention of the Office, to assist him in 
 the preparation of his document. 
 
 And for this purpose he should be provided with Instruc- 
 tions of the Requirements of the Office and with forms of 
 different kinds, suitable to such commissions. 
 
 His Remuneration should be partly by Salary for attend- 
 ance and partly by Fees for Service. 
 
 His responsibility should be ensured by requiring that he 
 make a minute of each interview and transaction, and a bill 
 of the charges incurred. These documents should be reported 
 to the proper Offices for control and audit. 
 
 The qualifications for this Office would be the same as 
 those of a respectable Solicitor or Surveyor; and as his 
 occasions correspond he will require the same class of assis- 
 tance, constant or occasional, according to the extent of the 
 work, viz., an Assistant Managing Clerk, a Copying Clerk, a 
 Book-keeper, and the use, constantly or occasionally, of a 
 Messenger, together with (of course) a Waiting Room, Work- 
 ing Room, and Audience Room, with the usual subsidiary 
 offices. 
 
 His Establishment, his properties and other matters of 
 outfit and official provision should be borne out of the Fees 
 leviable in respect of the branch of service assisted by con- 
 tributions to the extent to which the fees so leviable are not 
 adequate to meet certain guaranteed amounts. 
 
 The other Routine Officers, the Receiver and Examiner of 
 Papers; the Clerk of the Minutes, Board and Hearings ; the 
 Clerk of the Correspondence and Orders; and the Clerk of 
 the Acts and Records (with perhaps the exception of the 
 last) have their Functions described in their names.
 
 Department of Direction. 207 
 
 Tlie object of the last Officer is to distinguish all final acts 
 from the current run of papers ; and to make Notes and 
 Digests of important matters for the future information and 
 guidance of the Office. His Function would be with the 
 details of Records, while the Receiver of the Papers would 
 keep the merely Official Register. 
 
 If the business should become extensive, each might bave 
 an Assistant ; and if more extensive, their Functions mightbe 
 divided according to the obvious divisions which the several 
 matters comprised in their names indicate. 
 
 But in truth a very great range of business may be 
 accomplished by such a division of force as is indicated 
 aljove ; the power and efficiency however must depend much 
 upon its instruction. With the aid of an Agent, responsible 
 for the proper preparation of documents, the Receiver and 
 Examiner ought not to be charged with a very laborious 
 Function. It would be rather responsible than laborious, 
 being mainly to prevent the introduction of very incomplete 
 documents. 
 
 With the aid of Forms, and the proper exercise of the 
 duty of the Clerk of the Acts and Records, in keeping in view 
 the exceptional, or rather extraordinary, matters that go to 
 develop the doctrine and practice of the Office, the Clerk of 
 the Minutes, &c-, will not have much difficulty in preparing 
 those documents in a full and proper manner, according to 
 the views of the Board, or in bringing out the specialties 
 upon which tlieir decision is to be taken. But liis duties 
 will be laborious, involving constant attendance upon his 
 Superior Officers. 
 
 The duties of Clerk of the Correspondence and Orders 
 will, if the duties of the former Officer be properly worked, 
 consist rather in fair draughting than in devising new matter ; 
 but still upon him will rest some responsibility in taking care 
 that incompleteness passed in the Minute do not occur in the 
 Act. 
 
 The main, or principal, control in that view, will be with 
 the Clerk of the Acts and Records, whose subsidiary task of 
 abstracting, and digesting and duly recording the matters, 
 will make his main task easy.
 
 208 Official Organization. 
 
 The work in tliis way of several persons with different 
 species of talent, so as to bring them into constant inter- 
 course, has a wonderful effect in transfusing the excellence 
 of each, and raising the intelligence of all, while the facility 
 with which the work is gone through, makes the business 
 less irksome, and in some cases not unpleasant, especially 
 if it be seasoned with hope, and with expectations fairly 
 realized. 
 
 The Accountant and Statist, 
 
 And his Subalterns should take notice, according to the 
 nature of the matter, whether Account, Statistics, Trans- 
 actions, Laws, Inventions, Books, Memorials, Records, or 
 other Topics of Registration, of the subjects designated in 
 this division. Their Function would be to execute the details 
 of all matters of Recordation, in such a form as to be at 
 once accessible upon being called for by the Minister or by 
 any Department of Administration. 
 
 It is proposed that there shall be attached to each 
 Department an Officer or one or more Clerks under this 
 Designation. In all cases they will have to record the parti- 
 cularized Specialities, so far as they occur in the conduct of 
 the business of the Department, both in regard to its Special 
 Function and in regard to the official conduct of its 
 business. 
 
 This Officer and his Clerks would also be the Special 
 Assistants of the Administrative Committees of the Depart- 
 ment, for whom they would prepare the Periodical Resumes. 
 
 The object and result of this Office would be to keep up 
 the information of the Office. Most Officers content them- 
 selves with conducting the general business, without collating 
 its results, so as to be ready for use upon the next occasion, 
 whicli causes it to be necessary upon every occasion to hunt 
 up the precedent cases, and to reconsider the doctrine anew. 
 The training in skill and intelligence, as well as the eventual 
 saving in labour, would fully compensate for this pains-taking 
 expedient.
 
 Remarks on Offices, dc. 129 
 
 Administration and their Subordinates. It is hoped to make 
 this intercourse more Jictive and regular, by distrihutinir the 
 functions in such a manner as to estahh.sh habitual communi- 
 (vitions between the Chiefs and their Subordinates. But it 
 would be well not to leave this to accident. It is of importance 
 to the Chief, for he cannot know his work without knowinsr 
 his workmen. The same advanta^jje which results to him from 
 his Intercourse with other public persons in Parliament 
 and in Office, would result from a regulated Intercourse 
 with his inmiediate Subordinates. I know that from this 
 want of communication. Ministers often lose useful service 
 by way of suggestion, and of assistance to be had by no 
 other means. To know that a suggestion, if worked out, would 
 be useful, would often be a sufficient motive to its being so 
 done. Officers, too, have a right to feel that they are not wholly 
 dependent for the good opinion of their Chief, upon the mere 
 representations of those who have habitual access to them. 
 
 The same principle holds in some degree as to the Inter- 
 course between Officers of different Departments. A good deal 
 of correspondence would be rendered unnecessary if Officers met, 
 and what is of equal importance, much vagueness and fighting 
 shy of the point in cpiestion would be got rid of. 
 
 A Common Lirrary. 
 
 For all Offices, there should be a Common Library or a 
 Department of the more General Official Library, for each Class 
 of Officers. This would, like a College of Offices, lead to a 
 Consolidation of Practice, which is only second to a Consolida- 
 tion of the Law. It would give occasion for intercourse, even 
 if the more formal and definite plan of a College should not 
 be adopted. Hut the College is tho better expedient, on ac- 
 count of the means which it affords of giving assistance to 
 the Minister on large matters, without employing fresh and 
 untried agencies at a large expense, and without subjecting 
 the Officers, who would divide the work amongst them, to an 
 undue, or oppressive amount of labour. 
 
 In any view, however, a Library is indispensable. The 
 
 1
 
 130 Remarks on Offices, dc. 
 
 want of it is the occasion of most eerious expense, in many 
 ways, to the Government. 
 
 It would be a most facile and useful means of gradually 
 introducing improvements at the suggestion and with the 
 concurrence of Functionaries, and afford opportunities of 
 circulating information of a practical kind amongst this class 
 of persons. 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell upon this topic which has been 
 dilated upon so much at length in one of the Letters pre- 
 ceding these observations. 
 
 Maxims and General Memoranda. 
 
 It may not be improper to conclude these papers with a 
 number of General Remarks or Maxims, which should, I think, 
 govern us in this matter. Some of them may appear to be 
 truisms, but it will be useful to put them on record as part 
 of the case ; for nothing is so apt to be disregarded as what is 
 commonly true. New truths, or new aspects of truth, get 
 themselves thrust forward to the displacement of their elder 
 but not less valuable fellows. Indeed, some in the following 
 List, to all appearance the most trite and obvious, are the most 
 neglected, and with consequences not the least serious. 
 
 Combine the Theoretical with the Practical. 
 
 the whole View with the Matter in Hand. 
 
 the New Idea and the Old. 
 
 Reflection with Action. 
 
 Energy with Pinidence. 
 
 the Distant with the Immediate. 
 
 Reconcile all Interests. 
 
 Find a Place for all Capacities. 
 
 Unite Competition with Co-operation. 
 
 individual Energy with collective Completeness.
 
 Remarks on Offices, 8fc. 131 
 
 Shut the Doov upon no Suppestion. 
 
 Consider all, and Stand by tliat which is Good. 
 
 Assign to every Function a Functionary. 
 
 Separate the energetic in Action from the Recording and the Con- 
 trolling. 
 
 Provide for the intimate Connection of the Intellectual with the 
 Mechanical of all Functions. 
 
 Anange that Matters be done in such rapid Succession as almost to 
 
 produce continuous Action. 
 Unite in the same Functionary the Functions in respect of which 
 
 the same motive (remuneration or other) is applicable. 
 
 In Consolidating Offices, discharge None, and promote, if possible, 
 All. 
 
 No little War— no little Office. 
 
 Let every Office be fully Manned, and adequate to all its Exigencies. 
 
 Take each Matter in its Turn. 
 
 Finish one Matter before beginning Another. 
 
 Appoint a Time for every Thing. 
 Take everything at its Time. 
 
 Make Sure as you Proceed. 
 
 Reject at once what cannot eventuate Successfully, 
 
 Take into View the whole range of Objects. 
 Be Simple, Comprehensive, and Complete. 
 
 Never proceed without a Design. 
 Set out the Work before Starting. 
 
 Refer the Dispute as soon as it Arises. 
 
 Never adjudicate till the Case has been Stated and Tried. 
 
 Dispose promptly and conclusively of internal Disputes. 
 
 Be careful in making Engagements. 
 Be exact in their Fulfilment. 
 
 i2
 
 132 Remarks on Offices, &c. 
 
 Employ the Young to Inquire. 
 
 the Middle-aged to Do. 
 
 the Old to Caution. 
 
 Provide for everything. 
 Do nothing twice over. 
 
 Old Maxims. 
 
 He hath made good progress in business that hath thought well of 
 it beforehand. 
 
 Prudent pauses forward business. 
 Deliberating is not delaying. 
 Counsel is no command. 
 
 8ome of the Principal Problems to he Solved in a proper Official 
 Organization are the following : — 
 
 How to bring the Ministers as a body to the same Point of View. 
 
 How to bring the Public to the same Point of View. 
 
 How to bring Parliament to the same Point of View. 
 
 How to bring the Masters of the Policy and the Masters of the 
 Work to the same Understanding and Action. 
 
 How to make the Minister Master of the Situation. 
 
 How to enable Colleagues to act in Alliance with and in Support of 
 the Minister. 
 
 How to enable all parts of an Establishment to act together for the 
 Common End without delay. 
 
 How to remove the Hindiances indicated in a former page. 
 
 How to provide for tiie despatcli of Business without hindrance by 
 Political Changes.
 
 OFFICIAL OBJECTS.
 
 135 
 
 OFFICIAL OBJECTS 
 
 AND 
 
 Memoranda of Matters under Consideration. 
 
 The extensive need of Official Organization, and of 
 Official Administration, suggested these papers. 
 
 To illustrate this topic, a General Outline, or Classified 
 List, of all the topics which (in any degree) engage the 
 attention of Public Men, ought to be made. 
 
 The List should not be confined to Measures ; but 
 should include all those topics which are of a Public 
 Nature, and within the Scope of the Government ; or rather 
 which the Minister may be called upon to consider, either 
 for the purpose of negativing or proposing. 
 
 It would be found, that scarcely any Topic could be 
 excluded from consideration. The Lord Chancellor, in 
 his capacity of Representative of The Sovereign, who is 
 Parens Pah'ke, has to think of all those Domestic Matters 
 which affect the Care, Custody, Education, and Maintenance 
 of Infants in the Wardship of Chancery. The Secretary of 
 State, or his Colleagues, or Assistant Officers, the Heads of 
 the Poor-Law Department, the Lunacy Commissioners, the 
 Directors and Inspectors of Prisons, must take note of the 
 Lodging, Food, Clothing, Provisions, and other such matters 
 connected with the Objects of their Care, the Paupers, the 
 Lunatics, and the Prisoners. Again, the Department of 
 Works and Buildings has cognizance of all matters of 
 Building, whether affecting the Structure, the Materials, 
 Inventions connected therewith, and with the Housinc: of all
 
 136 Official Ohjects. 
 
 Departments of State. The Woods and Forests, and the 
 Duchy of Cornwall, and the Duchy of Lancaster, with the 
 Management of Landed and House Property. The Ad- 
 miralty with Docks, Piers, Harbours, and the Building of 
 Ships; and again with the Lodging, Food, Clothing, and 
 Provisioning of Sailors The Post Office must regard all 
 means of Carriage and Locomotion, whether by Railways 
 or Common Carriage. The Treasur}^, through the Stationery 
 Office, has cognizance of Books, Printing, Engraving, Maps, 
 Charts, and large or small Stationery ; so that, in all pro- 
 bability, there is no question which can possibly affect any 
 Lidividual in his private capacity, which the Government 
 has not to regard for some Public Purpose- 
 Thus it will happen, that almost every Topic should have 
 place in the List, that the Minister (according to his De- 
 partment) may be able, like any other Individual, to inform, 
 or remind himself of it, as occasion may require. 
 
 To simplify the matter, then, to him, the subject should 
 be mentioned in its proper place in the List, that he may 
 readily refer to all matters with which he has concern ; and 
 at the same time regard them in their respective relations to 
 matters, whether of the same, or of a higher or lower 
 degree; and so insensibly in learning about it, learn also 
 much of other things with which it is connected. 
 
 It is thus, indeed, that most of our learning comes in 
 common life ; we see and do not observe ; and yet, some- 
 while after, at the end of a long period of years, we find 
 that unobservant sight has left impressions upon our minds, 
 which, with similar impressions, has given us a stock of 
 knowledge, that, if we had sought for it, would never have 
 come so well as that knowledge casually picked up, or rather 
 which has attached itself to us in passing. 
 
 It is this effect which it is desired to obtain, by a judi- 
 cious system of Recordation, to which all may have recourse, 
 in their career. 
 
 What is now casually acquired by each, will not suffice : 
 the knowledge of each will not be the knowledge of all. 
 The object, therefore, is by compiling one Great Chart, or 
 Code of Topics, to bring home to all, the matters which are
 
 Official Objects. 137 
 
 afloat, and by placing them in correlation to show their 
 connection, and their subordination to the same General 
 Principles. 
 
 The Book-keeper and Filer of the Papers may then 
 register in his Record, or place in his Depositaries, arranged 
 according to the same method, the materials which the Clerk 
 of the Intelligence is perpetually transmitting to him ; and 
 the result will be, when the Minister needs his Tale, that 
 all the Materials may be placed before him, Scheduled, Noted, 
 Indexed, and, may be, Compiled. 
 
 Such a method is as needful and useful as Books are. 
 Such materials are the materials of which Books are made; 
 and, without some such system, with appropriate files, and 
 with appropriate Depositaries, the work cannot be done. 
 
 If, years ago, the Consolidation of the Law had been 
 proceeded with in this coarse manner, the work would have 
 been well nigh done. 
 
 These coarse methods may not have the dignity of au- 
 thorship — but they have the dignity of plain usefulness, and 
 are authorship of a rougher kind — the raw material. 
 
 Such a List, well prepared, would teach the People poli- 
 tical patience — how to make their own wishes proceed, by 
 making way for those wishes upon which the majority, or the 
 most influential, were agreed. 
 
 The following List is the merest outline of the sort of 
 thing. If it were filled out, it would exhibit very portly 
 dimensions, and be of the same use in Politics, as Johnson's 
 Dictionary has been in our Literature. 
 
 But the direct Object is, by showing the Objects of Care, 
 to show also the needful Agents of Care, and the needful 
 methods of working those Agents. 
 
 The Department of Inquiry might, as a foundation of its 
 own proceedings, and of a System of Official and of Legal 
 Review, of the existing state of things, and of claims for 
 New Administration or Legislation, supply all the matters 
 which are wanting. 
 
 The Parliamentary and other Indexes would supply the 
 materials without much difficulty. 
 
 These Tables are not arranged in conformity with any
 
 138 Official Objects. 
 
 views, to the exclusion of any other view, or set of views ; 
 but as a Chart or Plan, in which may be inserted the re- 
 spective views of all parties in the most convenient manner. 
 
 For the reason stated in the Introductory Letter, these 
 Tables are not, at present, inserted. They would comprise, 
 under the appropriate heads, every topic that claims the 
 attention of The Minister, and, completed by a merely sys- 
 tematic collocation of heads, would indicate the entire range 
 of Administration and of Law, the utility of which will be 
 incidentally explained in succeeding pages.
 
 Official Objects. 139 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF OFFICIAL OBJECTS. 
 
 OBJECTS OF CARE. 
 
 The State, and all the Affairs of the Persons 
 and Associations of Persons which com- 
 pose it, so far as those Affairs are fit objects of 
 Public Care. 
 
 AGENTS OF CARE. 
 
 The Minister, and theOpFiciAL Departments 
 with their Subordinate Offices.
 
 140 Official Objects. 
 
 OBJECTS OF CARE. 
 General Administration. 
 
 Imperial Administration. 
 
 General Objects. 
 
 The Public Peace. 
 The Public Safety. 
 The Public Worship. 
 The Public Health. 
 The Public Instruction, 
 The Public Amusements. 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Special Objects. 
 
 Persons and Establishments. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Buildings and Works. 
 Furniture and Implements. 
 Clothing and Covering. 
 Provisions, Food, Fuel, &c. 
 Locomotion and Carriage. 
 Stationery, Books, &c. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 Savings, Investments, Insurance, &c
 
 OfficldJ Ohjed^. 141 
 
 OBJECTS OF CARE. 
 General Administration. 
 
 National Administration. 
 
 General Objects. 
 
 [^Repeat in separate Tables as in Imperial Adminis- 
 tration, for 
 
 England. 
 Ireland. 
 Scotland. 
 Colonies.] 
 
 Special Objects. 
 
 [Repeat in separate Tables as in Imperial Adminis- 
 tration, for 
 
 England. 
 Ireland. 
 Scotland. 
 Colonies.]
 
 142 Official Objects, 
 
 OBJECTS OF CARE. 
 Special Administration. 
 
 [War*] Administration. 
 General Objects.f 
 
 Sjyecial Objects. 
 
 Repeat in separate Tables as in Imperial Admin- 
 istration. • 
 
 * Insert each Special kind of Administration (such as Education, 
 Works, &c.) to which a Special Official Machinery is assigned ; making, 
 as in accounts, the actual transactions, the occasions for Entries under 
 the respective heads. 
 
 t Wliatever these Objects may be, according to the nature of the 
 subject
 
 Ofickd Objects. 143 
 
 OBJECTS OF CARE. 
 Local Administration. 
 
 [County] Administration. 
 
 General Objects. 
 
 [llcpeat in separate Tables as in Imperial Adminis- 
 tration, for 
 
 Cities. 
 
 Towns. 
 
 Parishes. 
 
 Districts. 
 
 Metropolis.] 
 
 Special Objects. 
 
 [Repeat in separate Tables as in Imperial Adminis- 
 tration, for 
 
 Cities. 
 
 Towns. 
 
 Parishes. 
 
 Districts, 
 
 Metropolis.]
 
 Department of Direction. 209 
 
 Supernumeraries. 
 
 Provision should be made by a corps of reserve for im- 
 portant accessions of business ; besides which, there sliould 
 be one or more Supernumeraries in every Office to take tlic 
 place of the absent, to do business of a pressing kind, which 
 requires to be taken out of the routine, and to do business 
 of a kind which does not fall within the routine. The mode 
 of remuneration would prevent this expedient operating as 
 an injustice to the existing members of the establishment, or 
 as a burden upon the Public, while it would afford means for 
 preventing arrears, and also of preparing and executing im- 
 provements which cannot be easily introduced without special 
 aid: partly employed in the preparation, or acting for the re- 
 gular force while it is being trained to do the new duty. It is 
 said that owing to the want of such a force, improvements cannot 
 be introduced in Railways, and it is certain that it is so in many 
 Civil Departments. The Supernumeraries should be held to 
 l)elong to the depot, or Model Office, and might be with- 
 drawn, or retained, according to the nature of the mission. 
 They should be trained hands, waiting to be put on an 
 Establishment on the occasion of a vacancy ; and, therefore, 
 instructed properly to render the needful assistance with 
 efficient energy. 
 
 Special Mechanical Services. 
 
 Stationer. Lithographer. 
 
 Printer. Engraver. 
 
 Bookbinder. 
 
 It is necessary that a small corps of such services, skilled 
 in their respective works should be employed in immediate 
 connexion with the Office, that they may learn the nature of 
 the work and the best methods of rendering their services 
 promptly, efficiently, and economically. 
 
 From the ignorance of the nature of the mechanical art 
 on the part of the employer, and from the ignorance of the 
 intellectual object on the part of the employed, there results 
 a largely disproportionate expenditure of money, of time, 
 
 o
 
 210 Official Organization. 
 
 and of the skill of the employer and employed, in so much 
 that for many purposes to which such aids are necessary, 
 they are not employed, while the money now expended on 
 such services would probably be adequate to the performance 
 not only of what is now done, but of all which is requisite to 
 
 be done. 
 
 We require a bridge of communication between the intel- 
 lectual and the mechanical workman, and from long observa- 
 tion it appears to me that this would be met by the employ- 
 ment of the following serviceable functionaries, whose duty 
 it would be to make themselves famiUar with the objects, 
 the occasions, the means and adaptations of every description 
 of work, to a degree sufficient to interpret the wishes of the 
 employer, and the means of the employed, in particular 
 
 services. 
 
 I mean the Designer, the Planner, Specifier, Estimator, 
 Contractor, Maker, Maintainer, Cleaner, Keeper, and User ; 
 whose Objects, Qualifications, and Duties are mentioned 
 under the head of Special Services. 
 
 Stationer. 
 
 In an Office of considerable range, the duties of the 
 Stationer would be considerable. They would be 
 
 1. To keep a full supply of all necessary Stationery. 
 
 2. To keep a full supply of all Forms, properly arranged 
 and accessible. 
 
 3. To be in attendance at the Office of Stationery to 
 deliver it out. 
 
 4. To enter the receipt and issue of Stationery, in Day- 
 book. 
 
 5. To enter the requisition of Stationery and issue in 
 Ledger and Pass-book. 
 
 G. To keep all accounts of Stationery in all its branches. 
 
 7. (To superintend the mechanical keeping of the Library, 
 of the Printing, Bookl)inding, Lithography, and Copying 
 Offices, and Worksliops.) 
 
 8. To perform all transactions usually performed by a
 
 Department of Direction. 211 
 
 "Stationer, Bookseller, Publisher, Printer, and Bo()k])inrler," 
 wliere those duties are mixed. 
 
 9. To prepare all Specifieations of Work for these Special 
 Services. 
 
 10. To perform all the transactions usually performed by 
 Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 
 
 Upon his constant and punctual attendance, and upon his 
 careful discharge of his Duties respecting Forms and other such 
 facilities much practical convenience would depend. Where 
 the business of an Office is action, a large per centage of ex- 
 pense and labour might be saved by the use of this Officer. 
 
 Printer. 
 
 All large Departments require the aid of an accomplished 
 Printer ; and for that purpose the office of Queen's Printer, oi 
 other Printers in the employment of the Government, should 
 be organized so as to be more available for Administrative 
 purposes. By training the entire corps, and giving small 
 detachments to the Offices, printing might, in many cases, be 
 introduced with much advantage. All formal documents such 
 as are used in Chancery, should be printed under appropriate 
 control. In Law making, and Report making, it is essentially 
 necessary to have good Printers, trained to exhibit the sub- 
 jects properly by appropriate type, that the Minister may 
 read them without difficulty. All the effijct of a precis may 
 be obtained by printing one set of things in one type and 
 another subordinate set of things in different type ; and in 
 all cases printing tends to m^ke the composition more clear 
 and definite, and the writer more exact. The Printer should 
 be conversant witii the required methods, which he could 
 exhibit for the guidance of the Reporter. From the want of 
 some bridge of communication between the Author and 
 Printer, nnich of the value of the art of the latter is lost, and 
 the work is more costly than it would otherwise l)e. 
 
 A very considerable amount of expense would be saved 
 
 () 2
 
 212 Official (Jiyanization. 
 
 by having a Printer to work in conjunction with the Office 
 and other mechanical assistants. Plis duties would be 
 
 1. To print all Documents and Registers, and other matters 
 proper to be printed. 
 
 2. To set out the work for Printers (in the same manner 
 as the Copier) and generally to perform the same duties. 
 
 3. To distinguish the matters by different type, and by 
 different methods of printing available for the purpose. 
 
 4. To keep the Printer's account. 
 
 5. To act in concert with the Stationer, Copier, Book- 
 binder and Lithographer. 
 
 Bookbinder. 
 
 In all Offices of Record (and every Office is to a certain 
 extent an Office of Record) a person having some skill in 
 Bookbinding and in the subsidiary arts of that trade, is indis- 
 pensable. The indirect effect of his assistance is not appre- 
 ciable except to the observant ; but it may be said in brief, 
 that it would have the same efl'ect in the depositing an 
 custody of papers, as Printing has upon composition. It 
 would assist order, economise space, and facilitate the depo- 
 siting of, and access to, the papers and records; and by being 
 executed with punctuality at certain intervals of time would 
 assist in superintendence and control. 
 
 In detail the duties of the Bookbinder would be 
 
 1. To bind all Books and Papers according to the methods 
 appropriate to the class of Books and Papers, and to the stage 
 of use, &c. in which such Papers may be. 
 
 2. To perform all services of detail which are involved in 
 Bookbinding itself, or which are usually performed by Book- 
 binders. 
 
 3. To distinguish by appropriate labelling on the parcels 
 and other available means, the Department to which the 
 books, &c. belong, and the subjects of those books, &c. 
 
 4. To keep all the usual accounts of transactions by him 
 such as are kept by the Stationer, Copier, &c. 
 
 5. To instruct the Officers and Clerks, &c. in the details 
 of his work and the grounds thereof.
 
 Department oj Direction. 212 
 
 Engraver. 
 
 To draw on stone or zinc, or other appropriate mate- 
 rial, all illustrations by drawing or painting, that admit of, or 
 require, such treatment. 
 
 In Legislation, illustration might be made much more 
 available than it is. By Engraving on wood matters of form 
 which are of constant recurrence the cost of Printing mig;ht 
 be reduced. On the whole. Engraving may be made in vari- 
 ous ways an useful auxiliary both to Printing and, to Book- 
 binding, and would answer many of the purposes whicli they 
 are calculated to accomplish. 
 
 Copier. 
 
 Much value may be ascribed to the Copier, and to Copy- 
 ing. The duties are very useful in training for higher tasks, 
 if set about properly. But more pains should be taken with it 
 as an art, both for the sake of the Service and for the sake of 
 the Copier. Much of the impracticaljility of Copiers arises 
 from their merely mechanical exertions, and from the want of 
 proper direction and method. To make tlie Office more 
 useful and more economical, the duties should be analysed 
 and followed thus — 
 
 1. To receive the work and note the receipt (day and 
 hour.) 
 
 2. To peruse and make it legible. 
 
 3. To set it out for the Writers, by ruling in pencil the 
 space to be filled with writing. 
 
 4. To allot it to the Writers (where it admits of it) as (1) 
 Text to one (2) Schedules to another. 
 
 5. To solve their doubts. 
 
 6. To examine it when copied. 
 
 7. To check the quantities. 
 
 8. To return it to employer and note the return (day 
 and hour.) 
 
 9. To enter it in Ledger and Dav Book. 
 10, To enter it in Pass Book.
 
 214 Official Organization. 
 
 The Household. 
 
 The Ofl&cekeeper. The Doorkeeper. 
 
 The Housekeeper. The Messenger. 
 
 The Porter. 
 
 There are a variety of Domestic Services to be performed 
 in every Office corresponding with the similar Services of an 
 Ordinary Domestic Establishment, which are usually per- 
 formed in Offices by persons under the above, or similar, 
 designations, besides which there are sundry occasions in 
 different kinds of Offices, for Mechanical Services which in 
 many cases they could, conveniently, perform and which it is 
 important that they should be able to perform. 
 
 Tlie Officekeeper should be a superior person, accustomed 
 to attend upon others, and to command inferiors. 
 
 The Housekeeper should be qualified to manage the kitchen 
 and refreshment arrangements, which would be an express 
 part of his or her Duty. 
 
 In an Office of magnitude, and where the business is very 
 active, there should be an Attendant on each floor, but so 
 placed that he can communicate by some means with the 
 Attendants on the other floors and the Porter at the door ; a 
 condition that might simply be fulfilled by letting the 
 Attendant's room be a room over the entrance. 
 
 In an active Office the keeping the rooms in order and 
 performing sundry minor Services calculated to relieve the 
 Clerks, would constitute, perhaps, sufficient employment. 
 
 But in some cases where the transactions would permit, 
 they should be able to perform some handicraft calculated to 
 assist the operation of the Office. 
 
 We must not underrate the Services of such persons : well 
 appointed, they may be turned to the best account, and assist 
 in multiplying the energies of others who are not qualified for 
 physical or active bodily exertion. 
 
 In some Offices the Officekeeper should be a person of 
 intelligence, and able to fulfil duties of somewhat higher 
 nature than those which are usually assigned to that Officer.
 
 Department of Direction. 215 
 
 He should be able to keep the Waiting Room and arrange 
 therein, Matters or Papers for Public Intelligence, and 
 know the distribution of business so well as to l^e al)le to 
 direct the Applicant to the Division of the Office, where his 
 inquiries might be best considered. It would be useful to 
 have some scheme of promotion among them dependent upon 
 the recommendation of their immediate Chiefs. 
 
 Attendant or Doorkeeper. 
 
 (Domestic.) 
 
 It is expedient that the Attendant on each floor should 
 be a Pupil Clerk, or Writer, if not a handicrafts man. 
 It might be his Duty 
 
 1. To attend the persons occupying rooms on the same 
 floor. 
 
 2. To keep the rooms in order. 
 
 3. To keep the properties in these rooms, and to be 
 responsible for them. 
 
 4. To perform minor Mechanical Services (in aid of 
 persons occupying rooms.) 
 
 5. To copy papers and letters. 
 
 6. To keep the Remembrancer of the rooms attended by 
 him.
 
 DEPARTMENT OF INQUIRY.
 
 218 Official Organization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Inquiry. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President. 
 
 (Lord President.) 
 Vice-President. 
 
 (Lord Privy Seal.) 
 
 Members. 
 
 All who are of the Cabinet. 
 
 All Ministers, Members of the Privy Council. 
 
 Together with the respective Members of all other Com- 
 
 mitees of Privy Council, who take cognizance of the 
 
 peculiar functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members, 
 
 (or Principal Inquiring Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affairs, or of knowledge or skill 
 within the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Staff. 
 
 Director. 
 Secretary. Actuary. Registrar. 
 
 Treasurer. Accountant. Auditor. 
 
 Remembrancer. Superintendent. Controller. 
 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Referees or Commissioners.) 
 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 Of Inquiry. Of Special Matters. 
 
 Of Legislation. Of Local Matters. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. Of Superintendence and Control. 
 Of Finance. Of Registration, Record, and Pub- 
 
 lication. 
 
 Inquiring Referees. 
 
 Persons, attached or unattached, who have cognizance of 
 some special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Department of Inquiry. 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 219 
 
 Uhief Officer. 
 
 (Clerks and Agents.) 
 
 Agents, Public and Official. 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees. 
 Clerk of Minutes and Board. 
 Clerk of Orders and Correspondence. 
 Clerk of Acts and Records. 
 Special Inquiring Officer. 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 
 ' Inquiries. 
 Surveys. 
 Investigations. 
 Reports. 
 Instructions. 
 Intelligence. 
 Observations. 
 Interrogations, 
 the Library, 
 the Expositions. 
 
 Assistant Officers. 
 
 Shorthand Writer. Transcriber. 
 
 Accountant and Statist. 
 
 (Clerks, Book-keepers, and Accountants.) 
 / Persons and Establishment. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, &.C. 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture and Implements. 
 
 Clerk of ( 
 
 Clerk of ( 
 
 Coverings and Clothing. 
 
 Provisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 \ Savings, Insurance, Investments, &c. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Stationer. Bookbinder. 
 
 Printer. Copier. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 
 Subordinate Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household.) 
 
 Officekecpcr. Doorkeeper. 
 
 Housekeeper. Messenger. 
 
 Porter. 
 
 Subordinate Attendants.
 
 220 Official Organization. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF INQUIRY. 
 
 A Committee of Information and Inquiry ought to con- 
 stitute a Special Branch of the Privy Council, to make In- 
 quiries into matters within the scope of the prerogative, in 
 aid of the Executive Departments ; and also such Inquiries 
 as either House of Parliament may have requested, by 
 address to the Crown. 
 
 That Inquiry sliould precede important Acts of Admin- 
 istration and Legislation, is now an admitted principle. 
 The principle should be carried out constitutionally, by 
 proper and adequate means, conducted in such a manner as 
 to preclude the imputations which have been cast upon 
 Commissions, and upon the motives for tlieir appointment. 
 
 Inquiries might, in all cases of Legislation, be made to 
 the extent of ascertaining what has already been done ; and 
 if the procedure were systematically ordered, might produce 
 a definite result, almost within a pre-appointed period. It 
 must be confessed, that many Inquiries have been carried on 
 in a very imperfect and costly manner ; because, they were 
 conducted by persons, not perhaps incompetent, but unused 
 to the task, without design and without method. 
 
 To obviate this, there should always be a Preliminary 
 Report or Statement, giving the position of the matter, and 
 some account of tlie points of controversy to which the 
 Inquiry is to extend. 
 
 The Committee of Inquiry, or the Official Inquirer, may 
 be made available for the investigation of many projects 
 (worthy and unworthy) which press on the attention of the 
 Minister. He has not time to go into the matter, — his 
 Officers have not the time ; — but the subject is worthy of 
 consideration, or pertinaciously demands, and ought, to be 
 well worked out, and disposed of, even if it were only that 
 he might apply himself to other things.
 
 De2)Cirtitient of Inqulnj. 221 
 
 On the other hand, if the sii1)ject l)e nut properly backed, 
 the Government should not be at the charge of the Inquiry, 
 till by the result, the value of the object of Inquiry be satis- 
 factorily shown. Let the Inquiry be made, but at the 
 expense of the Applicant, and in the appointed manner ; 
 and let the Country pay only in the event of its adopting 
 the suggestion, and in anticipation of that result, let the 
 most scrupulous care be employed by the State in watching 
 the progress of the Inquiry. 
 
 In this case, as in others, Officers, whose pursuits are 
 not overwhelming, might be Agents of Inquiry ; but it 
 should be a rule protective at once of the Object, and of the 
 Applicant, and of the Public, that the methods should be 
 regular and exhaustive of the subject, and adapted to it. 
 The Inquirer should not be at liberty to be loose, and easy, 
 and careless, and fanciful of methods ; which has, on other 
 occasions, caused Inquiries for good objects to fail of their 
 purpose, and to give rise to expense, sometimes unnecessary 
 in itself, oftener in its amount. 
 
 The practice of making such Inquiries, (where not un- 
 advisable in public) would much facilitate the development 
 of public opinion, and the progress of action, in all those 
 matters upon which the agreement has become general. 
 
 A subject like the present, subjected to an Inquiry, con- 
 ducted in a legitimate manner, would at once vindicate itself 
 and conciliate pul)lic opinion, and the support of Officials 
 themselves ; but everything dcjiends upon the ordering of 
 the course of Inquiry, that prejudices may not be excited 
 before the object is developed, and judgment come to before 
 the case is stated and the facts are proved. I have found 
 persons the most opposed in natural character, in their 
 antecedents, and in their interests, cordially acquiesce 
 in conclusions which have been led to by facts properly 
 marshalled, and justifying such conclusions. 
 
 If a judicious method be adopted, and unflinchingly 
 adhered to, the Inquiry would be economical, since the 
 Applicant would be careful in his statement, and not dis- 
 posed to press facts that could not be sustained, because he 
 would know that such doings would be useless.
 
 222 Oficial Organization. 
 
 For the reason just adverted to, it would l)e poor economy 
 to stint the Organization of an Office for Inquiry; the 
 efficiency of the instrument being the best means of restrict- 
 ing the range, and reducing the cost of Inquiry. 
 
 To prevent such a Committee assuming an invidious 
 character, it sliould not go into questions of a personal nature, 
 but simply into those of a pviblic nature— into those questions 
 of a general or abstract character, which, from having little 
 concern with persons, or with matters of momentary interest, 
 (though important in their influence on affairs) are not gone 
 into at all. 
 
 Clerk of the Inquiries 
 
 Would be the Chief Officer for conducting this class of 
 Official Operation. He should be a master of what has been 
 done before in the same direction, and of the methods to be 
 pursued, the nature of which has been indicated in the fore- 
 going remarks. 
 
 Clerk of the Surveys 
 
 Would take cognizance of Inquiries in their local relation; 
 and afford the same sort of assistance as that which is usually 
 given by Surveyors and Engineers. 
 
 Clerk of the Investigations. 
 
 The Inquirer would prosecute his Inquiries as to mat- 
 ters more or less patent, at all events without canvassing 
 doubtful or difficult points. His duty would be to ascertain 
 what is alleged, or appears. Deeper investigation should be 
 traced in a different manner, as if with a view to present the 
 result to a judicial tribunal, and so that it might (if it were 
 thought fit), be so presented, there to undergo the trying 
 processes by which judicial conclusions are arrived at. Gen-
 
 Department of Inquirj/. 223 
 
 orally speaking such iuvcstig.'itions .slunild Ijo conducted by 
 Referees skilled in the matter, and the Clerk of the Investiga- 
 tions would he employed in assisting the actual Investigator, 
 and eventually in preserving the results and bringing them 
 properly before the Officers for whose use they were intended. 
 This point of investigation is not to be treated lightly ; 
 for it is wonderful and lamentable how much depends upon 
 it, and how little the point is understood. Many persons 
 cmploved as Referees satisfy themselves with a degree of 
 Inquiry which is not calculated to enable them to justify (if 
 called upon) their conclusion, by a statement of grounds and 
 reasons. 
 
 Clerk of the Repokts. 
 
 Many Inquiries have miscarried through the voluminous- 
 ness and immethodicalness of the Reports. They have wan- 
 dered over too wide a field, and resulted in confusion rather 
 than clearness. Men charged with Current Affairs would not 
 read them, and their contents were not of ready reference for 
 the occasion. I have known several prepared for legislation 
 which have not been read bv tlie draftsman. Hence he has 
 done one thing where Public Opinion required another. The 
 Reports should be exhaustive, but so framed that all may 
 trace their contents, and find the material which they require. 
 It would be well if Reports were always twofold ; one the 
 Preliminary Report, giving the state of information at the com- 
 mencement of the Inquiry ; the other the complete Report 
 bringing up the information to the present time; and also, 
 where the details were extremely copious, by an additional 
 complemental Report, supplying Schedules, Tables, Appen- 
 dixes, and such like matters, of an illustrative or detailed 
 nature ; and lastly, where a complete Report had been so 
 recently made as to render cither a preliminary, or a com- 
 pleted Report unnecessary, a supplemental Report, supplying 
 the later information. 
 
 An Officer, charged witli the cognizance of Reports, 
 would prove an excellent subsidiary Adviser as to states of 
 information, and check the pruriency of Special Inquirers.
 
 224 Offickd Organization, 
 
 Clerk of the Instructions. 
 
 Every Clerk and Officer should start in the Department of 
 Inquiry ; learning makes a necessary preliminary to all action. 
 It would bring them acquainted with the present and past Ob- 
 jects, Occasions, and Means, the adaptations and every other 
 question in every Department of Administration ; but to make 
 anybody of use for anything, he should be trained in some 
 degree, a principle now well recognized. This Officer should 
 be intrusted with that duty, and acquainted with all the 
 means of reaching every order of mind and person, for each 
 presents its hindrances to the reception of knowledge, and to 
 the obedience of the idiosyncracy of the individual to the 
 object of an institution. I should be very much inclined to 
 treat these grown up children like the little ones, and afford 
 the same patient attention with reference to the same ends, 
 and with facilities nearly as simple. But this is a matter 
 which need not be dwelt upon. The proposed Survey would 
 disclose all the appliances already in use. 
 
 It may, however, be mentioned, that great attention is 
 paid in some Offices to the handwriting of the Clerks, with 
 obvious advantage. This is a point which has been con- 
 sidered of late, and needs fuller consideration, with a view to 
 real economy, in reference to the habits of the Officer 
 throughout his career, and to his facility in completing his 
 work without the assistance of others. 
 
 Clerk of the Intelligence. 
 
 An Officer would be usefully employed in reading the 
 Public Prints and Works, and Extracting the Matters which 
 concern different Offices. The subject has been elsewhere 
 discussed. Upon the principle adopted in these suggestions, 
 of allotting every important function to a distinct func- 
 tionary, I would allot this duty to some such Officer as 
 above, under that, or any other convenient designation, and I 
 think his place may not improperly be found in the Depart- 
 ment of Information and Inquiry.
 
 DcpartiutnL of Iikj^uuij. 22;3 
 
 A class of proljationary Clerks might usefully be assigned 
 to assist liini in the task ; and probably it might not be 
 Inexpedient that other Offices should send their quota of 
 information, as it presents itself to tliem in the course of 
 their business. 
 
 If the information which is found in the Public Prints 
 were properly collected, there would be little need of formal 
 Reports. The mass of facts that would be accumulated by 
 the daily collection, would furnish such an abundance of 
 material, that little would remain to be done beyond com- 
 piling the material, and in many cases filing it. Besides the 
 task of keeping the accounts, this task of filing and deposit- 
 ing, suitably, the Information received from the Clerk of the 
 Intelligence, would devolve on the Clerks acting under the 
 Accountant and Statist; and the Collections so made would 
 be brought,notonly before the Staff as Current Business, but 
 before the Administrative Committees at their periodical 
 itting in the more convenient form of a resume. 
 
 Clerk of the Observations. 
 
 Too little care is taken in Observing the operation of our 
 Institutions, especially in those forms of proceeding which 
 Avould involve no intrusive prying, even into such Institutions 
 as the Public may be considered to be entitled to regard as 
 their own. 
 
 Suits in the Court of Chancery, proceedings in the Bank- 
 ruptcy and Insolvency Courts, in the Courts of Nisi Prius, 
 and in the Criminal Courts, disclose remarkable instances of 
 the working of our Laws and Institutions of which no account 
 is kept. This Officer should be charged with this Duty in aid 
 of the Government, or of his Department or Office. 
 
 If such Observations were collected and published in a 
 connected form, the Public mind would be prepared for the 
 action which the Government might think proper to make, 
 while the (Jovcrnmcnt would have the opportunity of meet- 
 ing the Public views on matters which were ripe for settle- 
 ment, and placed at liberty to postpone such as were of a 
 
 p
 
 226 Official Organization. 
 
 more disputable character, which, it would be impolitic to 
 entertain. 
 
 The task is one which would require the services of a 
 Superior Officer ; for much would depend upon his sagacity, 
 as well as upon his activity. He would, however, be much 
 assisted by the observations of the Press, which would be 
 collected by the aid of the Clerk of the Intelligence. 
 
 Clerk of the Interrogations. 
 
 Tlie main Object of Interrogation is to develop the 
 subject, and induce thorough consideration by ensuring 
 careful statement on the part of the Avriter, and careful 
 perusal on the part of the reader, or of the person for whose 
 use the work is intended. 
 
 The occasions for it are almost as frequent as writing or 
 speaking. The full-minded person is apt to treat of a subject 
 as if his readers understood it as well as himself, while the 
 interested take advantage of the imperfections of his state- 
 ment to excite a successful opposition, which would not have 
 existed but for the opportunity of misrepresentation which 
 that statement occasioned. 
 
 It would be of great service, generally, in Inquiries and in 
 projects submitted for consideration, if instead of objecting 
 to what does not appear clear, the matter were made the 
 subject of systematic Interrogation, calculated to elicit exj^la- 
 nation and to develop the plan, which the author, from the 
 fullness of his knowledge, or the ripeness of his conclusions, 
 finds difficulty in bringing out without overlaying the sub- 
 ject, or without anticipating difficulties and objections that 
 may never occur, either on account of the knowledge of the 
 persons addressed, or on account of the sufficient suggestive- 
 ness of his original statement. The matter may be there, or 
 contemplated, but not brought to the surface, because it is 
 not yet wanted. 
 
 In like manner the Objector should be Interrogated as 
 to the particular grounds and reasons of his Objection, and 
 the better means by which he would meet the 01)ject.
 
 Department of TDrjuinj. 227 
 
 The conduct of Committees and Commissioners of Inquiry 
 would also prom))t a suggestion. The Witness should first 
 submit his connected statement carefully prepared by him ; 
 but he should subsequently be submitted to Interrogation. 
 Justice Avould thereby be done to the Witness, to the Inquirer, 
 and to the Object. 
 
 The methods of Interrogation used in Chancery and in 
 the Ecclesiastical Courts, and some of the Commissions of 
 Inquiry which have preceded their Inquiries by the circula- 
 tion of Queries, afford examples of the methods which, with 
 more or less modification, might be applied. It would be of 
 National importance to collect these, if it were only to enable 
 persons making statements to submit their own statements 
 to their own critical Interrogation before they were issued. 
 
 Clerk of the LiiiUAiiy. 
 
 On all subjects that come for solution, literature has 
 provided a great mass of materials, probably sufficient to 
 solve the questions that embarrass, or at all events to supply 
 ample materials for a preliminary Inquiry, and to furnish 
 means to set the minds of our publicists of all kinds on the 
 considerations to be regarded, in the discussions by which 
 the Public Mind needs to be informed, preparatorily to the 
 action of the Statesman. 
 
 No Office, therefore, should be without its Library ; but a 
 Library is practically useless without a Librarian — not a mere 
 depositor of books, but a master of the contents. 
 
 His service should be in request whenever a Report is 
 required ; but to necessitate intelligence and activity on his 
 part, and to enable others to use him, and to know how to 
 use him, he should adopt a method in the care of his Library, 
 especially in the keeping of his Catalogue ; and his Reports 
 should follow the same method, for the sake of brinfiins: out 
 those considerations that are necessary to enable the Minister, 
 or principal Inquirer to avail himself of the results in the 
 directest manner. 
 
 The arrangements would be thus — Chronological, His- 
 
 p 2
 
 228 Official Orijanaatloa. 
 
 torical, Statistical, Doctrinal, Logical, Biographical, Geogra- 
 phical, Etymological, Polemical, Miscellaneous. The indis- 
 ])cnsable utilities of each of these heads, in contributing to 
 the result might be shown by practical illustrations under 
 each ; but it is not necessary to give them on the present 
 occasion ; and it would not be difficult to do so hereafter, if 
 it should become necessary in giving instructions for the 
 conduct of this most useful and indispensable branch of our 
 Civil Business. I have known important situations so mis- 
 managed from the want of appropriate knowledge, that I 
 might be tempted to be too earnest and emphatic if I 
 pursued the subject farther. 
 
 However, I should say something in favour of distin- 
 guishing methods of Binding, and of the accessories of Bind- 
 ing, as Labelling, &c. These ought to be so managed as, if 
 possible, to address the eye, and certainly to assist in the 
 placing of the books in their places, and keeping them in 
 their places, by means of less-informed persons, and even of 
 unlettered servants. It is, too, a good check upon the 
 abstraction of books, for where a Ijook has its place, its 
 absence from that place calls attention to the fact, and 
 induces observation, and, if need be, inquiry. 
 
 The Assistant to the Librarian might be a working Book- 
 binder, and used to the care and preservation of books, 
 according to the nature of those things. 
 
 If all Liljrarians formed a College of Librarians, it would 
 not be difficult to form a Catalogue of all known works relating 
 to their respective subjects, each Librarian being obliged 
 to furnisli his quota, being that part which concerned his 
 own matters. The Inquiring, or Recording Referees, else- 
 where mentioned^ might assist most effectually.
 
 DejMrtment of Inqu'iry. 22.9 
 
 Clerk of the Exi'ositions. 
 
 It would be well that all tlie materials collected upon 
 any pending Inquiry should be brouglit out and exposed, as 
 in an Exhibition or Library; so that it may, as far as possible 
 be seen synoptically. Lists, Chronological and other Tallies, 
 Maps, and Matters of that sort being exhi])ited on the walls; 
 the Books, Models, and other illustrative materials being 
 put on Stands or Tables; and all being duly explained in a 
 Catalogue Raisonnee. This is the best method of bringing 
 to the mind all the complicated matters. The Relations of 
 these matters — the special Grounds and Reasons must be 
 dwelt upon in the study. The advantage of this mode of 
 dealing witli the subject would be that others could see the 
 same things in the same way, and talking about them in an 
 easy, conversational manner, would interchange sentiments 
 easily and naturally, and probably hasten many matters 
 twenty years. 
 
 Men of discernment, and earnest to succeed, will not 
 disdain these simple methods ; one merit of which is, that 
 they may be made serviceable to secure the consideration of 
 those who will not read. 
 
 Besides, the man of thought will find this a method of 
 relaxation. It will change the mode of mental labour, and 
 enable him to return to abstruser studies, without the sense 
 of having lost time. 
 
 In this service the Printer may be of essential aid, by 
 Printing distinguishingly the matter, and by Printing, in a 
 tabular manner, whatever is susceptible of that mode of 
 treatment. If common methods be adopted for all things of 
 a like nature, comparisons may be instituted, and the points 
 of agreement and of difference seen at a glance. 
 
 Almost any subject, such for example as this subject 
 and the Consohdation of the Law, might, by such expedients, 
 be made familiar to every capacity ; and that in a space of time 
 scarcely credible ; at all events, the broad outlines and the 
 scope of the matter might be thus displayed. 
 
 It is often forgotten that Books are but Tables bound up
 
 230 Official Organization. 
 
 and it is much to be feared that the so binding them has often 
 led to a diffuseness from which we should escape if we were 
 to exhibit the matter synoptically, l^y means of Tables and 
 similar expedients. 
 
 However, apart from this, the bringing papers together 
 in a room, so as to be of ready access in the private abode, 
 or office of the Minister, when the question is one of elaborate 
 detail, with which he is not familiar, is a facility that should 
 not be lightly regarded. It is a form of proceeding well 
 suited to our irregular habits of acquiring information ; and, 
 at the same time, by accustoming us to view, comprehensively, 
 large and complicated questions, is calculated to obviate in 
 some degree the chance medley effect of those habits.
 
 DEPARTMENT OF LAW AND LEGISLATION.
 
 232 Official Organization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Law and Legislation. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President. 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Members. 
 
 All Privy Councillors who arc JMembcrs of either House of 
 
 Parliament, or Lawyers. 
 All Privy Councillors who have been Members of either House 
 
 of Parliament, or Lawyers. 
 Together with the respective Members of all other Committees 
 
 of Privy Council, who take cognizance of the peculiar 
 
 functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 (or Principal Legislative Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affairs, or of knowledge or skill 
 
 within the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Staff. 
 
 Secretary. 
 Treasurer. 
 Remembrancer. 
 
 Director. 
 Actuary. 
 Accountant. 
 Superintendent. 
 
 Registrar. 
 
 Auditor. 
 
 Controller. 
 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 
 (.Jurist. 
 Tribunalist. 
 ^ Pleader. 
 Cursitor, 
 Formulist. 
 
 Collector and Enumerator. 
 Receiver and Arranger. 
 Stater and Compikn*. 
 Examiner and Objector. 
 Trier and Recorder. 
 
 Administrative Committees. 
 (Referees or Commissioners.) 
 Of Administration. 
 Of Inquiry. 
 Of Legislation. 
 Of .Judicial Matters. 
 Of Finance. 
 
 Of Direction. 
 Of Special Matters. 
 Of Local Matters. 
 Of Superintendence. 
 Of Control. 
 
 Legislative Referees. 
 
 Persons attached or unattached, who have cognizance of 
 some special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Department of Lam and Legislatloi . 233 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 Clerk of 
 
 Chief Officeu. 
 
 (Agents and Clerks.) 
 
 Agents — Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and E.Karaincr of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of the Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of the Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of the Acts and Records. 
 
 Speciat, Legislative Opficeu. 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 
 / the Codes.' 
 the Consolidations, 
 the General Laws, 
 the Special Laws, 
 the Supplemental Laws, 
 the Bye Laws, 
 the Regulations, 
 the Legislati\e Matters, 
 the Digests. 
 , the Instructions. 
 
 Assistant Officers. 
 
 Accountant and Statist. 
 
 (Clerks, Book-keepers, and Agents.) 
 
 / Persons and Establishment. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, &.C. 
 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture and Implements 
 Coverings and Clothing. 
 Provisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and liocomotiou. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 \ Savings, Insurance, Investments, See. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Stationer. Printer. 
 
 Bookbinder. Copier. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 Subordinate Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household,) 
 Officekeeper. 
 Doorkeeper. 
 
 Clerk of / 
 
 Porter. 
 Subordinate Attendants, Sec. 
 
 Housekeeper, 
 ^Messenger.
 
 234 
 
 Official Organization. 
 
 DEPARTxMENT OF LAW AND LEGISLATION. 
 
 Tliis Department ought to take cognizance of all matters 
 of Law and Legislation, under the Presidency of the Lord 
 Chancellor. Its task at the present moment would be over- 
 whelming, if it were not endowed with Special Agencies and 
 Means, and a numerous and accomplished Staff" to do the 
 work : The aid of some such Staff as the following, would 
 be barely sufficient for its purposes : 
 
 [■Jurist. rCodifier. 
 
 Tribunalist. Consolidator. 
 
 < Pleader. ^ General Law Writer. 
 
 Cursitor. Special Law Writer. 
 
 Formulist. ISupplemental Law Writer. 
 
 Collector and Enumerator. 
 Receiver and Arranger. 
 Stater and Compiler. 
 Examiner and Objector. 
 Trier and Recorder. 
 
 Bye Law Writer. 
 Regulation Writer. 
 Legislative Officer. 
 Digest Writer. 
 ^Instruction Writer. 
 
 Each one of them would find ample employment, for it is 
 to be remembered that the function would extend to all 
 Legislation, not merely to the Consolidation of the past Law, 
 but to current Legislation, and to all descriptions of Legis- 
 lation. 
 
 A Committee or Board of the Privy Council for matters 
 of Law and Legislation under the Presidency of the Lord 
 Chancellor, would constitute an appropriate means of exe- 
 cuting tliis species of work; being of the nature of advice 
 and assistance, and not of execution. It will be well to justify 
 the appointment of so many Officers, by an explanation of 
 their duties.
 
 Department of Laiv and Legislation. 235 
 
 Thk Jurist. 
 
 It would be the Office of the Jurist to take cognizance of 
 rights and obligations ; of the interest and the sanction wliich 
 constitute the principal elements of right ; of the object, the 
 occasion, the agent, the act, the conditions, and the mode of 
 action which constitute its principal particulars ; and the 
 expression of which makes the formal rule of right. 
 
 The TuinrNALiST 
 
 Would have cognizance of all Jurisdictions and Tribunals ; 
 not merely of Tribunals usually so called, that is, of Judicial 
 Tribunals, but of all institutional agencies, official or other- 
 wise. All personages whose Office is promoted for the 
 furtherance of a right, public or private, do in fact perform 
 acts of a judicial nature, and should proceed with a more 
 or less regard to the requisites by which a judicial determina- 
 tion is arrived at. 
 
 It would follow that this Officer would have charge of the 
 personnel of all Official Organizations. 
 
 The Pleader 
 
 Is a Functionary who is getting, or has indeed got, into 
 great disrepute ; but whether under that or any other desig- 
 nation, or in a distinct form or not, the function must always 
 endure. He is the logician of our system. The Officer 
 whose care it is to determine what is to be done, or said on 
 any occasion, to point the effort to its purpose, and to 
 exclude whatever is irrelevant to the occasion, on account 
 of its being either wholly or partially without the scope 
 of the matter or the right which is in question, or so 
 at that time. It is of no inconsiderable use to give a 
 separate existence to this personage, not only for the object 
 just mentioned, but in order to esta])lish a distinction betM'een 
 the matter of a form, or the subject in suljstancc, and 
 the expression of the matter, or its practical em])odiment in
 
 236 Official Organization. 
 
 printed or written letters on paper or other material. Each 
 has its use: but the close adlierence to literal form, has 
 destroyed or marred the use of both. It has restricted the 
 scope of good sense which is the province of pleading, and 
 excited a disrelish to form, without which there cannot be 
 definite expressions of any kind. 
 
 If the Pleader were accustomed to all the methods of 
 statement in all Courts and Places, and to that end" were to 
 collect such methods, eliminate their defects and extract their 
 virtues, point discriminately to the occasions where one kind 
 or another might be most usefully employed, we might 
 become as great masters of statement as ever we were, and 
 by the use of the same methods of ratiocination come to a 
 state of closer agreement on a greater range of subjects, — a 
 matter of no slight importance in considering the higher 
 uses of this Scheme of Organizing our Civil Forces. It 
 should be his Office to take cognizance of Pleadings and 
 Statements of all kinds. 
 
 The Cursitor 
 
 Would take cognizance of Proceedings of all kinds — 
 whether administrative, inquiring, legislative, judicial, finan- 
 cial, directing, special, local, superintending and controlling, 
 or registering and recording — with the order and course of pro- 
 ceeding in the exercise of every right and the fulfilment of 
 every obligation. 
 
 It would be his duty to marshal actions according to the 
 occasion, and to distribute them over time. Proceedings have 
 their peculiar Agencies ; it is necessary to proceed step by 
 step, yet promptly, and without needless intervals or delays ; 
 to order the course of action, so that everything may have 
 its turn in time as well as in place, and not be turned aside 
 with neglect to be precipitately handled in the moment of 
 pressure. 
 
 Tlie separation of procedure, both from the expression of 
 the right, and from the ordering of the matter of allegation 
 and statement, and from the requirements of form would 
 give a degree of simplicity to our Law, quite beyond the con-
 
 Department of Law and Lejtdo.tlon. 237 
 
 caption of the unol)servant. It would mark what is proper 
 for general or popular use, and what is proper for the prac- 
 titioner. 
 
 A collection of the procedures of all Official Departments 
 and of all Tribunals, would furnish us with the richest stores 
 of material, by which we might rescue both our Official and 
 Judicial Systems from the reproach of a narrow and inappli- 
 cable method, that hinders instead of assisting the progress of 
 business. In both systems it is so, partly because we are 
 commonly ignorant of rationale of Offices and unaccustomed 
 to the proper use of them. 
 
 The Cursitor would be an useful agent of Finance. He 
 would mark the periods between the conception and consum- 
 mation of the work; the time actually employed in the work 
 and on each stage of it ; the intervals between one stage and 
 another; the loss occasioned l)y particular incidents; and the 
 gain that might be obtained by prompter means : the time, 
 the space, the cost, the labour, the men employed in many 
 processes. The Cursitor would be the ally of the Estimator, 
 who must needs follow his methods. 
 
 The Form u list 
 
 Would take cognizance of the Forms and mode of state- 
 ment employed in Expressing and Recording every Action and 
 every Transaction in Formal and other Documents. 
 
 His use has been shown in discussing the uses of his 
 colleagues. He would also take cognizance of all the me- 
 chanical methods which are involved in the use of Forms, 
 and all the incidental advantages of using them ; the saving 
 of labour, of time, of skill, the limiting of the range of mis- 
 understanding, the ordering of the strictural matters within 
 the Form, the Heading, the Name of the Document, the Pre- 
 mises or Subject-matter, the Occasion, the Act, the Condi- 
 tions, the Authentication, the Appendices; and again the Paper, 
 the Writing, the Type, the Folding, all matters which, facilitat- 
 ing the distinguishing of the matter and the Filing, Reporting, 
 and recording it, go to economise the exertions of an Office and 
 to make it efficient. All these matters are of the greatest
 
 238 Official Organization, 
 
 concern in law-making. The cVLsregard of some, apparently 
 the most trivial, has occasioned in the administration of aifairs 
 just that sort of result which has followed now and then from 
 placing a stick or stone on a railway. 
 
 The Collector and Enumerator. 
 
 It would be the function of this Officer to collect and 
 enumerate in tables, alphabetical and classed, the subject- 
 matters to which the range of inquiry and action is to 
 extend. 
 
 I. The Persons of all kinds. 
 
 The Matters of all kinds. 
 The Acts, Transactions, and Proceedings. 
 The Times and Events. 
 The Places and Districts. 
 The States and Conditions. 
 All the subjects, in short, of the Law. 
 
 II. The Laws relating to them. 
 
 1. The Codes, and parts of Codes. 
 
 2. The Bodies of Law, and parts of Law. 
 
 3. The General Statutes, or parts of Statutes. 
 
 4. Special Statutes, or parts of Statutes. 
 
 5. Supplemental Statutes, or parts of Statutes. 
 
 6. Digests and Cases. 
 
 7. Text Books. 
 
 8. Bye-Laws, 
 
 9. Regulations. 
 
 10. Practice and Usage. 
 
 III. The suggestions, complaints, and representations 
 that have been from time to time made or stated, and the 
 action thereon. 
 
 By Parliaments. 
 
 By Courts of Justice. 
 
 By Governments.
 
 Department of Law and Lc(jislatlon. 23.0 
 
 By Functionaries. 
 
 By Bodies of Persons. 
 
 By Chamljers of Commerce. 
 
 By tlie Public Press. 
 
 By Professional Writers. 
 
 By other Writers. 
 
 By Individuals. 
 But in making this Collection^ he would, of course, be 
 assisted by all other agencies according to the range of their 
 Functions. 
 
 It would be his Business to collect from them, and by the 
 help of their Enumerations, to make a complete Enumeration. 
 
 The Receiver and Arranger 
 
 Would perform the task of putting the matters com- 
 prised in such Enumeration in complete order. 
 
 This work would be of a higher kind, and calculated to 
 prepare the way for, 
 
 The Stater and Compiler, 
 
 Whose Function it would be to State or Express those 
 matters according to the prescribed manner; and so to 
 compile them that 
 
 The Examiner and Ojjjector 
 
 Might compare the Statement with the Instructions for 
 preparing the compilation of the Code or Law, and state his 
 Objections, if any, for the Action thereon, of 
 
 The Trier and Recorder, 
 
 Who would try the Objections in such manner as should 
 be appointed, and correct the Code according to the result.
 
 240 Official Organization. 
 
 A Process of this kind is necessary for a large operation 
 like a Code, requiring so wide a range of knowledge, such 
 variety of skill and sustained application for so long a period 
 of time; and where the results of miscarriage are so great. 
 
 The methods must he pre-appointed and ascertained; and 
 each workman trained to take his part. 
 
 All other great undertakings owe their success to such 
 methods. One man can give birth to a grand idea of uni- 
 versal application, but it never happened that one man 
 realized such an one by his own single exertions, without the 
 aid of much time or much assistance, or both. 
 
 Clerk of the Codes. 
 
 It would be his Duty not only to collect the Codes them- 
 selves, but to extract such matters as may bear upon Current 
 Legislation, and also to Index the Codes according to any 
 scheme of Index that might be adopted, in order that the 
 matters might all be readily accessible. He might also make 
 and collect Outlines of the Codes, and frame a good general 
 outline ; and thereafter w-atch all Legislation, with a view to 
 its eventually forming part of a Code. 
 
 The following countries are said to have Codes : — 
 
 1, Baden. 2. Bavaria. 3. Belgium. 4. Brazil. 5. Cracow. 
 6. France. 7, Greece, 8. Ilayti. 9. Hesse. 10. Holland. 11. Ionian 
 Islands. 12. Lombardy — Venice. 13. Lucca. 14. Luxembourg. 
 15. Parma. 10. Portugal. 17. Roman States. 18. Russia. 19. Sardinia. 
 20. Two Sicilies. 21. Spain. 22. Tuscany. 23. "Wallachia. 24. Loui- 
 siana. 
 
 Could we but be induced carefully to collate these Codes 
 according to some common standard, such as is indicated by 
 the division of the Functions here suggested — a Code of 
 Ri2;hts and Obliijations, a Code of Tribunals, a Code of 
 Pleading, a Code of Procedure, and a Code of Forms — the 
 essentials of Legislation would be brought out to view, while 
 the very work of so collating these contributions to Legis- 
 lation would train the persons to be employed to the task ; 
 a preparation which must be undertaken before we can count 
 upon efficient results.
 
 De2Xirtment of Law ami Lerjidation. 241 
 
 Cleuk of the Consolidations. 
 
 This Officer would perform with respect to Consolida- 
 tions, Duties similar to those of the Clerk of the Codes; and 
 also make, or superintend the making of, such additional 
 Consolidaticns as the Departments of Government should 
 require. 
 
 The instances of Consolidation are now numerous. Some 
 of them are good pieces of Legislation and, perhaps, all give 
 examples of Practical Legislation which it would he wise to 
 separate from the mass for adoption in other cases. 
 
 Consolidation has its Office and Exigencies distinct from 
 those of Codification on the one hand, and General Law 
 AVriting and Special Law Writing on the other ; and these it is 
 important to regard in our present transitional state — care 
 being taken that nothing be done inconsistent with the larger 
 work of eventually including the whole in one Comprehensive 
 System. 
 
 Clerk of the General Laws. 
 
 This important range of Duty is worthy of a Special 
 Agency. General Laws have failed (1) from not collecting 
 from our existing Legislation all the provisions that apply to 
 their Subject-matters ; (2) from not adopting a sufficiently 
 comprehensive method ; (3) from not making that method 
 at once logical and uniform; and (l) from putting in the same 
 Law, matters of an incongruous nature that could not be 
 embraced by the same designation. 
 
 There is less excuse for doing the task imperfectly, as our 
 Lav/ furnishes abundant material; but the excuse has been 
 that proper means for executing the task have never been 
 allowed ; and that the experience of failures has nut operated 
 to prevent the recurrence of similar failures ])ecause no ncans 
 have been taken to collect and compile instances of these 
 failures for the information and guidance of the persons who 
 have been employed. Tlie making of General Laws is a 
 financial question of great importance; for th? state of many oi" 
 
 Q
 
 242 Official Organization. 
 
 our Offices, and the expense of them result from the want 
 of "-eneral rules of conduct amounting to a common Law, of 
 which we may take habitual notice. 
 
 Clerk of the Special Laws. 
 
 Special Laws are usually drawn by the Officer of the 
 Department : but as it is not fit that the Laws of one Depart- 
 ment should differ from those of another in matters not 
 strictly of a special nature, there should be an Officer charged 
 with the duty of keeping the Laws of the Department in har- 
 mony with the other Laws of the same Session, and if possible, 
 with the General Laws of the Land. 
 
 Special Laws^, as distinguished from General Laws, have 
 their peculiar exigencies and requirements. They should 
 follow the order of the Laws of which they form a part. 
 They are more specific, as they are more special; indeed they 
 should contain nothing which is not of a special nature, and 
 the presence of any general matter ought to be noticed by the 
 Special Law Writer. 
 
 Special Laws would be brief indeed, if there were General 
 Laws for each class of matter to which General Laws are 
 applicable. 
 
 Clerk of the Supplemental Laws. 
 
 Supplemental Laws are open peculiarly to the remark 
 above made as to Special Laws, that they should follow the 
 order of the Law of which they form a part. They have other 
 exigencies : they require to be even more specific ; to have 
 their connexion with the other Laws, and the extent of their 
 operation in regard to these Laws, and to the matters common 
 to bo;h, more distinctly marked ; and the duty is so extensive, 
 so important, and so peculiar, as to require a separate hand. 
 
 This Officer should also be Clerk of tlie Repeals; and 
 bound also to notice in a proper Index all the alterations and 
 variations of existing Law, which arc ftom time to time made 
 by the Legislature
 
 DepaHment of Law and Legislation. 243 
 
 Clerk of the Bye-Laws and Regulations. 
 
 This branch of the subject differs from the foregoing, not 
 in the general considerations applying to its matters, but in 
 the different character and extent of their operation. 
 
 Tliey require peculiar care in their treatment, because 
 there is a constitutional jealousy in all quarters towards sub- 
 legislation ; and for that reason they should be subject to 
 more supervision and control tlian other Laws or, at least 
 they should have the ])cncfit of the same assistance. 
 
 It is a circumstance that deserves particular attention in 
 reference to the present matter, that the Judges of the Land 
 who have had to make Regulations have in the majority of 
 instances signally failed ; ■while other Functionaries who ought 
 to make them have usually shrunk from the task, on some 
 account or other, probably the difficulty and distastefulness 
 of it. 
 
 Clerk of the Digests and Text-books. 
 
 These productions are now bej^ond the range of public 
 interference though they once were subject to the imprima- 
 tur of the Judges. It would be desirable that all Offices 
 should make Digests and Text-books of matters within their 
 jurisdiction, and such might be subject to the general control 
 of such an Officer. But the object of this appointment is, 
 rather to collect, than to make such Books. They are need- 
 ful to the practical Legislator; they should be known to him ; 
 but at the moment of his need he has seldom time to hunt 
 out the information he requires. 
 
 Some have doubted whether the objects of Consolidation 
 miMit not be better attained bv authorized Text Books com- 
 piled under one system ; but all consider that they are excel- 
 lent preparatives to extensive operations in L^w-making. 
 
 q2
 
 244 ' Official Organization. 
 
 Clerk OF THE Instructions. 
 
 This matter is within the scope and cognizance of 
 Government, and offers the means of eftecting large improve- 
 ments in the economy of its administration. The ignorance, 
 and want of skill of its Officers are the occasion of a very 
 large portion of the public expense: and considering that 
 these evils are shewn in intelligent and able persons who are 
 not found wanting in other things it may be attributed to the 
 want of available information on the matters of their respec- 
 tive Departments. 
 
 This service, like all other departments of Legislation, 
 requires peculiar aptitude, fullness, clearness, distinctness and 
 ready accessibility to the information at the moment of need ; 
 and (for Forms constitute a portion of such Instructions) a 
 well principled, well arranged, and simple body of Forms 
 which the Officer may apply without difficulty. 
 
 Clerk of Legislative Matters. 
 
 Besides the Committee of Legislation of the Privy 
 Council, there should, under some designation or other, 
 be a Legislative Officer for each Department of service. 
 I have found it a necessity. To judge of this necessity, 
 we must consider what are the subjects of Legislation. They 
 are not simply Laws, but Bye-laws, Regulations, Instruc- 
 tions, Forms, Digests, Statutes, the Rule and Practice, or 
 Usage, and all which are incidents of an Office. Every act 
 of the Office Avhich establishes a new principle, or departs from 
 an old one, or adopts a new application, or an application to 
 a new thing, calls into use the Functionary whose business it 
 should be to note it, that it may be filed, or inserted in its 
 proper place, in the Code of Regulations, to be available for 
 all classes of persons thereby affected, whether the Objects of 
 Care of the Department, or the Agents of Care. 
 
 It is from want of such an Officer that modifications which
 
 Department of Law aiid Leyislatlon. 245 
 
 are suggested and sanctioned by practice, are not adopted in 
 the System in such a manner as not to create anomalies, and 
 that the adoption of new inventions encounters so much 
 ol)struction, because the authorities in the case arc not al)le 
 to withdraw themselves from the routine, and consider the 
 matter. AVhat is deemed an exception would under such a 
 system, be found to be l)ut a special application of the general 
 rule, called for by an 01)jcct, and upon an Occasion within 
 the scope of the higlicr principles of administration. It is in 
 this field, and that of adaj)tations, that Administration has its 
 chief Office. Common rules are applicable to common Occa- 
 sions, and are to be executed by common, or inferior, agents. 
 The Exceptions, as they are called, are only to be treated 
 exceptionally; because the Administrator, or the Legislator, 
 has not been able to adjust the rule to all the cases to which 
 it may apply. A new case being discovered, the office of the 
 Administrator is promoted to apj)ly the rule to the occasion, 
 and thus realize the object; and where frequent occasions have 
 defined the proper conditions of a new or a more comprehen- 
 sive rule of more general application, which can be executed 
 as before by inferior agents, the Office of the Legislator is 
 promoted to enact such rule. It is from the want of such 
 means of adaptation, that Laws become either obsolete or 
 oppressive ; and often inapplicable to, or impracticable in 
 the new circumstances. 
 
 The following is a modified plan, recently suggested to 
 meet the occasion of mere Consolidation of the Statute Law. 
 But it will eventually be found that this matter of Legislation, 
 which is of constant application, must be provided for by 
 permanent arrangements. Parliament is entitled to have the 
 Legislative matters well prepared on sound general prin- 
 ciples, with regard both to matter and form ; and there is an 
 absolute need for a like provision for the entire range of sub- 
 legislation, which in this country is very extensive. By 
 employing persons temporarily, their services do not acquire
 
 246 Official Organization. 
 
 the advantages of an institution ; their experience expires 
 with the completion of the work ; tlie skill of one is not 
 communicated to another, and traditions so essential, like 
 habits, to regular and prompt action are not acquired. 
 
 Besides a regular Office, properly constituted and con- 
 ducted on regular methods, would be cheaper as well as 
 more efficient ; and would enable the Government to conduct 
 this, which is a great Financial, as well as Legal and Admi- 
 nistrative Operation, onward to immediate results, shewing 
 themselves in all the nieasures which it undertakes. 
 
 It seems to me that this measure should be conducted as 
 great imdertakings of a mechanical kind are, upon design, 
 with plan, specification, and estimate ; and with arrangements 
 M'hich would at least promise the completion in an assign- 
 able time. The subjoined outline, following the suggested 
 Scheme of Commission for the limited purpose, will give an 
 idea of the course of operation. I should assign a period of 
 one year for each stage of operation, and should make the 
 remuneration contingent on the work being done within the 
 appointed period, giving of course every available facility 
 to the undertakers of the work. 
 
 Supposing a Special Commission (of a limited character) 
 I should recommend that it consist of Five Members at 
 least; and that each Member should hold a separate Func- 
 tion or Office, viz. — 
 
 One to be (" Jurist "' or) Commissioner of Rights and 
 Obligations, to have cognizance of Rights and 
 Obligations. 
 One to be ('•' Trii:)unalist " or) Commissioner of Juris- 
 dictions and Tribunals, to have cognizance of all 
 Jurisdictions and Tribunals. 
 One to be ("Pleader" or) Commissioner of Pleading, 
 to have cognizance of the matter of Pleading and 
 Statements of all kinds. 
 One to be (" Cursitor" or) Commissioner of Procedure, 
 
 to have cognizance of Proceedings of all kinds. 
 One to be (•' Formulist " or) Commissioner of Forms, 
 to have cognizance of all Forms.
 
 Department of Law and Legislation. 247 
 
 Tliat these Commissioners shuuld Ijc assisted by the 
 following principal Officers or Assistant Commissioners, or, 
 if economy require, should themselves execute the task, viz. 
 
 1. To collect and enumerate the matters of Legislation 
 
 and Judicial Decision. 
 
 2. To receive and arrange them according to the scheme 
 
 of Consolidation. 
 
 3. To state and compile them in the prescribed manner. 
 
 4. To examine and object in reference to requirements 
 
 of all kinds. 
 
 5. To try objections, and correct the Instrument, Code, 
 
 or Consolidated Statute. 
 And that they should have the further assistance of the 
 following mechanical aids, acting in immediate connection 
 with them. 
 
 1 . Stationer, 
 
 2. Printer, 
 
 3. Bookljinder, 
 
 4. Lithographer, 
 
 5. Copier; 
 
 and also of an OfRcekeeper, Housekeeper, Doorkeeper, 
 Messenger, and Porter. 
 
 The business of the Commission should be conducted 
 with the regularity of an Office, and to that end the Officers 
 should form a species of Board, and be assisted by a proper 
 Staff of Assistant Officers and Clerks, and have all the faci- 
 lities and appliances of an Office. 
 
 I should further recommend a large unpaid Commission, 
 to consist of persons engaged in Legislative Matters or in- 
 terested in Legislation, but to be divided into Committees, 
 CO responding with the practical affiiirs, and the functions 
 nvolved in the Administration of them. 
 
 1. Departments and Offices of State. 
 
 2. Persons, Corporations, Associations, &,e. 
 
 To these Committees the Commissioners should periodi- 
 cally report, which would give practical direction to the 
 labours of the Special Commission, and, at the same time, 
 enable many persons who nmst be subsequently engay;ed, 
 either in the passhig of the Law or in its administration.
 
 248 Official Organization. 
 
 to become gradually acquainted with the scope and details 
 of the t"isk, and thus prepared to support and defend it in 
 Parliament. 
 
 I should suggest that the Legal ^lembers of every Depart- 
 ment of State and its Law Officers, should be a Committee 
 to collect (in a given form,) the Laws of their Departments, 
 or to assist and superintend the Collection of the Laws by 
 the Special Commission. 
 
 It would be desirable to invite the voluntary aid of Public 
 Officers, of Members of the Bar, and of other persons, 
 capable of affording assistance in any Special Departments ; 
 and also of Students of Law, whether for the Bar or for the 
 profession of Attorney or Solicitor. 
 
 With a view to these services being made available, a 
 Scheme of Operations should be carefully prepared. 
 
 By these means the Commission might be made efficient 
 as well as economical, and at the same time a large range of 
 unpaid service be secured, by which the Public and the Par- 
 liament would be trained to consider the Law in the first 
 instance, and after it has passed, to appreciate it. 
 
 If hereafter the examination of Candidates for the Pro- 
 fessions were based on the Consolidated Law, there would 
 be added an adequate motive for engaging in the sei'vice of 
 making the Consolidation, and also in the necessary training 
 in the use of the Instrument of Law, the want of which 
 lias often occasioned an antasfonism between the Le;2:islature 
 a!u} the Tribunals.
 
 Department of Law and Le<jislation. 249 
 
 According to the following Scheme, the work might be 
 accomplished in five years : — 
 
 FIRST YEAR, 
 
 I, PnELiMiNAUv Inquiry, Plan, and Instruction. 
 
 Report (1.) on Primary Olyects — Geueral Consideratious— Prac- 
 tical 0])jects — Practical Means. 
 
 Report (2.) oil what has been done, when, and where. 
 
 Report (3.) on what has failed or fallen short, and why. 
 
 Report (4.) how it should be done. (Plan of Action.) 
 
 (5.) The necessary means. (Specification and Estimate.) 
 (6.) The available Agencies. 
 
 Report (7.) on Material for Instructions, 
 (8.) Instructions. 
 (9.) General Course and Order of Proceeding. 
 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 II. Collection, Preparation, and Compilation op Materials. 
 
 (1.) Collect and Enumerate Sulyect Matters and Topics 
 
 Laws and Practice — Suggestions, itc. 
 (2.) Receive and arrange them in the order of Code or 
 
 Digest. 
 (3.) State and compile. 
 (4.) Examine and state Olyections. 
 (o.) Determine Objections and revise. 
 
 TliiRD YEAR. 
 
 III. ASCERTAINMKXT OP QUESTIONS. 
 
 (1.) Statement of Case — Propounding of Questions of Law 
 
 and of Fact. 
 (2.) Statement of Evidences of Questions of Law or Principle. 
 (3.) Trial of Questions of Law and of Fact. 
 (4.) Report and Subuussion of Judgments to Privy Council 
 
 or General Commission. 
 (5.) Report and Submission of Judgments to ParHament.
 
 250 Official Organizatiou 
 
 f 
 
 FOURTH YEAR. 
 
 IV, Preparatiox of Laws, Consolidation, or Code. 
 (1.) Rights and Obligations. (1.) Code. 
 (2.) Jurisdictions. (2.) Consolidations. 
 
 (3.) Pleading. (or) (3.) General Laws. 
 
 (4.) Procedure. (4.) Special Laws. 
 
 (5.) Forms. (5.) Supplemental Laws. 
 
 FIFTH YEAR. 
 
 V. Examination and Revision. 
 
 (1.) Public Reward for Errors discovered or Suggestions 
 
 made. 
 (2.) Trial of Claims. 
 (3.) Final Revision. 
 
 (4.) Submission to Privy Council or General Commission. 
 (5.) Submission to Parliament. 
 
 SIXTH YEAR. 
 
 VI. Recognition of Services — 
 By Pecuniary Reward. 
 By Preferment. 
 By Promotion in Rank. 
 By Acknowledgments. 
 
 It would require the aid of men distinguished in l)oth 
 Houses of Parliament, and in the Public Services, as well as 
 of independent persons, to superintend the operation : and 
 these Services should be recognized by suitable means. The 
 Successful Maker of a Code would deserve the honours 
 which are assigned to Statesmanship, and to Military, and 
 Naval, and Legal Distinction.
 
 Department of Law and Legislation. 251 
 
 General Considerations. 
 
 In executing all such operations, one means of success 
 is to recognize to the full all the Objects and Difticulties of 
 the Undertaking. 
 
 In the present instance, it may be stated that the Object 
 is to render the whole Law (in all its provisions) fully appli- 
 cable to the Objects and Occasions of the Persons engaged 
 in the Pursuit of the Occupation and also to the Operations 
 and to the hmited Means and Opportunities of such Persons ; 
 and at the same time to Provide for the Permanent Conser- 
 vation of the Code ; and for the Protection of other Interests 
 which may be brought in Collision with such Persons ; and 
 also to Provide for the Prevention of Mischiefs, and the 
 Remedy of such as may Occur ; and lastly, to provide for 
 the Vindication of Rights, Public and Private, and for the 
 Punishment of, Violation of, or Offences against, such Rights. 
 
 Now this pre-supposes a view of things in all their states 
 and conditions, under an infinite variety of circumstances, a 
 degree of apprehension, and a degree of comprehension, which 
 are not given to any single man, or any small number of 
 men. 
 
 Moreover, practical men, by an almost necessary conse- 
 quence of their habitual pursuits, are ever seeking that the 
 Law shall be especially and distinctly applicable to their 
 case, rejecting the broad, abstract, general, and comprehen- 
 sive principles, which would cover every specialty, as too 
 vague and indefinite. 
 
 These two opposite tendencies of Mind must be brought 
 into Action by means of a third Class, viz. of those Legal and 
 other Practitioners, M'ho come in immediate Communication 
 with both of them — with Learning and Invention on the one 
 hand, and Practical Intelligence and Skill on the other. 
 
 Unfortunately, these multitudinous requirements are 
 seldom regarded, each person conceiving his own views and 
 experience to be the standard of what is necessary — till the
 
 252 Official Organization. 
 
 Law comes into actual use, when, partly from omissions, and 
 partly from incomj)atibilitics, it is commonly found ^to be 
 
 inadequate, and to some extent impracticable. 
 
 The arrangement here proposed is intended to obviate 
 these consequences. It brings into action every order of 
 miiid and view, and by subordinating them to certain im- 
 mediate Objects, and tliese in turn to more general Objects, 
 it proposes to produce the Promptitude and Efficiency, 
 the Unity, Compreliensiveness, and Completeness which are 
 requisite ; and, instead of waiting to try the Laws after 
 they are passed, measures are proposed by which they may 
 be Tried before they are proposed to the Legislature, by 
 which they may also be checked during their progress through 
 the Legislature, and by wliich the experiences of the Courts 
 may be systematically collected and reported for the future 
 ready Amendment of the Law. 
 
 A careful Report of the defects in our Statutes, would 
 shew that they are the result of not employing the appro- 
 priate energies for each class of Agenda. We employ skil- 
 ful Persons in Directions where their Skill, Knowledge, and 
 Experience are not available, and suffer their prejudices 
 and limited views to control and overrule the Knowledjre, 
 Experience, and Skill of others. In other words, though 
 collectively all the Persons may be competent, and each In- 
 dividual may be so in some or other Directions, they are so 
 disposed that they mutually Plinder, instead of Assisting, 
 each oth.er. 
 
 Vi\' pre-appointing, as in Parliament, the stages of the 
 work, rcquii ing them to be performed at limited stated times, 
 and in a public manner, with due order and regularity, the 
 period of the actual completion of the work may be antici- 
 pated ; and incidentally, the energies of all will be stimu- 
 lated to the needful exertion. 
 
 This effect v.'ill be more certainly produced if the fee for 
 service be made payable, partly for the preparation of the 
 work for public appearance, and partly for the public ap- 
 pearance.
 
 DEPARTMENT OF JUDICIAL MATTERS.
 
 254 Official Organization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Judicial Matters. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President. 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Members. 
 
 All Privy Councillors who are on the Bench of the Superior 
 
 Courts. 
 All Privy Coiuicillors who htave been on the Bench of the 
 Superior Courts. 
 
 Together with the respective Members of all other 
 Committees of Privy Council who take cognizance 
 of the peculiar functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 (Or Principal Judicial Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affairs, or of knowledge or skill within 
 the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Staff. 
 
 Director. 
 Secretary. Actuary. Registrar. 
 
 Treasurer. Accountant. Auditor. 
 
 Remembrancer. Superintendent, Controller. 
 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Referees or Commissioners.) 
 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 
 Of Inquiry. Of Special Matters. 
 
 Of Legislation. Of Local ^Matters. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. Of Superintendence and Control. 
 
 Of Finance. Of Registration and Record. 
 
 Judicial Referees. 
 
 Persons attached or unattached, who have cognizance of 
 some special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Department of Judicial Matters. 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 255 
 
 Chief Officer. 
 
 (Clerks and Aj^cnts.) 
 
 Agents, Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of the Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of the Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of the Acts and Records. 
 
 Special Judicial Officer. 
 
 (Clerks or A 
 
 jents.) 
 
 Statements, &;c. 
 Questions of Law. 
 Clerk of I Questions of I-'act. 
 Judgments. 
 General Matters or Appeals. 
 
 I Rights and Obligations. 
 Jurisdictions. 
 v/xv^iv v^i , Allegations and Pleadings. 
 I Procedure. 
 [Forms. 
 
 Assistant Officeks. 
 
 Accountant and Statist. 
 (Clerks and Book-keepers.) 
 
 ' Persons and Establishments. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, &c. 
 
 Fittings, Fixtures. Furniture, and Implements. 
 Clerk of / Coverings and Clothing. 
 \ Provisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 ^ Savings, Insurance, Investments, &c. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 Stationer. 
 Printer. 
 
 Lithographer 
 
 SUBOKDINATE MeCHANICAL AsSISTA>'TS. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household.) 
 Officekoeper. 
 Housekeeper. 
 
 Porter. 
 
 SUBOEDINAIK ATTENDANTS, &CC. 
 
 Bookbinder. 
 Copier. 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 Messenger.
 
 25 G Official Organization. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF JUDICIAL MATTERS. 
 
 There is already a Judicial Committee of the Privy 
 Council, but in addition, and in subordination tliereto, every 
 principal department at least should have its Judicial 
 Officer. 
 
 Every Office has occasion for the exercise of the judicial 
 function upon matters coming within its own cognizance. 
 Of this character are : — the Matters which are expressly 
 referred to its judicial determination, of which every consi- 
 derable Office has few or many: — the Matters of a Domestic 
 nature, relating to its internal affiiirs or disputes amongst its 
 own Members and Officers, Attendants and Servants: — the 
 Matters which require to be referred to other Judicial 
 Tribunals in a judicial manner, and of which, in the course 
 of its career, some will occur : and — Matters of an im- 
 portant nature, which, thougli not strictly of a judicial 
 nature, require to be subjected to judicial tests, or to be 
 investigated by persons of judicial habits. Such questions 
 the Minister or Head of the Department, worried as he is 
 by all sorts of matters, cannot grapple with. Whatever may 
 be his administrative ability, and perhaps on account of his 
 administrative ability, he is usually unable to fulfil this 
 function with advantage, or in due time, or without com- 
 promising other relations. 
 
 Hence the presence of a Judicial Officer, such as the 
 ancient Recorder, would be of inestimable advantage in 
 every great Department. He should try as well as keep 
 the record. And if the matters are extensive in range 
 or various in nature, such an officer will require proper aid, 
 in trying the statement of the case; the questions of fact;
 
 Department of J adicial 31atter^. 257 
 
 the questions of law; the judgment; and, it may be, equit- 
 ably adjusting the matters admitting of or requiring such 
 adjustment. All these matters involve different considera- 
 tions and skill of different kinds. They require, too, to be 
 taken seriatim and separately, that they may not be slurred 
 over, and that their considerations may not cross or be inter- 
 mingled with each other. 
 
 In the Superior Courts where the proceedings are more 
 regular, and the sul^jects have undergone a previous elimina- 
 tion by means of pleading, assistance of this nature is not so 
 necessary; but no Judge can safely dispense with such assist- 
 ance, cither l)y means of the agency of the Parties or by 
 means of the agency of the Court, or by means of method 
 in the conduct of the trial, or by means of a private agency. 
 The result will depend mainly upon the care with which 
 these processes have been executed. 
 
 As all judgments are subject to revision, either directly and 
 authoritatively by means of regular appeal, or indirectly and 
 luiauthoritatively by means of reports and public discussion, 
 it would be well in all cases, and before all Tribunals and 
 Officers, to conduct judicial proceedings with the same 
 strictness of method, whatever may be the latitude of dis- 
 cretion which the Judicial Officer is authorized to exercise in 
 his adjudication. A summ.ary proceeding is not exempted 
 from the logical exactness which is required in the regular 
 proceeding, but only from that severity of method which is 
 exacted in the latter. Where regularity and strictness are 
 not enjoined, it is difficult to l)e as regular and strict as 
 the case admits of or requires : and, therefore, it not un- 
 commonly happens that Judicial Persons invested with full 
 discretion as to procedure fall into a degree of laxity which 
 either precludes a fair adjudication, or renders their jud"-- 
 ment legally inoperative. 
 
 To obviate such consequences it is proposed that there 
 should always be the means of enabling the Judicial Officer 
 
 K
 
 258 Official Organization. 
 
 to make a separate statement of the case, with a distinct 
 Adjudication upon its sufficiency; a separate statement of 
 the legal questions with a distinct Adjudication thereon ; 
 a separate statement of facts in question, with a separate 
 Adjudication thereon ; and finally a separate state- 
 ment upon the whole matter as proved, with a distinct 
 adjudication thereon ; and supposing such Adjudica- 
 tion though conformable to law technically considered, to 
 be unconformable to Law equitably considered, a separate 
 statement of the difference with a distinct Adjudication 
 thereon. 
 
 And, to facilitate his Judicial Service, it is proposed 
 also that means should be afforded of ascertaining distinctly 
 what is the state of the Law under the different heads of 
 matter upon which he may have to Adjudicate. 
 
 Upon these principles it is proposed that the Department 
 of the Privy Council which is charged with the cognizance of 
 Judicial Matters, should l)e provided with a corresponding 
 number of Officers charged with such secondary or subsidiary 
 functions, and that other Officers should have similar aid in a 
 degree proportionate to the Judicial Service with which they 
 are charged j and also arrangements calculated to ensure, or at 
 least facilitate, efficient j udicial action. 
 
 In Inferior Jurisdictions, or in Jurisdictions without 
 the aid mentioned, it would be expedient to have Official 
 persons employed as above in giving aid to the head or Judge. 
 At all events those matters, whether done at the same time 
 of the day, or at different times, or on different days, should 
 be taken seriatim and separately that the steps toward the 
 conclusion may be distinctly traced even if it were only to 
 keep both the Judge and the Parties, in view of the different 
 matters on which they are engaged.
 
 Department of Judicial Matters. 259 
 
 The Officers employed on the Committee of Laws and 
 Legislation: the Jurist, the Tribunalist, the Pleader, the 
 Cursitor, and the Formulist, or similar Officers, ought to be 
 engaged in the task of digesting and registering the decisions, 
 and in assisting the Judges in the trial of the separate matters 
 by collecting the cases involved in their respective Juris- 
 dictions, and reducing them to a shape for immediate use : a 
 Function which is necessary under any state of the Law but 
 peculiarly necessary in its present state. 
 
 It would be an interesting matter of inquiry to ascertain 
 from diflferent Judges the private methods of assistance 
 which they have found it useful, or expedient, to adopt in 
 working out the cases which they have received for Adju- 
 dication. 
 
 The Survey of Tribunals would afford valuable sugges- 
 tions for the constitution of a proper Court and the proper 
 aid necessary for the discharge of its functions, especially 
 where the parties do not appear to assist the Court, or are 
 unable to do so. 
 
 The quantity of Judicial business, which has been with- 
 drawn from the Courts of Justice and referred to Special 
 Commissions and other bye authorities is very great indeed 
 and ou2:ht to be referred to an Administrative Judicial 
 Tribunal of competent authority, if there be reasons for not 
 referring: such business to the ordinarv Tribunals. The 
 severance of such business from ordinary Offices would not 
 only relieve them largely, but would tend more effectually to 
 do justice to the Suitor. 
 
 It would be well as a matter of Official training and prac- 
 tice, that all Officers should pass through the Judicial De- 
 partment for the sake of acquiring that orderly, precise, and 
 logical method of investigation which the proper exercise of 
 
 R 2
 
 260 Official Organization. 
 
 the Judicial Office demands; for all Official Matters^, except the 
 purely ministerial, are in their essential nature judicial : that 
 is to say, it must be ascertained whether the object be Avithin 
 the jurisdiction of the Officer ; whether the occasion on 
 which the jurisdiction is to be exercised has arisen ; whether 
 the conditions precedent have been performed ; whether the 
 actor, or person whose act is invited, is the person by whom 
 the act is to be performed ; whether the act invited is the 
 right act in the case ; whether the mode of action is right ; 
 and finally, what are the consequences of the Action, and 
 the possibilities of Failure, and the consequences of 
 Failure. 
 
 Where the amount and importance of the business should 
 justify such an amount of force, Special Officers for each 
 Division of Duty might be appointed, or one or two to 
 perform the principal Department of Duty, as for instance, 
 (1) the duties assigned to the first five might be given to one; 
 and the duties assigned to the second five might be given 
 another. Whatever is done in this direction, should be done 
 in such a manner as to keep all the Divisions distinctly in 
 view. 
 
 The Clerk of the Statements 
 
 Will Examine, with the assistance of other Officers, the 
 Statement or Claim as to its sufficiency as a Statement or 
 Claim in the case in question, both in respect of its Form 
 and its Matter. 
 
 The Clerk of the Questions of Law 
 
 Will Examine and Report to the Judge or Judicial 
 Officer the Statement of the Grounds of Law and the Issues 
 of Law.
 
 Department of Judicial Matters. 2G1 
 
 The Clerk of the Questions ok Fact 
 
 Will Examine and Report to the Judge or Judicial 
 Officer the Issues of Fact and the Statement of the Evi- 
 dences of Fact. 
 
 The Clerk of the Judgments 
 Will Examine and Record the Judsfment or Conclusion. 
 
 o 
 
 The Clerk of the General Matters and Appeals 
 
 Will Examine and Report to the Judge or Judicial 
 Officer the Grounds of Special Applications or Appeals. 
 
 The Clerk of the Rights and Obligations 
 
 Will Extract and Report to the Legislative Officer the 
 Matters of Right and Obligation involved in the Case, and 
 also assist the Judge or Judicial Officer by citing the ne edful 
 Rules, Precedents, or Authorities applicable thereto. 
 
 The .Clerk of the Jurisdictions 
 
 Will, in like manner, Assist in all Questions of Juris- 
 diction. 
 
 The Clerk op the Allegations and Pleadings 
 
 Will Perform a similar Service in Relation to the Matter 
 of all Statements.
 
 262 Official Organization, 
 
 The Clerk of the Procedure 
 
 Will take Cognizance of all Procedures and their Rela- 
 tion to the Matter of Right on the one hand, and the Con- 
 venience of the Tribunal on the other ; acting in Aid at once 
 of the Suitor and of the Court. 
 
 The Clerk of the Forms 
 
 Will Entertain all Matters of Form ; will Note all Points 
 of Defect and Modes of Amendment; and Prepare the 
 necessary Instructions for making such Amendments and pre- 
 venting the Occasion of their Recurrence.
 
 DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND TRADE.
 
 2G4 
 
 Official Organization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Finance and Trade. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President. 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Membeks. 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill the Offices of First Lord of the 
 Treasmy, Chancellor of the Exchequer, President of the 
 Board of Trade, and Commissioners of the Treasury. 
 
 Together with the respective Members, &c. of all other Com- 
 mittees of Privy Council, who take cognizance of the 
 peculiar functions of this Committee, 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 (or Principal Financial and Commercial Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Aifairs, or of knowledge or skill 
 within the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Staff. 
 
 Secretary 
 Treasurer 
 
 Director. 
 
 Actuary - 
 Accountant 
 
 Remembrancer - Superintendent - 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Referees or Commissioners.) 
 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 
 Of Inquiry. 
 
 Of Legislation. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. 
 
 Of Finance. 
 
 Registrar. 
 Auditor. 
 
 Controller, 
 
 Of Special Matters. 
 Of Local Matters. 
 Of Supermtendence and Control. 
 Of Registration, Record, and 
 Publication. 
 
 F1NANCIA.E AND Commercial Referees. 
 
 Persons attached or unattached who have cognizance of 
 some special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Department of Finance ami Trade. 2G.' 
 THE KSrABLISilMKNT. 
 
 Chief Officer. 
 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 
 Agents — Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of the Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of the Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of the Acts and Records. 
 
 Special Financial and Commercial Officer. 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 
 Collector. Journal Clerk. 
 
 Receiver. Ledger Clerk. 
 
 Cashier. (Banker.) Paymaster. 
 
 Disburser. 
 
 Assistant Officers. 
 
 Storekeeper, Curator. 
 
 ACCOITNTANT AND STATIST. 
 
 (Clerks, Book-keepers, and Agents.) 
 
 / Persons and Establishment. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, &c. 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture, and Implements. 
 
 Clerk of 
 
 Coverings and Clothing. 
 
 Provisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 ^ Savings, Insurance, Investments, &c. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Stationer. Printer. 
 
 Bookbinder. Copier. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 Subordinate Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household.) 
 
 Officckeeper. Doorkeeper. 
 
 Housekeeper. Messenger. 
 
 Porter. 
 
 Subordinate .\ttendants, &e.
 
 266 Official Organization. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND TRADE. 
 
 The Office of such a Committee, as indeed of all the other 
 Committees of the Privy Council, would be simply to inquire 
 and advise, and to aid in the preparation of elaborate acts of 
 Administration and Legislation, which might be beyond 
 the strength of the Ordinary Executive Agencies of the 
 Treasury. 
 
 These are of a most extensive range, and are of such a 
 character as to meet with little assistance from the Treasury, 
 in competition with the ordinary business, in consequence 
 of which they are often indefinitely postponed. The Depart- 
 ments of such Committee would include the Collection ; the 
 Receipt; the Custody; the Investment; the Issue; the Pay- 
 ment; the Accounting; and the Auditing of Moneys, and 
 accounts of all Offices and Departments of State, which are 
 not under the immediate cognizance of the Treasury. 
 
 The Savings' Banks Inquiry and many other matters 
 would probably have been disposed of earlier, if there had 
 existed Functionaries capable of applying themselves to the 
 task, while there is a large number of such questions which 
 the Treasury has not been able to entertain at all. 
 
 The Functions now performed by the Board of Trade 
 might probably be united with the above Functions, to 
 which they are intimately related. 
 
 The Persons who are now Heads of Departments under 
 the Board of Trade might either be Special Members of the 
 Board, Staff Officers, Administrative Commissioners, or 
 Referees ; and all the duties performed by the Subordinate 
 Clerks and Officers might gradually be consolidated, and 
 performed by the persons of like degree in the Department.
 
 Department of Finance and Trade. 2C>7 
 
 The Financial and Commercial Officer. 
 
 Each Office should have an Officer of this land ; of whom, 
 in subordinate Departments nothing need be said. Our 
 Constitution practically makes money a test of aflFairs of 
 Departments, as it is a test of Commercial affairs. 
 
 This Officer should have cognizance of the Estates, Pro- 
 perties, Grants, Fees, the House, Furniture, Stores, and Sta- 
 tionery, and everything which makes the Revenue of the 
 Office ; and the Establishments, Pay, Material, and whatever 
 constitutes the Expenditure. All matters should be brought 
 into estimate ; and all matters should be brought into account; 
 and each department of the office, as well as the whole office, 
 should make both estimate and account, that not only the 
 total expense, but the distribution of the expense, should be 
 made manifest. 
 
 On the other hand every Department, especially the 
 highest, should have the means within limits of performing 
 needful service, without making out a previous case to the 
 Treasury, since the exigency and benefit of the service may 
 require prompt treatment, and can only be proved by the 
 event. The condition of such expenditure should be, that 
 before the thing is undertaken, the Officer should make a 
 special plan, specification, and estimate of the work he pro- 
 poses, and when the work is done, he should report the 
 actual expenditure in similar detail for future guidance and 
 information, and for the purpose of showing, not only 
 whether the work was wisely done, but whether it was wisely 
 set about. I have known not only wasteful expenditure to 
 be the consequence of this denial of means, but that great 
 benefits of a public nature have been denied. 
 
 If the Organization of the Treasury were of such a nature 
 as to insure sympathy with all services, and a prompt con- 
 sideration of applications, the course recommended might, 
 to some extent, be dispensed with ; but if within due limits 
 some discretion were confided to properly constituted offices 
 for purposes of a pubhc nature under conditions calculated
 
 268 Official Organization, 
 
 to insure responsibility for the result, we might energise our 
 Public Departments, and produce some such results as are 
 supposed to be exclusively incident to commercial enterprize. 
 I have known instances of work undertaken for Public De- 
 partments, which have not been paid for years, and which 
 has wholly discouraged much useful eflfort. The general 
 subject is certainly a delicate and difficult one, yet of most 
 pressing importance to the Public Ser\uce; and the constitu- 
 tion of such an Officer in direct communication with the 
 Treasury, and acting on its principles and methods, might be 
 an useful means of adjusting' the matter and overcoming its 
 difficulties. 
 
 This Department admits of more precise development ; 
 especially in the division of the Special, Financial, and 
 Commercial Officers; but, as in other cases, the specific 
 modification should be dependent upon the Returns of the 
 Survey. The principle is illustrated in the accompanying 
 Tables.
 
 DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL MATTERS.
 
 270 Official Organization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Special Matters. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President. 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Members. 
 
 All Vxiyj Councillors who fiU the offices of Commissioners of 
 
 the Treasury. 
 Chief Commissioner of Works. 
 Postmaster General. 
 Members of the Poor Law Board. 
 AU Privy Councillors who have filled such offices. 
 Together with the respective Members of all other Committees 
 
 of Privy Council who take cognizance of the peculiar 
 
 functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 (or Principal Special Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affairs, or of knowledge or skill 
 within the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Staff. 
 
 Director, 
 
 Secretary - - - Actuary - - - Registrar. 
 Treasurer - - - Accountant - - Auditor. 
 Remembrancer - Superintendent - Controller. 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Referees or Commissioners.) 
 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 
 Of Inquiry. Of Special Matters. 
 
 Of Legislation. Of Local Matters. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. Of Superintendence and Control. 
 
 Of Finance. Of Registration and Record. 
 
 Special Referees. 
 
 Architect. Engineer.
 
 Department of Siiecial Matters. 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 271 
 
 Chief Officer. 
 
 (Clerks, and Agents.) 
 
 Agents — Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of the Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of the Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of the Acts and Records. 
 
 Special ( 
 (Clerl 
 
 Officer. 
 
 is, or Agents.) 
 
 Designer. 
 
 Planner. 
 
 Specifier. 
 
 Estimator. 
 
 Contractor. 
 
 ■ 
 
 Maker. 
 
 Maintainor. 
 
 Cleaner. 
 
 Keeper. 
 
 User. 
 
 Assistant Officers. 
 Mechanist. 
 Modeller. 
 Constructor. 
 
 Surveyor. 
 Manager. 
 Clerk of the Works. 
 
 
 Draftsman. 
 
 Foreman. 
 
 Accountant and Statist. 
 
 (Clerks, Book-keepers, and Agents.) 
 
 Persons and Establishment. 
 
 Estates and Properties. 
 
 Housing, &c. 
 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture, and Implements. 
 
 Clerk of 
 
 Covering and Clothing. 
 
 Provisions. 
 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 
 Savings, Insurance, Investments, &c. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Stationer. Printer. 
 
 Bookbinder. Copier. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 
 Subordinate Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household.) 
 Office Keeper 
 Doorkeeper. 
 
 Housekeeper. 
 Messenger. 
 Porter. 
 
 Subordinate Attendants, &c.
 
 272 Official Onjwikation. 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL MATTERS, 
 
 Will represent all Special Affairs and Agencies, e. g. : — 
 
 1. Estates and Properties. 
 
 2. Buildings and Works. 
 
 And so on, in relation to the production and supply of 
 them, or of their incidents. 
 
 There should be an Officer for the whole, or for one or 
 more, according to the exigencies of the Office, with certain 
 subsidiary Functional Officers, who would have regard to 
 those elements of business which must be brought to the 
 view of the Administrative Officer, such as — 
 
 Designer. 
 
 Maker. 
 
 Planner. 
 
 Maintain er 
 
 Specifier. 
 
 Cleaner. 
 
 Estimator. 
 
 Keeper. 
 
 Contractor. 
 
 .User. 
 
 Whatever the thing made or done, it requires the service 
 of many functions comprised in the Offices above named, 
 which will be more particularly indicated in the following 
 observations : — It may be convenient, as in other cases, to 
 entrust these functions to a few or fnany, but they should 
 never be lost sight of, for it is by the disregard, or exclusion 
 of a part of the process of action that miscarriages, excess of 
 expenditure beyond estimate, misunderstandings, litigation, 
 and other disappointments and calamities occur. 
 
 Nor may we prudently reject such aids because the 
 names are new and peculiar. Our great undertakings often 
 fail because our great men, upon whose determination such 
 things rest, are not conversant with details or with the 
 methods of mastering them. We are to remember that we 
 are doing National work, and that hundreds of ihousands 
 depend upon the issue of a right or a wrong judgment. 
 Palaces, Bridges, practical measures of all kinds, structural
 
 Department of Special Matters. 273 
 
 and political have failed and discouraged other measures, 
 because the minor subsidiary works indicated in the above 
 mentioned functions have not been systematically and 
 habitually worked out. Employed constantly in all under- 
 takings, great or small, a sureness of step will be gained 
 which will move onward a vast number of measures now 
 claiming solution and constantly arising for solution. 
 
 Designer. 
 
 In the Departments charged with Special Services, such as 
 Works, or matters of that nature, the office of Designer 
 would be most useful, if used systematically, that is, if he 
 fairly collected the desiderata, with the ends to be avoided as 
 well as those which are to be attained — the occasions for 
 which the thing is required — the means already employed, 
 and the adaptations that are to be provided for. Art and 
 skill are great economizers. They calculate nicely the 
 adaptation of means to ends, which not only saves money in 
 the making but in the use ; for an unwieldy thing demands 
 more labour, too large a thing occupies more space than 
 enough, and an unsightly thing distracts the attention and 
 wearies the senses to no purpose. Besides, design compels 
 thought, and checks useless enterprise as well as tends to 
 ensure the success of the Useful. Its presence promotes the 
 intelligence as well as the ease of the Office ; while its 
 neglect engenders bad habits of all kinds, and with bad 
 habits Mant of discipline, and dilatory, imperfect, work. 
 
 Plannek. 
 
 The Planner is but the realiser in detail of what tlie 
 Designer has directed, and his Office is to be constituted on 
 the same grounds. 
 
 No article of a novel kind should be allowed without a 
 Plan accompanying the application, and none should be 
 refused without a reason being communicated to the appli- 
 cant. 
 
 s
 
 274 Official Organization. 
 
 Specifier. 
 
 The Specification of Details is the necessary foundation 
 of the Estimate-and Contract, a means of bringing all points 
 into view, and so far assisting to view both plan and design 
 more critically, especially in relation to Cost. 
 
 Estimator. 
 
 The duties of this Officer are indicated in his name ; his 
 services are of great value, both in checking heedless expense 
 and preventing what is often disastrously extravagant, the 
 vague fear of expense and the hesitation which it engenders 
 to enter upon proper and necessary undertakings. The 
 Office is distinguished from that of Specifier, because the 
 knowledge and skill required are of a different kind. 
 
 Contractor. 
 
 The Contractor in the ordinary sense is the undertaker of 
 the work; but his Office in this Organization is to superintend 
 the preparation and making of the Contract, and the collecting 
 information for the safe conduct of the Negotiations. It 
 would be his duty to watch Contracts generally; the cases in 
 which they have been Successful and those in which they have 
 failed, and the considerations which in each class of under- 
 taking ought to be regarded. The Office should be one of 
 primary importance in a state of things where everything 
 from the greatest to the least is to be done by Contract. 
 
 Maker. 
 
 The name, coupled with those that follow, distinguishes 
 the object of this Office. Like the Contractor, his function
 
 Department ofSjyecicd Matters. 275 
 
 will be to inform himself of all matters connected with the 
 function of making, that he may be prepared to advise all 
 other Officers in that respect, and to be the medium of com- 
 munication with Special Referees, if it should be so required. 
 
 A specification of the Occasions on which his services 
 may be required would justify the appointment of such an 
 Office. There is scarcely a Law which does not manifest its 
 necessity. 
 
 Without the aids supplied by the Designer, the Planner, 
 the Specifier, the Estimator, and the Contractor, the duties 
 which would devolve upon this functionary would be beyond 
 the capacity of any person. He will be master of the concre- 
 tion, as they of the abstraction. He will be more practical, 
 they more theoretical. He will be the Realiser, they the 
 Inventors of each Class. 
 
 Maintainer. 
 
 For the sake of explicitness and distinctness, as well as 
 to provide a convenient distribution of functions, so that no 
 Officer may be charged with more than he can perform, this 
 Officer, whose duty it would be to keep up the fabric, is 
 proposed. 
 
 It may however be doubted whether his sphere of action 
 over things existing and their adaptations, or modifications 
 does not involve an amount of duty, which would make it 
 incompatible with any other Office. It requires, too, a 
 different kind and order of ability. The mind and skill which 
 can make a new and entire thing upon an unoccupied field 
 is very different from the mind and skill which can adopt 
 existing things to new purposes. The one requires to be a 
 greater master of expedients perhaps in themselves inferior ; 
 to be rather the clever man than the genius. 
 
 At all events, the separation of the considerations, by 
 placing them in distinct persons may lead to their more 
 perfect development ; and at the "same time provide sufficient 
 means for mutual advice and assistance. 
 
 s 2
 
 276 Official Oryanizatioii. 
 
 Cleaner. 
 
 A homely title for an Office of universal Need, and one of 
 the costliest. The expedients for Cleaning and Keeping are 
 worthy of the Economist's regard. It is a heavy item in 
 Public Expenditure. It involves more scientific knowledge 
 than is apparent, and a knowledge not so generally diffused 
 as the Need. 
 
 It extends to every thing that we have and use, and in the 
 long run occasions or saves a great expense, for the duration 
 of everything depends not merely upon its Use, but upon the 
 Cleaning of it. 
 
 Keeper. 
 
 Keepers and Curators are very numerous ; their function 
 is to take charge of the matters placed in their care and 
 custody, but the considerations which apply must depend 
 upon the nature of those matters. It would, however, be 
 worth while to ascertain the principles on which such Offices 
 are appointed. Some are filled by scientific men without 
 proper assistants. They know the nature of their trust, but 
 cannot perform it. Others are placed under other persons 
 to be assistants, without proper Superiors. They can per- 
 form their trust if they knew it. The want of Organization 
 in such cases mars the purpose. Again, from want of know- 
 ledge, both superiors and assistants fail, whilst such persons 
 are fearfully oppressed by the least amount of Official Routine 
 which it may be necessary to subject them to. If the official 
 part of their duties were performed by persons of Official 
 aptitude, it would conduce equally to the benefit of the Public 
 Service, and to the comfort of such Employes. 
 
 The collection of the knowledge necessary for Keepers of 
 Museums, Books, Registers, and Articles of Vertu, might save 
 the Nation as well as individuals, much indirect Expenditure 
 of Money, and still more in the Preservation of those Objects 
 of Care, which if lost or destroyed, cannot be replaced.
 
 Department of Special Matters. 27 
 
 t-> 
 
 User. 
 
 This term is used for want of a better. It is applied to all 
 those persons whose occupations or occasions bring them to 
 Use any article, and whose acconmiodation is the ol^ject, end, 
 and aim of all the rest. They are the best judges of the 
 efficiency of the article and the sufferings by inefficiency, 
 and it is necessary, therefore, for one and all, the Designer, 
 the Planner, the Specifier, the Estimator, the Contractor, the 
 Maker, the Maintainer, the Keeper, and the Cleaner, to have 
 this personage, his wants and feelings, in their remembrance 
 when they exercise their several callings. The same truth 
 applies to Administrator, Inquirer, Legislator, Judge, Financial 
 Officer, Official Special Officer, Local Officer, Superintendent, 
 and Controller, and Registrar and Recorder ; for all are in 
 some sort Designers, Planners, Specifiers, Estimators, Con- 
 tractors, Makers, Maintainers, Cleaners, and Keepers, and 
 require the exercise in their Official behalf of the same func- 
 tions, since such functions are applicable to all things made or 
 done. 
 
 It is Useful, therefore, to have some personage to take 
 note of the relations of all Users to the matters within the 
 cognizance, not always within the recollection, of the Official 
 Departments of State. 
 
 The Assistant Officers. 
 
 The Mechanist, 
 
 The Modeller, 
 
 Constructor, 
 
 Draftsman, 
 
 Surveyor, 
 
 Manager, 
 
 Clerk of the Works, 
 
 Foreman, 
 
 might receive into their class many additions in practice, 
 according to the nature and extent of the Special Business to 
 be transacted; but, the established practice, is to depend
 
 278 Official Organization. 
 
 mainly for such aid on temporary engagements. It is sufficient 
 for the present purpose, merely to indicate their relation to 
 the Service, and the necessity of considering the Means 
 of providing such Aids, and the Occasions for them. The 
 Survey will show in what degree they now exist, and to what 
 extent they are necessary.
 
 ])EPARTMENT OF LOCAL MATTERS.
 
 280 Official Oryanization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Local Matters. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head, 
 
 President. 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Members. 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill the Offices of Secretary of State. 
 All Privy Councillors who have filled the Offices of Secretary 
 
 of State. 
 Together with the respective members of all other Committees 
 
 of Privy Council ^ to take] cognizance of the peculiar 
 
 functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 (Or Principal Local Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affiiirs, or of knowledge or skill 
 within the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Staff. 
 
 Director. 
 
 Secretary . . Actuary . . Registrar. 
 
 Treasurer . . Accountant (and Statist) . . Auditor. 
 
 Remembrancer. .Superintendent. .Controller. 
 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Referees or Commissioners.) 
 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 Of Inquiiy, Of Special Matters. 
 
 Of Legislation. Of Local Matters. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. Of Superintendence and Control. 
 Of Finance. Of Registration, Record, and 
 
 Publication. 
 
 Local Referees. 
 
 Persons attached or unattached, who have cognizance of 
 some special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Department of Local Matters. 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 281 
 
 Chief Officer. 
 
 (Clerks and Agents.) 
 
 Agent, Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of the Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of the Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of the Acts and llecords. 
 
 Special Local Officer. 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 National Officer. 
 County Officer. 
 Municipal Officer. 
 Parochial Officer. 
 District Officer. 
 
 Assistant Officers. 
 Statist. 
 
 Surveyor of Districts. 
 Surveyor of Roads and Works. 
 Surveyor of Buildings. 
 Surveyor of Institutions. 
 Surveyor of Callings. 
 
 Statistical Draftsman. 
 
 Accountant and Statist. 
 
 (Clerks, Bookkeepers, and Agents.) 
 
 Persons and Establishment. 
 
 Estates and Properties. 
 
 Housing, &CC. 
 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture, and Implements. 
 
 Clerk of 
 
 Covering and Clothing. 
 Provisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 ^ Savings, Insurance, Investments, &c. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Stationer. Printer. 
 
 Bookbinder. Copier. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 
 Subordinate Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household.) 
 Officekeeper. 
 Housekeeper. 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 
 Subordinate Attendants. &c. 
 
 Messenger. 
 Porter.
 
 282 Oficial Organization. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL MATTERS. 
 
 All Matters have Local Relations, which, however, would 
 not have been sufficient reason for giving a functional cha- 
 racter to this Office, if it were not that, owing to the past 
 state of things, and the intricate state of our Law and Policy, 
 it is necessary to have regard in any act of Administration, 
 or of Legislation, to other matters that have place in the 
 same quarter. The appointment of Officers to have cogni- 
 zance of matters in such relations is calculated to counteract 
 the tendency to act upon partial considerations; for an 
 Officer charged with all matters of a Local nature, is apt 
 to have administrative qualities, which make him a good 
 Adviser ; besides which it happens, that for purposes of 
 Control, there must be Inspection, Superintendence, and 
 Visitation, conducted by Officers not occupied too exclu- 
 sively with Home Duties ; and it is better, both for the 
 sake of efficiency, and for the sake of economy, that similar 
 duties should be placed in the same hands, if they be not 
 of a too special and absorbing nature. 
 
 If a Committee of Privy Council were established, to 
 assist the Secretaries of State in all Matters of a Local 
 Nature, which, though perhaps at present, an unacceptable 
 measure, may, if subjects continue to increase, as they have 
 hitherto done, in number and importance, become an indis- 
 pensable one. 
 
 Special Local Officers. 
 
 These Officers would have cognizance of all Matters and 
 Interests of a Local Nature to which allusion has just been 
 made, but they would take cognizance of Statistics in a 
 special degree ; they may therefore be specially regarded 
 under the designation of
 
 Department of Local Matters. 283 
 
 Statist. 
 
 All Statistics have relation to Locality, more or less 
 extended. Locality is the base or area ; and the best and 
 surest means of collecting the needful information for facili- 
 tating the operation in the first instance, for verifying it 
 afterwards, and for judiciously applying it to actual affairs 
 at last, is Local Distribution of Service. 
 
 This Officer, like others, should be rather the Receiver 
 and Compiler of other persons' collections, than the Col- 
 lector. Each Officer should collect and return the Statistics 
 of his own suljject matters, which will have a double opera- 
 tion on his own Office : 1st., in ensuring adequate intelligence ; 
 2nd., in ensuring adequate diligence ; while, by the process 
 of collection, it would lead to intelligence on the part of the 
 persons with whom he must come into communication for 
 the purpose of collection, and on the part of Functionaries 
 of all kinds to whom the results are communicated. 
 
 The pursuit and study of Statistics has been one main 
 means of the present advancement of Public Opinion ; its 
 , backwardness in many respects, has been to a great extent, 
 caused by the want of Statistical Information. 
 
 This Officer, to act usefully, should not act alone. His 
 value will be in proportion to the occasion which he gives to 
 other Departments and Officers to contribute their quota. 
 Every Office should have its Statistical Clerk, charged with 
 the duty of supplying the needful information, under the 
 direction of the Chief of his Department; but for that 
 purpose he should be trained in the Principal Department, 
 that his contributions may come out in a shape to be readily 
 consolidated in the general mass of information, without 
 additional labour or loss of time. 
 
 Surveyor of Districts. 
 
 An Officer of this description would be useful. The 
 
 conflict of jurisdictions, the defect of jurisdictions, the 
 
 relations of jurisdictions, and the division, distribution.
 
 284 Official Organization. 
 
 arrangement, alteration of Districts, together with the ap- 
 pointment of Officers within them, all matters which have 
 for some while past been thrown upon the Secretary 
 of State, or subjected to his veto or consent, require to such 
 labour, an extent of deliberative character, as to make it im- 
 possible for that High Executive Functionary, charged with 
 so many and multifarious duties, to perform the duty. The 
 information which must be collected, tried, and considered is 
 much too extensive to be mastered by an active Officer. 
 It is this accumulation of incompatible functions which 
 makes it impossible to discharge his duties promptly. 
 
 Surveyor of Roads and Works. 
 Surveyor of Buildings. 
 Surveyor of Institutions. 
 Surveyor of Callings. 
 
 The Designations of these Officers indicate their Func- 
 tions, which have been called into request extensively by the 
 Legislation of the last quarter of a century. 
 
 The Survey will furnish a Completer List of such Offi- 
 cers; and at the same time an enumeration of the duties 
 with which they are entrusted. The use and abuse of this 
 description of functionary is a topic of much importance, 
 both on account of the interference of the Office with Trade, 
 and on account of the tendency to deny the Office the very 
 means of performing the duty without oppression. The 
 Office should not exist without proper support, nor without 
 proper superintendence ; but how to give the support without 
 giving too much power, and how to supply the superintend- 
 ence without lessening the responsibility, are problems of 
 some difficulty and delicacy.
 
 DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE AND 
 
 CONTROL.
 
 286 Ojficial Organization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Superintendence and 
 
 Control. 
 
 THE HEAD. 
 
 Head, 
 
 President. 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Membees. 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill the Offices of First Lord of the 
 Treasury. 
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 President of the Board of Control. 
 
 Controller of the Exchequer. 
 
 Together with the respective Members of all other Committees 
 
 of Privy Council, who take cognizance of the peculiar 
 
 functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 (Or Principal Superintending and Controlling Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affairs, or of knowledge or skill 
 within the scoj)e of this Committee. 
 
 Stafp. 
 
 Director. 
 
 Secretary. .Actuary. .Registrar. 
 
 Treasurer. .Accountant. .Auditor. 
 
 Remembrancer. .Superintendent. .Controller. 
 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Referees or Commissioners.) 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 
 Of Inquiry. Of Special Matters. 
 
 Of Legislation. Of Local Matters. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. Of Superintendence and Control. 
 
 Of Finance. Of Re-^istration, Record, and 
 
 Publication. 
 
 Superintending and Controlling Referees. 
 
 Persons, attached or unattached, who have cognizance of some 
 special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Department of Superintendence and Control. 287 
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 Chief Officer. 
 
 (Clerks and Agents.) 
 
 Agent — Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of the Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of the Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of the Acts and Records. 
 
 Special Supekintending and Contbolling Officer 
 (Clerks and Agents.) 
 
 Visitor. Superintendent. 
 
 Inspector. Controller. 
 
 Remembrancer. 
 
 Assistant Officers. 
 
 Accountant and Statist. 
 
 (Clerks, Bookkeepers, and Agents.) 
 
 ' Persons r.nd Establishment. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, kc. 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture, and Implements. 
 
 Clerk of 
 
 Coverings and Clothing. 
 
 Provisions. 
 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 
 Savings, Insurance, Investments, Sec. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Stationer. Printer. 
 
 Bookbinder. Copier. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 
 Slbordinatk Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household.) 
 
 Officekeeper. Doorkeeper. 
 
 Housekeeper. Messenger. 
 
 Porter. 
 
 Subordinate Attendants.
 
 288 Offijcial Oryanization. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE AND 
 
 CONTROL. 
 
 The Principal Officers of such Department would be — 
 1. Visitor. 2. Controller. 3. Superintendent. 4. Inspector. 
 5. Remembrancer. 
 
 An Administrative Department or a principal Executive 
 Department will find occasion for all the functions implied in 
 these Offices. Indeed it will be found that they exercise 
 them now, but by a great variety of agencies, without rela- 
 tion to each other, and not in such a manner as to connect 
 the Chief directly with each operation so as to give compre- 
 hensiveness of view and unity of action. It is this necessity 
 of bringing home all matters to the Chief, naturally and 
 without undue or irksome exertion, at short and stated in- 
 tervals, so that he may exercise an entire mastery over the 
 whole range of the subject matters of his jurisdiction and 
 agencies of all kinds that constitutes the touchstone of the fit 
 organization of his office. It is not necessary, nor is it fit, 
 that he should be a drudge — in all calmness and repose he 
 should have all matters passed in array or review before him, 
 and should by a coup d'oeil be able to see their scope, and 
 direct his attention without embarrassment or distraction to 
 any part that may require his special regard. As he is one, 
 so every function beneath him should be one ; but that he 
 may not unduly restrict the agencies beneath him, this 
 oneness of character should not be narrow, but co-extensive 
 with all the operations which may fall within his cognizance. 
 Like a Merchant he should be able at any time to ascertain 
 readily the state of his transactions.
 
 Department of Saperintendcncc and Control. 289 
 
 Visitor. 
 
 This ancient Officer slioukl l)e appended to every f;reat 
 Department of State, eitlier in the person of the Chief Oflicer 
 of that Department, or in some Officer of nearly equal rank. 
 The present fashion now is to postpone Visitation till every- 
 hody is so entirely in the wrong tliat the only possil)le con- 
 clusion is the demolition of tlie Office, or the dismissal of all 
 the Officers ; and sometimes the efficient steps can be taken 
 only by the agency of a Committee of either House of Par- 
 liament, or of a Commission of Inquiry, wliich acts under 
 the ])rejudice, of a charge, and thus has Iialf adjudged the 
 olYender guilty before it proceeds to inquire. 
 
 One advantage of this Office is, that the general doctrine 
 relating to its functions is well settled, and might, without 
 difficulty, be compiled as a Text-book for the Officer, and a 
 terror to the contumacious. 
 
 Many Officers hold their Offices at the pleasure of the 
 Chiefs of Department under whom they act, but this expe- 
 dient is not half so eflectual in keeping good order as an 
 occasional direct visitation proceeding from it. Of course 
 to take from the Office the character of arbitrariness, the law 
 and usages of Office, and the regulation of Officers should 
 be better settled. 
 
 Whatever the perfection of the internal control of an 
 office, the whole body needs the atmospheric pressure of an 
 external control, to keep all the parts in their place; without 
 it important functions arc apt to fall into desuetude. 
 
 Controller. 
 
 The Controller should be an internal Officer, acting 
 immediately^ and reporting periodically to the Visitor as to 
 a superior authoritv. 
 
 Matters being appointed to be dune at certain times, or 
 other certain intervals, it would be his duty to report whether 
 they had been so done or not, liis Certificate alone should be 
 
 T
 
 290 OJ/icial Organization. 
 
 the authority for the payment of remuneration, and equally 
 an authority for any fine which might be incurred by the 
 default. 
 
 His cognizance of all affairs, especially in regard to the 
 requirements of any superior authority, would make him a 
 good practical adviser in that direction. 
 
 He should be charged with providing adequate force, and 
 adjusting the force to the requirements of the Office. 
 
 Superintendent. 
 
 The Superintendent should be the Marshal of the Office, 
 and have cognizance of all mechanical agencies. To see that 
 whatever is required to be done, is duly done at the right 
 place. 
 
 His more especial function would be the Superintendence 
 of Inspectors, where they are numerous. . 
 
 Inspector. 
 
 Inspectors are Local Officers, Surveyors of detail. They 
 should be inferior to the Superintendent, and under his 
 cognizance. 
 
 During the last twenty-five years this Class of Officers has 
 been called into much request. A collation of their Reports 
 would give a rich field of instruction, not only as to their 
 own duties, but as to those of other persons whom they have 
 had to control. 
 
 It would be greatly desirable that the results should be 
 compiled for general instruction, and also as a means of lessen- 
 ing the occasion for their intervention, or, at least, for their 
 intervention except as valuable agents for disseminating- the 
 fuller and more accurate knowledge which they acquire in the 
 prosecution of the duties of their Office. 
 
 It is, however, desirable that Offices of this kind should 
 be held only for a limited period, and be a step in promo- 
 tion, or that they should be associated with other Offices of a
 
 Department, of Superintendence and Control 291 
 
 more limited nature. To retain men of great intelligence 
 and active minds in a limited range of occupation, is to 
 ensure their deterioration. If they pass from one pursuit to 
 another at proper intervals, and under proper restrictions 
 their intelligence and activity are kept alive. Besides, Offices 
 involving much movement are apt to fatigue first, and then 
 to disgust. 
 
 Remembrancer. 
 
 The office of Rememl)rancer is placed in this l)ranch be- 
 cause its operation is of the nature of control, to which it is 
 auxiliary. 
 
 He should take cognizance of all matters in relation to 
 time and events of all kinds, natural and appointed, and note 
 the Agenda in relation to them. 
 
 In a higher sense he would exercise the foresight of the 
 Office, which, in the pressure of present and current affairs is 
 often disregarded, and in Legislative and Administrative func- 
 tions, he would probably prevent the confusion of times and 
 seasons which balks the purpose of these functionaries. 
 
 This function would make him a proper adviser, and 
 therefore fairly a Member of the Board. It would give him 
 an Historical as well as a mere chronological character : as 
 useful for what is gone as for what is to come. This Office 
 being light in its practical functions might be filled by one 
 who has so far advanced in life as to have passed active 
 exertion. 
 
 The list of miscarriages that arise from a disregard of 
 occasions to come, would be very numerous. 
 
 It would of course be the function of this Officer to take 
 care that arrangements should be made for the execution of 
 future Agenda. 
 
 This would l)e a means of equalizing the work, for if the 
 current business should fail, the anticipation of work which 
 must come at a later period, would suj)j)ly present occupa- 
 tion ; and perhaps forestal a pressure which would be over- 
 
 T 2
 
 292 Official Orgcmization. 
 
 whelming, if added to the usual amount of business. 
 
 Where tlie Offices are placed in few hands, the functions 
 of this Officer are most valuable ; because upon him, in con- 
 junction with the Controller, would devolve the disposition of 
 time, so as to enable each Officer to discharge his respective 
 functions in such a manner as not to hinder any portion of 
 the business. 
 
 But it cannot be too often repeated, that it is, at all times, 
 better that the Office should be large, and well organized, and 
 fully manned, rather than small, with many functions placed 
 in few hands.
 
 DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION AND 
 
 RECORD. 
 
 .CS» •>!•.•,»
 
 29 -i Official Orfjanization. 
 
 Department or Committee of Registration and Record. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 Head. 
 
 President. 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Members. 
 
 All Privy Councillors who fill any Office of Record. 
 
 All Privy Councillors, who have been Chancellors, Masters of 
 
 the Rolls, or filled any office of Record. 
 Together with the respective i\Icmbers of all other Committees 
 
 of Privy Council, who take cognizance of the peculiar 
 
 functions of this Committee. 
 
 Special Members. 
 
 ^Or Prineipal Registering and Recording Referees.) 
 
 Special Officers having cognizance of some Principal 
 Department of Affairs, "or of knowledge or skill 
 within the scope of this Committee. 
 
 Staff. 
 
 Director. 
 
 Secretary . . Actuary . . Registrar. 
 
 Treasurer. .Accountant and Statist. .Auditor. 
 
 Remembrancer . . Superintendent . . Controller. 
 
 Assistant Staff Officers. 
 
 Administrative Committee. 
 (Referees, or Commissioners.) 
 Of Administration. Of Direction. 
 
 Of Inquiry. Of Special Matters. 
 
 Of Legislation. Of Local Matters. 
 
 Of Judicial Matters. Of Superintendence and Control. 
 
 Of Finance. Of Registration, Record, and Pub- 
 
 lication. 
 
 Registering and Recording Referees. 
 
 Persons attached or unattached, who have cognizance of 
 some special branch of knowledge or skill.
 
 Department of Ber/id ration and RecorcL 295 
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 Chief Officer. 
 
 (Clerks and Agents.) 
 
 Agents — Public and Official. 
 
 Receiver and E.xamincr of Papers and Fees. 
 
 Clerk of Minutes and Board. 
 
 Clerk of Orders and Correspondence. 
 
 Clerk of Acts and Records. 
 
 Special Registering and Recoeding Officer. 
 (Clerks or Agents.) 
 Enumerator. 
 Describer. 
 • Definer. 
 Classifier. 
 Designator. 
 
 Assistant Officers. 
 
 {Collector. 
 Sorter. 
 Receiver. 
 
 Accountant and Statist. 
 
 (Clerks, Bookkeepers, and Agents.) 
 
 / Persons and Establislament. 
 Estates and Properties. 
 Housing, Sec. 
 Fittings, Fixtures, Furniture, &:c. 
 
 Librarian. 
 Index Maker, 
 Reader. 
 Abstractor. 
 Extractor. 
 
 TFiler. 
 
 < Depositor. 
 
 [Keeper of Books and Papers. 
 
 Clerk of ( 
 
 Coverings and Clothing. 
 
 l*rovisions. 
 Stationery. 
 
 Carriage and Locomotion. 
 Gifts, Loans, and Charities. 
 \ Savings, Insurance, Investment, &c. 
 
 Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Stationer. Printer. 
 
 Bookbinder. Copier. 
 
 Lithographer. 
 
 Subordinate Mechanical Assistants. 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 (and Household.) 
 Officckeeper. 
 Housekeeper. 
 
 Porter. 
 
 Subordinate Attendants, &c. 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 Messenger.
 
 296 Offlricd Oryaiiizatluii. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION, RECORD, 
 AND PUBLICATION. 
 
 It is difficult to explain tlie nature and use of this Depart- 
 ment, but by reference to the numerous occasions which have 
 occurred of late years to create Offices of Registration. The 
 principle is very imperfectly worked out, and probably 
 nothing but a Survey of the whole range of such duties, 
 would discover the means of consolidating the functions and 
 placing the whole upon a more satisfactory footing. 
 
 Being a Department of Information and Advice, it should 
 constitute a Department of the Privy Council, whose functions 
 are all of that character. A valuable paper appeared some- 
 while ago in the "Atheneeum" on this subject, which will 
 repav perusal; but the subject is too copious to be touched 
 upon here, except to indicate its importance and its relation 
 to the general Scheme of Official Organization. 
 
 It appears to me, however, that a Department of Privy 
 Council (of which the Lord Privy Seal and the Master of 
 the Rolls should be Members) might well deal with the 
 subject, as it affects the Privy Council, and thus prepare the 
 way for a more general treatment of the matter. 
 
 In all cases, however, care should be taken to separate 
 the Official Register from the Record. 
 
 Tlie Assistants of this Department consist of two Classes, 
 Intellectual and Mechanical. The Intellectual include the 
 Enumerator, the Describer, the Defincr, the Classifier, and the 
 Designator; and the mechanical, the Collector, the Sorter, 
 the Receiver, the Filer, and the Depositor. The function of 
 the former will be to index, and in some instances to exa- 
 mine by indexing; and of the latter to keep in proper places
 
 DepaHiiiaiit of Ueyistmtivn and lircord. 2Ii7 
 
 and ill a proper manner the instruments of Registration and 
 Kecord. 
 
 All will, like other Otiicers, he required to assist the 
 Administrator, Inquirer, Legislator, Judge, Oflieial Director, 
 and other Functionaries, with the information in their stores, 
 which must be forthcoming on all occasions. It is expe- 
 dient, therefore, that the Office should be well manned, and 
 actively superintended and controlled and it will probably 
 be found to have a powerful effect in promoting real 
 economy. 
 
 As this Department consists to so large an extent of 
 details, and is dependent for success on extreme accuracy in 
 details, some of its officers must be habituated to mechanical 
 services, which involve more or less intelligence, while all 
 require entire reference to the occasions when the Records 
 and Papers will be needed. I refer to those Officers whom I 
 have designated the Collector, the Sorter, the Receiver, the 
 Filer, and the Depositor. 
 
 Some of these Officers should be well accustomed to 
 boohs and bookbinding, to cataloguing books, and making 
 indexes, and other subsidiary duties, which persons of these 
 callings are in the habit of discharging. 
 
 The Enumerator. 
 
 The function of Enumeration is of much importance in all 
 Departments of Administration. In Legislation it is indispen- 
 sable. Many failures in that walk are traceable to the want of 
 this service. It requires a patient skill and some technical 
 facilities. Each thing or item should be separately stated 
 and distinguished by a number. 
 
 In the general Scheme of Offices, I have placed it in the 
 Department of Registration and Record, for the sake of givnig 
 completeness to the Registers and Indexes, and ensuring the 
 proper tiling of information Mhich is to be found in the 
 Memorials and Records of the Office.
 
 208 Official Organization. 
 
 The Describer. 
 
 This Officer is equally important. The Enumerator will 
 designate in short general terms, — the Describer will detail 
 the parts of M'hich a thing consists, as well as all matters 
 which properly fall under the description of Thing. 
 
 The Definer. 
 
 To Define is a necessary preparative to Classification, and 
 deserves special treatment both on account of the peculiar 
 powers of mind that it needs and because it is of so difficult a 
 kind that if it l)e associated with other functions it is apt to 
 be intermingled and blended with them. As in the case of 
 enumeration the want of it has caused frequent failures in 
 Legislation and in Judicial Administration. 
 
 The Classifier. 
 
 After the performance of the foregoing functions, of Enu- 
 meration, Description, and Definition, this task becomes easy. 
 It should be given to a man of action, intelligence, and steady 
 powers of application, that the Registration may not fall in 
 arrear. 
 
 The Designator. 
 
 The Designator or Name Maker would be of much use in 
 simplifying the Law, and popularizing many matters that are 
 veiled in description or paraphrastic allusion. It has been 
 said that Law making is but Name making. It is clear that 
 it serves an useful part. Our Statutory Law has been prac- 
 tically much simplified by giving names to our Statutes. If 
 foreign or extraneous matters were by the introduction of 
 General Law more extensively excluded, and if a common 
 framework Averc constantly used, the matter of the Law might 
 be enumerated among the "Household Words" of the coun-
 
 Department of Rerjistration and Record. 21>9 
 
 try. The principle equally applies to all other things which, 
 like Corporations, may Ije said not to have existence till they 
 have a name. 
 
 The LiBRAUiAx. 
 
 In the department of Inquiry, provision is made for the 
 Office of Clerk of the Library, but as his duties would be of u 
 very active nature in immediate connection with pending 
 inquiries, it is thought that an additional Officer should be 
 provided in this Department, and that his duties should be of 
 a different kind, that is, to take cognizance of fresh accessions 
 of Books, and with the aid of the Index-maker, the Reader, 
 the Abstractor, and the Extractor to dispose of the contents 
 in a manner to be turned to ready account, by the Clerk of 
 the Library when the occasion shall arise. 
 
 Both should act in unison, and perhaps for the sake of 
 greater mastery of their vocation, should act alternately in 
 one or other capacity, for it is a matter to be constantly 
 regarded that the means are never so well adjusted as when 
 the manager of them is made actually responsible for the 
 end. 
 
 The Index-maker 
 
 Is an Office well known, and not sufficiently appreciated. 
 It is thought to be of a merely mechanical nature. It requires 
 intelligence, painstaking accuracy, and a degree of labour 
 which they who write currentc calcnno have little conception 
 of. 
 
 The Indexes should be very various. In this respect we 
 should imitate the Authors or Book-makers of olden time, 
 when men devoted a Life to a Book, and enshrined them- 
 selves in it. There should be separate Indexes, as many, in 
 short, as there are divisions of labour accordin<r to this 
 Organization, indexes alphabetical and classed, of the matters, 
 and of the manners, so arranged as to be accessible at the time 
 of Need J nor would this task be difficult if it were apportioned
 
 300 Official Orc/anization. 
 
 among the different Officers and each were required to keep 
 his Index of Matters^according to a standing Outline or Form. 
 It would have the same useful result as the writing up of 
 cases has upon the Lawyer. 
 
 The Index-maker with this assistance would not be un- 
 equal to the Herculean task. 
 
 As in the case of the Librarian, so in that of the Index- 
 maker, he should be occasionally employed on a different but 
 cognate task that he may not become the slave of routine, 
 and may be able to do his work so as best to serve others. 
 
 TiiF. Reader, 
 
 Is a new Office, but an indispensable one. Books are 
 published, but not read, and it would be a fearful distraction 
 of mind to read all that claim our attention. Many in this 
 dilemma, follow Napoleon's plan of answering letters by 
 readinsr none at all, and herein commit the mistake and 
 indeed wrong to themselves, of passing over what they need. 
 
 Everything should be read, and should be read responsibly 
 bv somebody cognizant with the range of Official occasions 
 and of the uses to which the contents may be applied. 
 
 I should propose that the claimants for higher positions 
 should as a means of training and of preparation be em- 
 ployed in this task under of course the direction of superior 
 Officers. 
 
 The Abstractor, 
 
 Would be a high.er sort of Reader, whose duty it would 
 be to bring out the matter, for collation with other materials 
 of information. 
 
 He must have a familiarity with the more intimate rela- 
 tions of things. 
 
 This again would be a means of high training, a species 
 of higher probation, in the passage between the lower 
 description of Officers and the higher.
 
 Department of Registration and Record. 301 
 
 The ExTRACTon, 
 
 Would have duties secondary to those of the Reader and 
 the Abstractor, the simple duty of Copying or Extracting 
 Information. 
 
 The collection of materials bv this means, and in aid of 
 the Clerk of the Intelligence, would greatly assist inquiries 
 and promote the efficiency of all branches of the Official 
 Service. 
 
 The Collector. 
 
 The designation of this Office imports its character. He 
 should take care that whatever is necessary to complete the 
 Memorials and Records of the Office is ol)tained without 
 delay, either from the Members of the Office or elsewhere. 
 He should assist the Public in making searches, and in col- 
 lecting precedents or illustrations. He should perform the 
 first duties of Index-making or Collecting and Enumerating 
 the Materials. 
 
 The Sorter. 
 
 The Sorter would be a species of Assistant to the Collec- 
 tor. Matters are sent in every sort of disorder, often mingled 
 with other matters of a totally different nature : it is expedient 
 that they be sorted without delay, and a proper Schedule 
 made of their contents. The faculty of sorting is one which 
 requires a great deal of patient skill and much active intelli- 
 gence. As a part of official training it is invaluable ; it 
 accustoms the person to discriminate and to arrange ; to 
 assign things to their proper place, and insist upon habits of 
 order and exactness, which must operate beneficially upon 
 the general habit. 
 
 The Receiver. 
 
 This is a higher sort of Officer or Assistant Registrar, wliose 
 function it is to appoint the place for depositing the matters.
 
 302 Official Organizcitlon. 
 
 to make or classify the Index, and order the matters of the 
 office. He will have regard to the leading divisions of the 
 subject, and take care that matters are so disposed as to be 
 readily accessible when required. 
 
 The Filer. 
 
 This is a Subordinate Officer, whose duty it is by prompt 
 filing to put all things of the same kind together, which 
 reduces the chances of papers being mislaid, by increasing 
 the size of bundles and lesseninj; their number. If the 
 business be carefully conducted it may be made a means of 
 ascertaining that the business is done in due time, and check- 
 ing the risk of miscarriage in that respect. 
 
 The Depositor. 
 
 This Officer is like the last, a subordinate one. His chief 
 duty is to place all things in their proper depository from 
 day to day, and thus facilitate the regularity of the office. 
 He may be more muscular and strong than the last, as his 
 duties are more active or less sedentary. 
 
 As a part of the duties of a Registrar would be to keep 
 the Books of the Library, such an Officer should be employed 
 in the laborious task of moving and replacing Books. 
 
 The Keeper of Books and Papers, 
 
 Where the Office is presided over by a superior Officer 
 may be an Officer of an inferior kind. It represents the 
 person in immediate charge; and may be combined with 
 other functions which fall under this class. 
 
 Like other Keepers, he should know not only the 
 contents of the things under his charge, but the proper means 
 of keeping them for facility of reference, and also for their 
 preservation. The use of improper bindings, of improper 
 materials such as even bad ink, bad paper, bad paste, and 
 other things accounted trivial, but necessary for the salva- 
 tion of the Record, should be objects within his cognizance.
 
 OFFICIAL ADMINISTRATION.
 
 305 
 
 OFFICIAL ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The Objects of Administration were indicated 
 in tlie Fourth Di\dsion of these Papers : The Occa- 
 sions in the Fifth Division, and the Official 
 Organization- in the Sixth Division; it now 
 remains, in the Seventh Division, to indicate the 
 course of Official Administration. That part of 
 Official Administration which relates to — the Creation 
 of Offices — the Appointment of the Establishment — 
 and the Selection and Preparation of Officers — has 
 been treated of incidently in previous Papers ; we 
 have, therefore, here to treat only of the Action of the 
 Official System or of Official Administration upon the 
 Matters which claim Solution by the State, or by the 
 Department to which they are referred. 
 
 In its general nature this Action will be obvious 
 to experienced persons, but few have had such an 
 interest in it as to collate their views, and reduce them 
 to some sort of principle. It is, therefore, necessary 
 to mention ])articulars, however trite they may seem, 
 that the Scheme may at once ajipcar to he complete. 
 
 u
 
 306 Official Administration. 
 
 and not be open to the censuve of omitting what 
 everybody knows, which would be the case if any 
 particulars should be omitted because they were trite. 
 
 It may be convenient to consider this branch of 
 the subject under the following heads : — 
 
 First, The Great Measures which, oddly enough, 
 are taken to a greater or less extent from out of the 
 range of Ordinary Official Action, and done by 
 Extraordinary Agencies employed for the nonce. 
 
 Secondly, The Smaller Measures and Ordinary 
 Matters which fall within the usual routine ; 
 
 And lastly, The AppHcation of the System to 
 some Particular Matters.
 
 OficiaX Administration. 307 
 
 GREAT MEASURES. 
 
 It will be expedient now, to indicate the Practical 
 Working of the Machine we have supposed to be created. 
 Let us imagine that one of the many Great Matters that 
 await the attention of the Minister, or is "under liis 
 consideration," as it is called, be brought on. 
 
 It should be given in charge to some Officer of general 
 intelligence and aptitude, to make it the exclusive subject of 
 his attention ; not to prepare the final documents and lay them 
 cut and dried before the Minister, but to bring the very 
 materials upon which judgment is to be formed in arrav 
 before him, and either by himself or by other Officers, or by 
 Agents whose duty it is to perform special parts of the work, 
 to work out each branch of details as the matter will require. 
 
 He should be simply the Official Agent specially charged 
 with the management or conduct of the matter, so that 
 there may be one person at least in possession of the state of 
 it and of its position at any moment of time, and capable of 
 holding intercourse with all the other Collaborateurs as the 
 occasion may require. 
 
 The Official Agent collects or causes to be collected all 
 Records, Memorials, or documents that relate to tlie matter, 
 and thereof makes a List, Schedule, or Catalogue raisonne, 
 under various heads or branches, as the Registrar-Librarian is 
 required to do of the books under his charge. If the Libra- 
 rian has performed his duty, this document will be a tran- 
 script of that part of his Reports or Returns which relates to 
 the matter in hand. 
 
 The documents so collected and enumerated, should be 
 passed under the notice of the Chief or Superior Class of 
 Officers, to arrange, compile, and state the contents; or 
 
 u 2
 
 308 Official Administration, 
 
 according to the state of advancement, to examine and offer 
 objections, or propose interrogations ; and then to try the 
 objections, or prosecute the inquiry, and finally revise this 
 preliminary document. 
 
 In the Organization supposed, these tasks are confided to 
 many, for the sake of bringing out various views, of creating 
 within the precincts of the Office a little public, and pre- 
 venting one or a few persons from taking to themselves all 
 the knowledge, and meting it out as they list to their Chief 
 or Principals. 
 
 When this Preliminary Document, or piece justificatif, 
 has been prepared, it may be circulated among the different 
 Departments of the Government for observations, objections, 
 and suggestions on that part of it which relates to their 
 Office. 
 
 The documents so returned should all again be collated in 
 a proper manner, and be considered with the like pains- 
 taking care, note being taken of the pros and cons, and the 
 result recorded. 
 
 The Second Document thus carefully prepared might (if 
 the subject admitted of it) be presented to Parliament, with 
 a view to its Publication by the ordinary means. 
 
 After a lapse of time sufficient for the consideration of 
 the Topics, the intelligence which had been obtained through 
 the Press — by the Agent appointed for that purpose, viz. the 
 Clerk of the Intelligence, — would in a like manner be collected 
 and incorporated with the two former Reports, for which, as 
 elsewhere suggested, they should be framed systematically. 
 
 During all this time of Public Discussion the Officers 
 charged with the Preparation of Measures would have been 
 occupied in a similar manner, in ascertaining how far the, 
 considerations applicable to the processes were regarded 
 and in communicating the defects or requirements to the 
 Officer charged with the management of the measure.
 
 Ofliclcd Admiiustratioii. 309 
 
 So, also, if measures had been suggested by private 
 persons, they would lu'.vc been subjected to the same 
 treatment. 
 
 This course of proceeding implies much more action than 
 is indicated in the above notes. 
 
 The Officers to -whom the Document had been sent 
 for their observations and suggestions, would (if that task 
 had not been performed by the Referring Office) have 
 selected that portion which fell within their own pro- 
 vince, and considered it in the same manner as they 
 would a petition, memorial, or other communication. It 
 would have been received, examined, and registered, minuted, 
 considered at the Board, formally acted upon, and its 
 special points would have been duly recorded; all which 
 implies that the subject would have passed under close 
 scrutiny, and have been bit by bit tested with the same severity 
 of criticism as any other responsible official matter may be. 
 
 The different branches of the Privy Council would have 
 entertained the matters within their respective provinces. 
 
 The Treasury, the Secretaries of State, and other Special 
 Departments, would each have had similar opportunities, and 
 would have communicated the results to the Officer charged 
 with the agency of the matter, for the purpose of so filing 
 and depositing, noting and recording these results by means 
 of his standing Record and Indexes, that at the moment of 
 action they might be available for use. 
 
 The subjects being thus fully under consideration, and 
 passing in review before many public men, and that in a 
 formal and definite, instead of a loose, desultory, and gossiping 
 manner, it would follow that when the Country became 
 ripe to adopt the measure, the measure would be ripe for pro- 
 posal. It happens now, that Official Persons will not discuss 
 till things are ripe ; and when there must be action, the very 
 men who must propose, are not ripe, or even conversant with
 
 310 Oficial Administration. 
 
 the most obvious considerations ; and they in consequence 
 commit escapades, negativing the public sentiment, which 
 destroys their popularity and their usefuhiess, and some- 
 times overthrows the Government, and even endangers the 
 Constitution. 
 
 But to speak in more detail, let us consider one by one 
 the pending measures; let us examine each, and refer to the 
 respective Officers their proper share of the work ; let each 
 such Officer collect all the Reports, and by the help of similar 
 collections of past laws, past discussions, past proceedings in 
 Parliament, past acts of administration, and past expres- 
 sions of public opinion, discover what principles have been 
 and ought to be in use, and how far they should be applied 
 in given directions on the matters of their own province. 
 
 The coincidences of view would be remarkable ; the great 
 Functionaries, unaccustomed to detail, would be less alarmed 
 by their responsibility, and encouraged and assisted by each 
 other, would do readily what every man of business at once 
 sees to be the practical course. That pressure of mind and 
 business which Ministers suffer, results from this want of 
 unity of action and of adequate agency. If there were such 
 agency to reduce into form the floating ideas on the subject, 
 they themselves could readily authorize the obtaining the 
 opinions and assistance of others. Their expositions in 
 Parliament would beget confidence; confidence would beget 
 acquiescence ; and the result Vvould probably be on both 
 sides a frank action, a readiness to propose, and a readiness 
 to consider and to support.
 
 Official Administratio)) . 311 
 
 ORDINARY MATTERS. 
 
 In treating of the Officers, their respective modes of exer- 
 cising their functions have also been treated of in some 
 measure, but singly, and also independently of any course of 
 action. It is, therefore, necessary to show when and how 
 they should be brought into the field, and in what order and 
 manner their respective functions should be performed in the 
 ordinary action of common business. 
 
 AVithout the aid of the results of the Official Survey 
 which has been suggested, and which must always be borne 
 in mind, as the prelude of, and condition precedent to, the 
 adoption of any extensive new Organization, it would be 
 impossible to perform this task with any precision. In the 
 meantime the following Notes will assist in bringing atten- 
 tion to the considerations involved in the points above 
 indicated, and the means of realizing them. 
 
 In Parliament, and in Courts of Justice, these points are 
 well ascertained, and though in both of these spheres of 
 action we are apt to be struck more by the movements of the 
 struggle than by the results, it will be found upon a close 
 scrutiny that more real and effectual work is performed there 
 than in other places where the proceedings are quieter and 
 the pretension greater. 
 
 The actual Working of Administration may be classed 
 under various heads of routine ; 
 
 Of the daily routine, which regards the ordinary trans- 
 action of business ; 
 
 Of the Sessional or Annual Routine, which regards 
 matters occurring in such periods ; 
 
 And of shorter and longer periods of routine which 
 different systems have adopted for the regular transaction of 
 business, some of these being weekly, monthly, quarterly, 
 half-yearly, on the one side of the yearly period, and bien- 
 nially, triennially, and at longer intervals, on the other 
 side.
 
 312 Official Administration. 
 
 Some routines are not dependent upon regularly recurring 
 periods, but upon events, natural or otherwise, such as the 
 Death or Succession of a Sovereign, the Marriage of a Sove- 
 reign, or the Birth of a Prince, and other events which con- 
 stitute occasions for particular actions. 
 
 These matters are of so special a nature, and are provided 
 by definite means so well established and so well known, 
 that it is unnecessary to remark especially upon them. 
 
 Our concern is with the more certain recurrences of rou- 
 tine — such as occur in our Official Establishments. 
 
 The Courts of Justice sit sessionally, and at certain hours 
 of the day. It would be well, if in our Official System the 
 means of ensuring regular attention to matters were equally 
 certain. 
 
 It is proposed that the Staff of Officers should sit daily 
 together in the manner of a Board for the dispatch of 
 current business, and for mutual consultation and advice, 
 and that, (except in those instances, where the fatigues of 
 Parliamentary Duties preclude an earlier attendance), the 
 example of the Courts of Justice and of the Magistracy 
 should be followed in sitting at some certain early hour. 
 This is due to all parties concerned ; and calculated to pro- 
 duce a promptness and regularity of business conducive at 
 once to efficiency and economy. 
 
 The daily routine business being thus disposed of at an 
 early liour, the Officers would be at leisure to sit separately 
 for a while and at a later hour of the day on Administrative 
 Committees, to which, at monthly or at other convenient 
 periods, each class of business would be brought in review. 
 
 This is a Department of Action much neglected, and for 
 want of it matters stand over for very lengthened periods, to 
 the extreme detriment of the Public Service. An appointed 
 period for a return to any requisition of service, whether in 
 the affirmative or in the negative form, is greatly conducive 
 to regularity of action ; and many of those things which now 
 stand on the list of official arrears, or are not cared for at all,
 
 Official Administration. 313 
 
 would assuredly be disposed of, if there were a certain stated 
 time for the resumption of the consideration of them. 
 
 But such matters should not be left to chance. It would 
 be the duty of the Remembrancer to assign to a given period 
 every class of transaction, and of the Controller to ascertain and 
 report whether the transaction were performed or not at the 
 stated time. 
 
 Periodical Reports and Returns by each Inferior to his 
 Superior, classed according to a given method, and that me- 
 thod one much like the plan of Survey proposed, would 
 establish such regularity of action and of co-operation, as 
 would probably find us with no other arrears than such as 
 will always exist from the unripeness of the public mind in 
 regard to new views. 
 
 However, as it is now, those common matters which admit 
 of the easiest solution are often postponed for the higher 
 objects of party conflict ; and the good that the Administra- 
 tion is capable of doing, to an extent far greater than would 
 follow the success of the most darling measure, is hindered, 
 because the ears of Mniisters and of Parliaments cannot be 
 reached ; or if reached, because it is not possible to engage 
 their attention to the accumulation of small evils, which 
 is occasioned by the neglect to supply obvious defects by 
 the application of like contrivances at their command. 
 
 Administrative action, applied to matters of an extraor- 
 dinary nature, must needs await their occurrence ; but each 
 day produces its extraordinaries, and therefore, in some 
 direction or other, the administrative system would always 
 be at work. Directing action must be in daily operation, 
 and will be provided for by the daily means above ad- 
 verted to. 
 
 There will be the same constant need of Inquiry as there 
 is of Administration ; and so long as Laws are imperfect, anil 
 men passionate and self-seeking, there will be occasion for 
 Legislation and Adjudication. ^
 
 814 Official Administration. 
 
 The Financial Work is of annual and even more frequent 
 recurrence, and so is the Special Work in some form or 
 other. 
 
 Local Matters, Matters of Superintendence and Control 
 and Matters of Registration, Record, and Publication, follow 
 upon the rest ; and, therefore, will at all times demand atten- 
 tion in a like degree. 
 
 Essentially, therefore, there is no difference between one 
 kind of Official work and another in regard to the regularity 
 of the recurrence, if the distribution of the work be func- 
 ^iowa/ instead of according to subject-matter, — which is another 
 reason for adopting that scheme of distribution of Official 
 labour. It will be found under such a system, that the 
 pressures upon exertion will not be sudden and unequal, 
 as it is now, but constant and regular; that the experiences 
 which are now confined to a special and limited range of 
 objects, will be more general and enlarged ; and that thus a 
 vice ot bureaucracy — its tendency to narrowness of prin- 
 ciple and of system, and to mere formality — will be lessened. 
 
 The Cursitor, whose services it is proposed to employ in the 
 Legislative Department, will collect all the procedures which 
 now obtain in practice ; and the result will show, that there 
 is no essential difference between the most formal and the 
 ' least formal. By the force of the nature of things, all 
 procedures take the same character. They have their stages 
 — preparatory, preliminary, initiatory, deliberative, determi- 
 native, executive, and final, varying only in the greater or less 
 interval between the respective stages and the greater or less 
 efficiency of each stage towards the ultimate purpose. 
 
 By the agency of the Official Establishment assigned to 
 each Department and described in the "Official Orga- 
 nization/^ the Action of the Office in the details will be 
 constant and regular, and with the help of proper means of 
 Remuneration and Control, each day or other fixed period 
 will usually see the completion of its work.
 
 Official Administratio)!. 315 
 
 Upon the regular sittings of tlie Officers and Board, and 
 upon the regular sittings of tlie Committees, the main action 
 must of course depend, and it would not be undesirable to 
 assign the remuneration of some classes of Officers according 
 to their attendance at such sittings, and according to the 
 reports or minutes thereof. 
 
 In proceedings of the nature of inquiry of a lengthened 
 description, this course should commonly be pursued, a thing 
 of easy adjustment where proper intervals are appointed for 
 the different stages of business. 
 
 The delays arise from the difficulty of bringing men to 
 turn their thoughts to the matter. When matters are brought 
 before Parliament, when cases are brought before the Courts, 
 when any other matters are appointed for given periods, 
 everybody is found ready for the work ; but when a matter is 
 nobody's business, and when the business has no appointed 
 time, it lingers on, till men get angry, and matters can wait 
 no longer. It is proposed, therefore, that as everytliing must 
 have its place in space, so every action shall have its place in 
 time, and in its turn command the attention Avhich it 
 deserves. 
 
 One half the Official business is a disorderly attempt to 
 obviate the consequences of earlier neglect; and to the 
 natural evils incident to such neglect, there is superadded a 
 play of personal feeling, and perhaps a sense of connnon 
 wrong, which mars every attempt to adjust the difficulty. 
 
 Pre-appointed times, properly trained Officers, enforced 
 regularity, proportionate reward, due responsil)ility of the 
 right kind, the grant of proper facilities, and the removal of 
 hindrances, would double the efficiency of our officers, and 
 produce much the same difference in the administration of 
 affairs, as exists between a riotous, Imstling mob and an 
 orderly body of persons moving regularly one after another 
 at a patient pace. 
 
 It is not that no methods exist, but that these methods 
 are not common, and tlie action of all the departments is not 
 consentaneous and coincident ; they hinder instead of assist- 
 ing each other.
 
 316 Officia I A dministration . 
 
 The topics elsewhere discussed, and tlie remarks elsewhere 
 made on the Common Library, Colleges of Officers, and 
 Official Intercourse, are of application in this place. 
 
 A few moments' frank conversation, even a question and 
 answer, will clear up difficulties of long standing. Boards, 
 where matters are determined by individual officers upon 
 their own responsibility, and not upon the vote of the ma- 
 jority, are of very great use in this way ; but to make such 
 intercourse useful, the general principles, and the general 
 methods of transacting business, should be ascertained and 
 settled. Conferences are not fit means to disj^ose of elabo- 
 rate details, in which 'every thing — principle, method, matter 
 — have to be established. 
 
 It is on this account that it is so important that we should 
 as far as possible act on common methods, well-founded in 
 principle and convenience, and that Officers should not spend 
 a whole life in one Office, knowing no other than their own. 
 
 It is important that in other respects we should follow 
 common principles and common methods. By the usual pro- 
 cess of labour there is a tendency to make persons following 
 different occupations so distinct in character that they become 
 essentially opposed to each other not merely in manners, which 
 their different habits might engender, but in principle and 
 thought. The logic of one man is different from the logic 
 of another. The Press and other circumstances are modify- 
 ing these effects, but not always by establishing the true 
 principle, or a wider principle, or any principle at all ; and 
 from being too much fettered by form, we come to lose all 
 form, and its l)enefits — its facilities also. It is so in Courts of 
 Justice with procedure, and forms, and pleading ; it is so in 
 public Offices, and the consequence is that we have either to 
 settle everything anew, or those whose interest it is to disre- 
 gard the obligation set it at nought, and put the whole matter 
 in question. 
 
 By establishing principles of action and by making forms 
 well adapted to general convenience, we may hope to lessen
 
 Oficial AdiiiinUtration. 317 
 
 these evils, which are ascribed to reform, but arc really owinf; 
 to the want of care in turning to account all our experiences' 
 
 Bv a large generalization of the practices in vogue, and 
 a thorough discussion of their utilities, we may attain to very 
 great simplicity in procedure and in'/orra, without losing the 
 benefits. 
 
 This is sure, that unpunctuality, want of method, want of 
 accuracy, a disregard of common practices, occasion far more 
 collateral and consequential trou])lc, loss, and inconvenience 
 than their opposites ; and the loudest objectors to these 
 trammels are too often the persons who most need them. 
 
 I have never known an instance of disregard of an accu- 
 rate expression of business-matter in a proper manner, which 
 has not been followed by bad consequences of some sort. I 
 do not, by this, mean|a careless farrago of words, but a sensible, 
 exact, and appropriate manner of expression, according to the 
 nature of the thing or of the occasion. 
 
 The use of printed forms, and of some other expedients of 
 the sort, would be well employed if it were only to get rid of 
 this growing tendency to be careless for the sake of saving 
 present trouble at whatever future cost it may occasion. 
 
 It has been suggested that tliese Notes of Official Admin- 
 istration are too desultry for the instruction of practical 
 persons. This was not the object of the remarks under this 
 head ; they are Notes simply for the use of persons some- 
 what acquainted with the transaction of Affairs, and upon con- 
 sultations with persons of that description, it has been found 
 that they apprehend the scope and tenor of these remarks, 
 though certainly very scanty. It is hoped, however, 
 upon a future occasion, when the sul)jcct shall have been 
 somewhat more matured by inquiry and discussion, and by 
 the suggestions of persons whose experience will have been 
 acquired in different directions, to work out the matter in 
 this division of Othcial Administration, and probably in the
 
 318 O^icial Adminiatration. 
 
 corresponding divisions of Official Objects, Official Occa- 
 sions, and Official Organization. The whole matter scat- 
 tered through this book will then be recast, so as to 
 embody in those four divisions, which exhaust the subject, 
 the four leading phases of Official Affairs, and that in such a 
 manner as to be a practical guide for us all. 
 
 To have met the object of the suggestion above referred 
 to, would have required another volume. Each Committee 
 must have been followed through each class of transaction, 
 and, in all probability, the detail would have wearied the 
 the attention, and have failed of its object.
 
 Official A d/ininistration . 319 
 
 APPLICATION TO PARTICULAR MATTERS. 
 
 It is plain that a matter of this sort can be exemplified 
 only by action. All the Official Personages are mustered, 
 liow are they to be marshalled ? The order of precedence is 
 shown in the Tables of each Office, but that order would be 
 soon displaced in the moment of action. 
 
 I should propose that there should be something in the 
 nature of a Model Office; and that this office should be 
 employed in the transaction of some actual business, accord- 
 ing to the occasions on which such business would arise. I 
 should select, for its practical application, some current 
 business in regular operation, and also some legislative 
 enterprize. 
 
 The Consolidation of the Law would make a good Lesris- 
 lative enterprize. It touches all species of Offices, and every 
 species of work. 
 
 But in so applying the plan, great care must be taken to 
 observe all the conditions. Cobbett relates, in the Preface to 
 his Work on Gardening, that Voltaire said that Tull's system 
 was a failure, and described that he had used it, with the 
 omission of the essential particular. It is thus that many 
 measures fail. 
 
 In this case the conditions are not only that the personnel 
 should be allowed, but that the building should be fit for an 
 Office ; that the depositories should be fit for the articles 
 which they are to receive; that the Assistants should be 
 selected for their fitness for the work; that the scope and 
 design of the Office should be ascertained and pre-appointed- 
 that regulations should be made for the attendance of the 
 Officers, for the routine of business, for the jiroper and 
 regular action of all parts of the organization ; and that the 
 energies of the whole should be stimulated, directed, and
 
 320 Official Administration. 
 
 regulated by the right 'sort of remuneration rightly applied ; 
 that all should feel, that while work and discipline would be 
 enforced, emolument and honour would be accorded with 
 equal justice, not to say generosity; that economy was to be 
 sought by working with as few hands as was consistent with 
 efficiency, but skilled and well paid; and that all claims 
 would be frankly considered and entertained ; but that at the 
 same time every pretension would be \vell weighed ; and the 
 remuneration accorded to merit and not to importunity. 
 
 By the way, it may be useful to suggest, that besides 
 the temper of the present times being favourable to an 
 attempt to adjust our Official System to our Needs, there is 
 the peculiarly advantageous circumstance of a space of ground 
 (in immediate proximity to our Principal Offices) on which 
 it would be possible to build a really fit Office to do the 
 needful work. 
 
 We must not make the mistake which has sometimes 
 been made, of first building the habitation, and then ad- 
 justing the organizations and arrangements. A building is 
 but a cover for the operations of the persons who are to 
 abide therein, and these should be determined first. 
 
 In almost every Office a great range of difficulty and 
 of expense results from the unsuitableness of the buildings 
 into which the officers are put. More messengers are neces- 
 sary, or the officers have to travel from room to room ; and 
 other inconveniences, more or less operative in lessening the 
 individual power of each Officer, and the total power of the 
 whole Office result from this cause. 
 
 A Model Office should consist, therefore, not only of the 
 personal organizations, but of the place of business. Nor is 
 this a difficult task to accomplish ; a survey of different 
 establishments, public and private, ranging from the lowest 
 to the highest, would show all forms of economical arrange- 
 ment most successfully applied in augmenting the efficiency 
 and diminishing the cost. 
 
 This is a matter of so much importance, that in some 
 instances it has been considered that the annual saving would
 
 Official Achiinist ration. 321 
 
 he so great as to make it worth while to j)ull down existini^ 
 houses for the sake of huilding others, hetter adapted for the 
 purposes of an office. 
 
 1 do not think that this is expedient till we have settled 
 our ideas as to what offices should be, since the same effect, 
 to a considerable degree, would be produced by adding house 
 to house, and establishing communication by means of 
 openings between them, or by means of a corridor or gallery 
 running behind. 
 
 Generally speaking, two ordinary houses are necessary to 
 make a proper place of business for an office adequately 
 organized. 
 
 Plans may be made, which would give an exempli- 
 fication of my meaning, and be, at least, a starting-point for 
 the observations of others. 
 
 There are, however, one or two Cardinal rules, not now 
 regarded : one is to assign a place — its own place — to every- 
 thing, that is to say : all the matters connected with the same 
 Office should be in the same place ; but different Offices 
 should not be mingled. A collection of the instances of 
 inconvenience with the practical effects would teach the 
 objects at which we should aim, as far as the limited areas of 
 space at our command in London and in Towns will allow. 
 This information would be supplied by that part of the 
 Returns which would relate the hindrance occasioned by 
 defective house accommodation. 
 
 But this is a matter which deserves separate and full 
 treatment. I mention it here, in connection with the sug- 
 gested Organization of the Privy Council, and the tempting 
 spot of ground lying so near its present Offices, which seems 
 to have lain unoccupied, that it might be available for such 
 an operation. 
 
 It may have this indirect advantage, too, in the con- 
 sideration of the subject, that to those minds, unfamiliar 
 with Official Organization, which may find this exposition 
 too abstract, the Localization of the different Departments 
 and Offices in their habitation and respective scenes of action 
 may serve to assist in realizing the ideas which I have sought 
 to enforce. 
 
 X
 
 322 Official Administration. 
 
 NOTE ON BOARDS AND PERSONAL OFFICIAL 
 
 INTERCOURSE. 
 
 A xety just prejudice has sprung up with regard to Boards, 
 which do not meet for consultation or advice, but to deter- 
 mine matters by the will of the majority, or by the joint will. 
 In this sense Boards are very objectionable : they generally 
 result in either a struggle for mastery, or a neutralization of 
 the better properties. 
 
 But Boards have their advantages as well as their defects, 
 and the greatest is the regularity which such a method of 
 intercourse produces. I desire to establish a plan which will 
 give us the virtue without the vice : — a Meeting of Officers at 
 stated times for mutual consultation and advice, and for a 
 review of the business, by which each Officer would have the 
 advantage of the information of his fellows, without being 
 fettered in his own determination. 
 
 It would be well to consider the various means of personal 
 intercourse, viz : — Assemblies, Councils, Courts, Boards, 
 Meetings of Officers, Conferences, Single Officers. 
 
 For this purpose all known examples of each kind should 
 be enumerated and described ; stating of what each one con- 
 sists, its purposes and occasions, and its mode of action ; and 
 showing all the requisite conditions of each; to what extent 
 it has Completeness of Organization in its composition and 
 in its course of action ; to what extent it is Aided by Instruc- 
 tions; to what extent Subject to Publicity of Intention or 
 Contemplated Provision ; to what extent to Puljlicity in the 
 process ; to what extent to Publicity in the result. 
 
 Taking the Board as the standard form, it would be well 
 to contrast it with Single Officers, with Meetings of Officers^ 
 with Courts, with Councils, and with Assemblies ; and to 
 show what occasions are fit for or require the Single Officer —
 
 Official Administration. 323 
 
 what the Meeting — what the l^oard — what the Court — what 
 the Council — and what the Assemhly. 
 
 It would be well to show further the advantages peculiar 
 to each ; and also the vices, with the means of obviating or 
 mitigating those vices. But such a course would exceed my 
 present opportunity ; it will be sufficient to observe, that 
 each of these modes of intercourse has both advantages and 
 defects. All should be used on appropriate occasions, with, 
 however, the needful appliances to give them efficiency, 
 without the Members hindering each other. 
 
 The Assembly is a suitable means of collecting the Sense 
 or Will of large numbers. 
 
 The Council is good for the same purpose, where the 
 numbers are small. 
 
 A Court is 2;ood for conducting Controversies in an 
 ordinary logical manner. 
 
 A Board for Constancy, Regularity, and Unity of Action. 
 A Meeting of Officers has the uses of a Council ; but is 
 serviceable like Meetings of Merchants on 'Change, to render 
 unnecessary epistolary or other written correspondence. 
 
 The Single Officer is the Complement of all tliese; and 
 while in the case of a well-informed accomplished person, of 
 diligent well-trained habits of business, and determination of 
 character, the method of Action by a single Officer may have 
 the benefit of pron)ptitude, it often has the disadvantage of 
 being subject to the direction of peculiar views, v. ithout regard 
 to the views of others, or the estabhshed principles of the 
 jurisdiction over which he presides. 
 
 Parliament and Public Meetings, with the aid of the Press, 
 gives us for National purposes the advantage of an efficient 
 System of Assembly. 
 
 The Cabinet is a good practical Council. 
 
 Our Courts of Justice give us the exanii)le of Courts ; and 
 with a more simple procedure, and a less technical rule of 
 action or judgment, might be entrusted with jurisdiction 
 in many matters of which they are deprived. 
 
 Boards we have, but seldom well regulated or well consti- 
 tuteil, or well supported by properly trained Officers, acting 
 
 2 X
 
 324 Official Administration. 
 
 on well understood principles, and this is the general if not 
 the sole cause of their miscarriage. 
 
 The Board of Ordnance is said to be a Meeting of Officers 
 rery efficiently conducted ; But to be heavy in its intercourse 
 with its External or Local Agencies. 
 
 ^Yhether the Action be by Assembly, Council, Court, 
 Board, Meeting of Officers, or Single Officers, the success 
 depends upon the orderly treatment of business, upon its 
 careful preparation before it comes on for consideration, and 
 upon the efficiency of the means to execute the orders which 
 may be given ; and this treatment, this preparation, and these 
 means, are the same in all the above mentioned cases. It 
 follows that the only points of difference between the 
 Assemljly, Council, Court, Board, Meeting of Officers, and 
 Single Officer, are the numbers and composition of the Body, 
 its Constitution, and its mode of Action. 
 
 Of the Numbers, the Composition, and the Constitution 
 of such bodies we have not now occasion to speak. Their 
 mode of Action must needs be by Meeting in full Assembly, 
 or by Committees ; and whether in Assembly or in Com- 
 mittees, by sitting together to receive communications, to 
 consider and resolve upon them at the same time, so that 
 they may act upon the same means or data ; and the act of 
 one and all may be taken together. 
 
 And here again there is really no substantial distinction ; 
 the mode may be the same whether the action be by one, by 
 several, or by many, as to the order and manner in which 
 the business may be taken; the difference will be in the 
 manner in which matters are mooted. It is a singular thing 
 that the manner which is proper for an Assembly or Court, 
 is proper for an individual Officer; and he would do well 
 to act in his own closet as he would in open Assembly, 
 Council, Court, Board, or Meetng, or Conference 
 
 Let us consider that manner. 
 
 First, of the Communication, Proposal, Motion, &c. 
 
 It must be considered what is its Object, and whether it 
 be a sufficient statement ; and whether it comprise all those 
 matters which are essential to the understanding of the Object. 
 Next, what is the Law% and whether the Object sought be 
 oonfr)rmaljle to it.
 
 Official Administration. 325 
 
 In actual business many of these things are skipj)ed over; 
 but not because they are of no account, but because the 
 experienced eye sees at once whether all the essentials are 
 present or not. 
 
 In a sinsfle Law it has been observed that there are five 
 thousand considerations ; yet no one ever thinks of looking 
 for a statement of them one after another ; but by objection 
 or otherwise the consideration of them is raised if they do 
 not appear to have been regarded. 
 
 One advantage of a systematic preparation of business is 
 that the trained Officers look after these things before the 
 matter is submitted to the principal Officer, (or Board) and, 
 in consequence, his attention is confined to those things which 
 call for consideration ; or, if the Officers, perform tlieir duty 
 negligently, his experience enables him to discern what is 
 wrong or missing in the matter, and to stimulate the lagging 
 energies of his Assistants. 
 
 Without, therefore, rejecting with prejudice, or adopting 
 with partiality any of the methods of personal official inter- 
 course, I should seek to put all functionaries in the various 
 positions suited to the transaction of business, so that they 
 may transfuse into each other their various information and 
 aptitudes, without unduly detaining one another. 
 
 And I conceive that by means of a common mode of 
 action in all stages of their business, their intercourse will be 
 so facile as to occasion but little interruption in the progress 
 of affairs, whatever mightbe the method found to be specially 
 appropriate in any case. I believe that under a well organ- 
 ized system, a Meeting of Officers, after the manner of a 
 Board, would be found to be much more facile than their 
 formal isolation in different rooms or offices, and their com- 
 munications by note or correspondence ; but in this, as in all 
 other cases, the rule of convenience will be found to be the 
 result of a fair admixture of the different methods. 
 
 The]ircjudice against Boards 1 believe to be the result of 
 inequality in the qualifications of the Officers ; too much 
 in?,ellectuality in the Chiefs ; too much technicality in the 
 Subordinates; too much of the closet, or of Parliament ; too
 
 32G Oficial Aclministration. 
 
 much of the office, or tradition ; the want, in short, of a 
 common understanding, or of a common rule of action. 
 
 1 should add that the success of Boards depends also 
 upon a good Presidency, not a Presidency sitting from day 
 to day, but one to which on needful occasion appeal can be 
 made. It is better that the President should not interfere 
 in ordinary action ; yet all ordinary action should by appro- 
 priate means come before him, that he may interfere if there 
 be need, and the publicity or recordation should be of such 
 a nature as to insure this result.
 
 327 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In passing in review what is written, much appears to 
 have been omitted. To the considerate this will be not 
 merely an excusable, but a necessary incident, of a work so 
 extensive in its applications. But these omissions are really 
 not so great as they appear. By the establishment of a 
 properly Organized force, in appropriate correlation and 
 connection, which the term Organization implies, a great 
 portion of the present occasions of service will not arise, and 
 a greater amount of Service may be performed by the same 
 force. 
 
 It is always thus, the removal of a Hindrance is seldom 
 confined to its own immediate sphere; the hitherto crowded 
 and compact mass finds itself at liberty to expand first, and 
 then to escape from its confinement. 
 
 Multiply this effect by general relief in all directions, and 
 the power of the whole is proportionably increased. 
 
 Add to these effects, that which results from placing 
 what is remote in immediate connection with the parts to 
 which it has immediate relation in service, together with the 
 pressure on the one hand of an intelligent and energetic 
 administration or direction, and on the other of a firm super- 
 intending and controlling authority ; and the capacity for 
 service will be augmented at a rate of progression which I 
 fear to state.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFATORY REMARKS 
 
 LETTER to the Ri-ht Honourable W. E. Gladstone, Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer 
 
 Page 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 LETTERS ON THE OBSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC BUSINESS. 
 
 Lettkr I. 
 
 " Government at a stand-still"— Art. Spectator . . 31 
 
 Causes . . . , . . .32 
 
 Want of Organization of Departments of Public 
 
 Authority . . . . . .32 
 
 Means of obviating this state of things . . .33 
 
 List of Functions and Functionaries to be collated . 33 
 
 Each Department, &c. to make Return of means for 
 
 fulfilling requisite functions . . .33 
 
 Effects of good Organization . . . .3-1 
 
 Special Commissions of Inquiry, &c., &c., no longer 
 
 necessary . . . , .34 
 
 Relief of Ministers, &c. . . . . 3'4 
 
 Institutions more tinstworthy . .34 
 
 Action need not be Fettered by so much Detail . 34 
 
 Letter II. 
 
 Division of Labour in Parliament 
 General Committees 
 England 
 
 Scotland 
 
 Ireland 
 
 Colonies 
 
 Foreign Attiiirs 
 
 Revenue 
 
 Ex])enditurc 
 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36
 
 330 "fable of Contents. 
 
 Division of Labour in Parliament — continued. 
 
 Trade . . . . • 
 
 Law ....•• 
 General Matters . . . • 
 
 Library, Privileges, &c. 
 
 Special Committees to consider matters of subordinate 
 detail ....•• 
 
 Clerk of Parliaments . . . • 
 
 Clerk Assistant of House of Lords 
 
 Clerk of House of Conmions . . . 
 
 Effect of proposed Arrangements . 
 
 Better means of Inquiry to be provided . 
 
 Distinction between wliat is administrative and minis 
 
 terial to be established .... 
 Official Report of existing state of the Law, objections 
 
 and suggestions, &c., to be published . 
 Bill or alternative Bills embodying recommendations to 
 
 be published for consideration . 
 Improved position of the Minister 
 Advantages derived from proposed arrangements 
 
 Page 
 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 
 37 
 
 37 
 37 
 37 
 
 37 
 88 
 
 38 
 
 39 
 
 39 
 39 
 40 
 
 Letter III. 
 Proposal by the Earl of Derby (when Lord Stanley) for the 
 Revision of Bills . . . . . .41 
 
 Systematic preparation and Revision of Legislative Measures 42 
 Causes of delay and failure of Legislative Measures . . 42 
 
 Evil of partial remedies . . . . .43 
 
 Committee of Privy Council for Law and Legislation . 44 
 
 Advantages of a regular system in the preparation of Laws 44, 45 
 
 Letter IV, 
 
 Abundance of Materials under present state of Official affairs, 
 
 but usolessness from want of arrangement, &c. 
 Failure of present modes of inquiry . 
 Establishment of Official Library 
 State of Government Li])i-aries 
 Matter and Management of Official Library 
 Importance to Statesmen 
 Duties of Librarian and Index- writer . 
 Maps ...... 
 
 Collection of Statistical Matters 
 Collection fi-oin Press of instances of failure or su])posed 
 failure of Laws, &c. 
 
 47 
 
 47 
 48 
 48 
 49 
 49 
 50 
 61 
 51 
 
 51
 
 Table of Contents. 331 
 
 Page 
 Law Reports . . . . . . .62 
 
 Libraries of Public De2)artinent3 to be open to public under 
 suitable regulations . . . . . .62 
 
 Letter V. 
 
 Organization not a substitute for intellectual action . . 63 
 
 Intercourse between tlie Legislature and tiie Judicatures . 55 
 
 Establishment of Minister having cognizance of matters of 
 
 Law and Justice . . . . . .55 
 
 College of Legal Officers . . . . .56 
 
 Establishment of a Law University . . .66 
 
 OFFICIAL SURVEY 69 
 
 Suggestions for Carrying out an Official Survey . .61 
 
 Survey of all Departments, Offices, <bc. by a Return . 61 
 Proportion of Time of Officers engaged in respective 
 Functions . . . . . .61 
 
 Salary Corresponding therewith . . . .61 
 
 Nature and Object of Return . . .61 
 
 List of Matters to be Comprised in Return . . 62 
 
 Agenda and Appropriate Qualifications . . .62 
 
 Return — 
 
 Table I. Office as it is . . . . .63 
 
 Table II. Office as it is proposed to be . . .64 
 
 General Notes explanatory of Tables Nos. I. and II. . 66 
 
 Evils Arising from Disregard of these Considerations 66 
 
 Considerations to be Observed . . . .66 
 
 Officers and their relation to the Institution . . 66 
 
 List of Departments and Offices (with their constituent 
 
 Offices and Departments) taken collectively . (i7 
 
 Objects and Use of List . . . .67 
 
 How it may be Formed , . . .68 
 
 Table of principal Objects and subordinate Objects of 
 
 Office . 69 
 
 Tables of Agenda, «,tc. .... 70, 71 
 
 Agenda and Officers Assistants . . . .71 
 
 Agenda and Instruments or Documents 
 Agenda and Occasions 
 Agenda and Time Occupied 
 
 Agenda and Remuneration 
 Agenda and Implements . 
 Agenda and I'lace of Action 
 Agenda and I'rocedurc 
 Agenda and Process 
 Use of these Tables 
 
 71 
 71 
 71 
 71 
 
 71 
 71 
 71 
 71
 
 332 Tahk of Contents. 
 
 Page 
 Remuneration for Services . . . .71 
 
 Table of Acts and Attendances . . . .72 
 
 Use of this Table . . . , .72 
 
 Mode of Remuneration . (. . .72 
 
 Hindrances to which subject . . . .73 
 
 Nature of Hindrances . . . . .73 
 
 List of Hindrances . . . . 73, 76 
 
 Facilities required . . . . . .76 
 
 Jiecital Facilities . , . . .77 
 
 Remarks on, &;c. . . . , .77 
 
 Remuneration . . . . . .78 
 
 Remuneration a means of energizing Establishments . 78 
 111 effect of present system of Remuneration . . 78 
 Remuneration in respect of Work , . .78 
 in respect of Attendance . . 78 
 Chief of Office should have the means of Remunera- 
 tion . . . . . . .78 
 
 Absurdity of payment without reference . . 78 
 
 To Acts . . . .78 
 
 or Attendance . . . .78 
 
 or Amount of Service . . .78 
 
 or Quality of Service . . .78 
 
 or Arrears . . . .78 
 
 Should be estimated on whole period of Service . 78 
 
 Payment by Fees best system . . . .78 
 
 Responsibilities . . . . . . 79 
 
 Nature of ...... 79 
 
 Responsibility of Officers to be ensured by periodical 
 Reports . . . . . .79 
 
 Estates, Properties and Revenues of Offices and Expen- 
 diture . . . . . .80 
 
 Each Office to furnish a Balance and Estimate of its 
 Receipts and Expenditure . . . .80 
 
 Same form for all Offices . . . .80 
 
 Each Officer to be charged with expenses of his Room, 
 Furniture, Lighting, &c. . . . .80 
 
 Chiefs of Offices, <fec., to have a sum of Money at their 
 disposal for service of Department without necessity 
 of applying to Treasury . . . .81 
 
 Form of Balance-Sheet . . . . .81 
 
 Laws having relation to the Office . . .82 
 
 Chronological List of Statutes and parts of Statutes 
 ajtplicablc to the Office . . . .82
 
 Table, of Contents. 3X^ 
 
 Page 
 
 Statement of Statutes arranged according to subject 
 
 matter of Jurisdiction 
 State of the Law a cause of Official hindrance . 
 Consolidation of the Law, Means to be employed 
 
 Decisions having relation to the Office 
 
 Records, Memorials, and Publications having relation 
 
 to the Office ..... 
 
 Cultivation of Public Intelligence on Official Matters 
 
 by such means .... 
 
 Matters in Controversy and means of determining them 
 Tables either Chronological or according to Agenda 
 
 Miscellanea which will not fall under any of the lore 
 going heads ..... 
 
 General Remarks ..... 
 
 Eivch Department to be requested to appoint Officer to 
 prepare Returns .... 
 
 Local Government, Departments and Offices 
 
 Exemplification of Reforms that are needed by com 
 parison of Local Departments, &c. . 
 
 REMARKS ON OFFICES, &c 
 
 Offices ....... 
 
 Action on the Survey .... 
 
 Concurrent action of Pul)lic Functionaries to be 
 
 obtained ..... 
 Means of Conciliation of Officers 
 Supply of Wants .... 
 Expectations of Promotion . 
 Augmentation of Salaries 
 
 Parliament ...... 
 
 Consideration Postponed 
 
 Recent Prosrress of Internal Or"anization 
 
 Limitation of Subject .... 
 
 82 
 82 
 82 
 
 83 
 
 83 
 
 83 
 
 84 
 84 
 
 8.5 
 85 
 
 85 
 
 8(; 
 
 86 
 
 87 
 
 81) 
 
 89 
 
 89 
 90 
 90 
 90 
 90 
 
 90 
 90 
 90 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 The Tribunals ..... 
 
 To be included in Survey ... 90, 91 
 Costliness and delays of Courts, &c., partly owing to 
 
 want of Organization . . . .91 
 
 Coincidence of Official Ori^anization and Legislation . 91 
 
 Best outline of Official Ortranization . . .91 
 
 Best outline of any Instrument of Legislation . 91
 
 334 Table of Contents. 
 
 Page 
 
 Principle of OflScial Organization . . .91 
 Provision for the Execution of — 
 
 Matters of Administration . . .92 
 
 of Inquiry . . . . .92 
 
 of Legislation . . . .92 
 
 of Adjudication . . . .92 
 
 of Finance . . . .92 
 
 of Direction . . . .92 
 
 of Special Nature . . . .92 
 
 of Local Nature . . . .92 
 
 of Superintendence and Control . . 92 
 
 of Registration and Record . . 92 
 
 Present state of Things . . . - .92 
 
 How provided for at present . . . 92, 93 
 List of Matters which each Minister has on hand, a 
 
 test of the need of the Provisions suggested . 92, 93 
 
 Application of principle to — 
 
 Privy Council . . . . . 93, 94, 95 
 
 Committee of Direction . . . .93 
 
 ^ of Administration . • 93 
 
 of Ini^uiry and Information . . 93 
 
 of Law and Legislation . • 94 
 
 of Judicial Matters . ."* .94 
 
 of Financial and Trade Matters . . 94 
 
 of Special Matters . . .94 
 
 of Local Matters . . . .94 
 
 of Superintendence and Control . 94 
 
 of Registration and Record . . 95 
 
 With the persons composing the respective Com- 
 mittees . . . . . .95 
 
 Functions of Privy Council . . . .96 
 
 Nature of Organization and Distribution of Functions of 
 Committees of Privy Council . 
 Present Committees of Privy Council . 
 
 Separation of Departments of Advice and of Execution 
 
 Risk of Collision .... 
 
 How to be obviated .... 
 
 95 
 
 95 
 
 96 
 
 96 
 96 
 
 The Special Needs. . . . . .96 
 
 Need of Workmen in Right Places . .96 
 
 Greater Number of Intelligences and Influences brought 
 into Play . . . .97
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 33 :> 
 
 Offices of Secretary of State .... 
 
 Nature of Jurisdiction ..... 
 Development of present Organization . 
 Interchange of Officers of Department a means of in- 
 creased efficiency ..... 
 
 Contrast between the Offices of the Treasury, Secretaries 
 of State, and Committees of Privy Council 
 
 Employment of Chief Officers of Staff as Special Com- 
 missioners or Referees ..... 
 
 Application of System to Treasury 
 Consequences of present System 
 
 Mode of Application to 'J'reasury .... 
 Development of Establishment 
 
 Appointment of Remembrancer, Controller, and Super- 
 intendent 
 
 Model Office . 
 
 Establishment of 
 
 Illustrations of Application 
 
 Requisites of Minor Offices 
 
 ON OFFICES 
 
 General Remarks . 
 Creation of Offices 
 
 Conditions to be regarded 
 Preponderating force at starting to be reduced after- 
 wards or charged witli more work 
 
 Preliminaries to regular Operations 
 
 House of proper description .... 
 
 Organization of Estalilishment . . . . 
 
 Preparation of Regulations and Forms 
 
 Training of Clerks ..... 
 
 Draughting Clerks from other Establishments . 
 
 Superintendence of Operation of Establishing Office . 
 
 Special Report of State of Office on commencing 
 Operations 
 The Formation of an Office 
 
 Augmentation of Establishment 
 Extension of Offices 
 
 Mode of Remuneration . 
 
 Modes of Extension 
 
 Table of Examples of Extension by Assistance 107,108,109 
 Table of Official Agencies . . .110 
 
 Table of Special Agencies . . . .111 
 
 Table of Local Agencies . . .11:! 
 
 Piipe 
 97 
 97 
 98 
 
 98 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 100 
 100 
 
 . 100 
 . 100 
 100, 101 
 . 101 
 . 10:^ 
 
 . 103 
 
 103, 104 
 
 . 104 
 
 . 104 
 
 104 
 
 105 
 105 
 105 
 105 
 105 
 105 
 105 
 
 105 
 106 
 106 
 107 
 107 
 107
 
 336 Table of Contents. 
 
 Page 
 Extension of Offices . . • • .113 
 
 Employment of Referees— each to perform his proper 
 
 task 113, 114 
 
 Want of Special aid of Scientific Men . . 114, 115 
 
 List of Classes who might be employed as Special 
 Referees, and means of employing them . . 116 
 
 Best mode to be adopted .... 116 
 
 Reduction of Offices . . . • .117 
 
 Transfer of duties of an anomalous kind . .117 
 
 Withdrawal of unnecessary Offices . . . 117 
 
 Consolidation of Offices . . . . 117, 118 
 
 Mode of Consolidation .... 117,118 
 
 Abolition of Offices ..... 118 
 
 Causes which sometimes render it necessary . .118 
 
 Cautions to be observed . . . .118 
 
 Mode recommended . . . . .118 
 
 Officers . . . . . • .118 
 
 General Remarks . . . . .118 
 
 Importance of encouraging Officers by prospect of 
 Advancement . . . . .119 
 
 Outfit . . . . . . .119 
 
 Things necessary . . . . .119 
 
 Office Accessories . . . . 119, 120 
 
 Specification of Accessories . ' . . 119, 120 
 
 Special Uses . . . . . 119, 120 
 
 Facilities for Officers ..... 120 
 
 Diary ....... 120 
 
 Journal ....... 121 
 
 Other facilities ..... 121 
 
 Preparation of Officers ..... 121 
 
 Instruction and Training ' . . . . 121 
 
 Modes of Instruction and periods of Probation adopted 
 
 by different Offices to be Ascertained and Applied . 1 22 
 
 Appointment of Officers . .' . . .122 
 
 Means of limiting abuse of Patronage . . . 122 
 
 Appointments to be notified in some public Official 
 
 Gazette . . . . . .122 
 
 Instructions to be given to Examiners and published 
 
 for information of public and Candidates . 122,123
 
 Table of Contents. 337 
 
 Union of Functions in same person 
 
 Functions which should not be combined 
 Mode of Recording Transactions 
 
 Discipline of Officers .... 
 
 Duties of Officers .... 
 
 Mode of Remuneration a means of enforcing Discipline 
 Remuneration to be . 
 
 for Acts ..... 
 
 for Attendance .... 
 
 for no Arrears ..... 
 No Leave of Absence (except in case of illness) where 
 
 any Arrears ..... 
 
 Promotion of Officers .... 
 
 System of Promotion to be a composite one 
 Advantages of such a System 
 Order of Promotion .... 
 
 Pago 
 12.3 
 123 
 124 
 
 124 
 124 
 124 
 124 
 124 
 124 
 124 
 
 124 
 
 125 
 125 
 125 
 125 
 
 , 126 
 
 Assimilation of Service .... 12.: 
 All Services to be Amalgamated or^ Assimilated 125, 12G 
 Advantages of Assimilation of Services . . 125, 12G 
 
 Superannuation of Officers .... 126 
 
 Superannuation to be at fixed Periods . . . 126 
 Persons competent to Work may claim Work in Super- 
 
 numary Department ..... 126 
 Mode of Provision for Superannuation . . .126 
 
 ^Management of Superannuation Fund . . . 126 
 
 Exposition of Law of Superannuation Fund to be made 126 
 
 Resignation or Decease of Officers . . .127 
 
 Duty of Superintendent . . . . .127 
 
 Claims of Crown to be Ascertained and Enforced with- 
 out loss of time • . . . . 127 
 Discharge or Quietus of Retiring or Deceased Officer . 127 
 Special Report to be made of State of Accounts, cS:c., 
 of Retiring or Deceased Officer, and Measures taken 
 to enfurce the Crown Claims . . . 127 
 
 College of Officers . . . 1 27 ] 2n 
 
 Objects to be thereby Attained . 
 Means to be Employed . 
 Advantages to be Derived 
 
 Official Intercourse 
 
 Intercourse between Chiefs of A<lminist 
 
 Subordinates . , r'*8 1''9 
 
 Importance and Advantages to Chief . . ' 129 
 
 Y 
 
 127, 128 
 . 128 
 . 128 
 
 128, 129 
 ation and their
 
 338 
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 Common Library .... 
 
 Advantages to be derived 
 Consolidation of Practice 
 Means of Introducing Improvements 
 Want of Lil)rary — occasion of serious expense 
 vernment .... 
 
 Maxims and General Memoranda . 
 
 Old Maxims .... 
 
 Problems to be Solved 
 
 Page 
 . 129 
 . 129 
 . 129 
 . 130 
 to Go- 
 
 129, 130 
 
 130, 131, 132 
 
 . 132 
 
 . 132 
 
 OFFICIAL OBJECTS 
 
 General Outline or Classified List of Topics engaging 
 
 tion of Public Men to be made 
 Number and Variety of Topics . 
 Means of Compiling List 
 Usefulness of such a List 
 
 Classification of Official Objects 
 
 Objects of Care .... 
 Agents of Care 
 
 Tallies — 01)jects of Care 
 General Administration 
 
 (Imperial) .... 
 (National) .... 
 England, Scotland, Ireland, &c,, &c. 
 
 Special Administration 
 (War) .... 
 
 (Education) 
 (Works) 
 
 Local Administration 
 
 (County) .... 
 (City) 
 
 OFFICIAL OCCASIONS . 
 
 Resume .... 
 
 Evil of Individuals engrossing exclusively 
 the Office 
 
 . 133 
 
 Atten- 
 
 . 135 
 
 135, 136 
 
 136, 137 
 
 137, 138 
 
 . 189 
 . 139 
 . 139 
 
 140, 141 
 
 140, 141 
 
 . 140 
 
 . 141 
 
 140, 141 
 
 . 142 
 . 142 
 r 142 
 . 142 
 
 . 143 
 . 143 
 . 143 
 
 . 146 
 
 147, 148 
 the Duties of 
 
 147, 148 
 
 The Minister ... ... 148 
 
 To be Informed on all his Matters . . 149, 150 
 
 To Lead both Present and Future Action . .160 
 
 To Develop not only his own Views but the Views of 
 the Public . . . . 150, 161
 
 Table of Contents. 339 
 
 Page 
 
 Nature of the Questions submitted to him . 151, 152 
 
 Consiilemtions Involved .... 152, 153 
 Necessities of Minister ..... 153 
 Necessary Qualifications of Agents and Advisers of 
 Minister. ...... 154 
 
 The Minister of a Department . . . .155 
 
 Nature of Duties and Responsibilities . . . 155 
 
 Selection of improper Agents .... 155 
 
 Cause of Miscarriage of (3fficial Transactions . . 156 
 
 Employment of Committees of Information, Inquiry, and 
 
 Advice . . • . . . • . 15<> 
 
 Simplification of Official Labyrinths . . . 157 
 
 Disadvantages now Laboured under . . 157, 158 
 
 The Reads of Departments or Offices . . . 158 
 
 Agenda in Arrear in every Department . . .158 
 
 Probable Causes of Arrear and Hindrance . . 158 
 
 Means of obviating Difficulties .... 158 
 Head of Department to make Annual Report . . 159 
 
 The Officer and Clerk . . . . .159 
 
 Relations in which they are to be Regarded . . 159 
 
 Requisites necessary in their Selection, &c. . . 159 
 
 Remuneration, ^c, which they are to Receive , . 159 
 
 The Member of Parliament and the Public . . .159 
 
 Present Position of ..... 159 
 
 Advantages of Systematic Preparation and Discussion of 
 Measures . • • • • .159 
 
 The Press . . . • • ■ • 1^0 
 
 Imputations Cast upon . . ■ • .160 
 
 Nature of Functions . . . ' • 160 
 
 Advantage of giving Increased Facilities to, for Obtaining 
 
 Information . . . • • .160 
 
 Advantages of Freer Intercourse between Official System 
 
 and the Press ..... ^'O, 161 
 Publication of Official Matters, with due Reserve on 
 
 proper Occasions . • • 100, 161 
 
 Special Interests ....•• 161 
 
 Pressure of Claims — 
 
 Upon Parliament . • • ■*"* 
 
 Upon the Minister . . • ^^^ 
 
 Upon the Public . • • .101 
 
 Investigation of Claims . . . • ■ 161 
 
 Y 2
 
 340 Table of Contents. 
 
 OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION 
 
 the Departments and 
 
 General Remarks on the Outlines of 
 Offices 
 
 Plan of Official Organization 
 
 Departments to be Provided for 
 
 Principal of Official Organization 
 
 Functions of different Department 
 
 Description of Departments or Committees 
 
 The Members 
 
 Adaptation of existing State of things 
 Nature of Office . 
 Object of Membership 
 
 The Special Members 
 Of whom to Consist 
 Utility of 
 Nature of Office . 
 
 The Staff 
 
 Requisites for a fully Appointed Department 
 Combination of Services for Limited Departments 
 
 The Administrative Committee and Referees 
 
 Duties of Commissioners .... 
 
 Chief or Office Clerks .... 
 
 Of whom Consisting .... 
 
 The Special Officers ..... 
 Provision for Special Services 
 Due Provisi(m for Ordinary Matters, but scarcely any for 
 Extraordinary ..... 
 
 Accountant and Statist .... 
 
 Employment of Clerks, Book-keepers, and Agents 
 
 Duties to be Regarded .... 
 
 Distribution according to Number Employed 
 The Mechanical Assistants 
 
 Of whom Consisting .... 
 
 Intelligent Officers to Preside 
 
 The Attendants and Household 
 
 Of whom Consisting .... 
 
 Presidency- of the Service 
 
 General Remarks .... 
 
 Similarity of Departments 
 
 Oliject of Departments .... 
 Cautionary Observations on Tables
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 341 
 
 Cautions to be Observed in Considering Schemes of Offices 
 
 Principles of Assigninj,' Functions 
 
 Combination of Offices of Staff 
 
 Alternative mode for Administrative Committee 
 
 Alternative mode for Establishment 
 
 Objects of Distribution of Functions 
 
 Characteristic of Modern Affairs . 
 
 Intelligent Persons seeking Scope in Action 
 
 Narrowness of Political System 
 
 Object and Aim of Proposed Organization 
 
 Department of Administratiox 
 Table of Committee of Administration, showing how it is 
 
 Composed ...... 180, 181 
 
 Department of Administration . , . .182 
 
 Explanation of term " Administration" . . . 182 
 
 Nature of Administration ..... 182 
 Requisites of Administrator .... 182 
 
 Distribution of Agents ..... 183 
 Enumeration of Matters ..... 183 
 Advantages of . i , . . 183, 184 
 
 Clerk of the Objects . . . . . .184 
 
 Enumeration, Classification, Definition of Objects, Sec. . 184 
 Arrangement of Agenda, &c. . . . . 1 8o 
 
 Duties of Clerk of Objects . . . 185, 186 
 
 Clerk of tlie Occasions . . . . .186 
 
 Necessity f)r in Legislation . . . .186 
 
 Necessity for in Financial Control . . . 187 
 
 Clerk of the Means . . . . . .187 
 
 What is Included under this Head . . . 187 
 
 To take Account of all New Inventions, &;c. . . 187 
 
 Description of Office . . , . . .188 
 
 Clerk of Adaptations ..... 183 
 
 What is Included under this Head . . .188 
 
 Result . . . . . . .188 
 
 Clerk of the Public Interests Conservation . . .189 
 Tendency of Institutions to Depart from Original Pur- 
 poses . . . . . . .180 
 
 Expedients and l\Ieans of providing Against . .189 
 
 Duties of Clerk of, &c. . . . . .189 
 
 Similar Office exercised to a Certain extent by Clerk of 
 
 the Public Bills . . . .189 
 
 Page 
 175 
 176 
 176 
 176 
 176 
 177 
 178 
 178 
 178 
 
 178 
 
 179
 
 342 Table of Contents. 
 
 Clerk of the Private Interests Protection 
 
 Protection of Interests weaker than Institution 
 Means of Protection 
 
 Clerk of the Mischiefs and Preventions 
 Necessity for Preventives . 
 Means of Prevention 
 
 Clerk of the Mischiefs and Remedies 
 
 Clerk of the Rights and Vindications 
 Causes of the Paralysis of Law 
 Advantage of Knowing the Cases . 
 
 189 
 189 
 190 
 
 190 
 190 
 190 
 
 191 
 
 191 
 191 
 191 
 
 Clerk of the Offences and Penalties . . . . 191 
 
 What is Included in this Head .... 191 
 
 List to be made . . . . . .191 
 
 Advantages of Officer for Collecting requisite Intelligence 192 
 Odium incurred by Minister through Want of Means of 
 Ascertaining Evidence . . . .192 
 
 Means of Counteracting Evil and Supplying Remedy . 193 
 
 General Explanatory Notes ..... 193 
 
 Department of Direction ..... 195 
 Form of Committee of Direction, showing its Constituent, 
 
 Members, and Establishment . . . 196, 197 
 
 Department of Direction may be Combined with Adminis- 
 tration ....... 198 
 
 Distinctions between Administration and Direction . 198 
 
 Director .... 
 
 Duties of the Office 
 By whom to be Performed 
 
 Secretary .... 
 Duties of the Office 
 Evils of present System . 
 Remedies .... 
 
 Actuary .... 
 
 Explanation of Term 
 Duties of the Office 
 Advantages of the Office . 
 
 Registrar .... 
 Functions to be Performed 
 By whom to l)e Performed 
 Advantages as an Adviser 
 Mechanical Duties by Inferior Clerks 
 
 199 
 
 199 
 199 
 
 199 
 199 
 199 
 199 
 
 200 
 200 
 200 
 200 
 
 200 
 200 
 200 
 200 
 200
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 343 
 
 Treasurer ..... 
 
 Fage 
 . 201 
 
 Functions to be Performed 
 
 . 201 
 
 Evils of present System . 
 
 . 201 
 
 Accountant ..... 
 
 . 201 
 
 May Act usefully as Statist 
 
 . 201 
 
 Reasons for separate Officer 
 
 . 201 
 
 Auditor ..... 
 
 . 202 
 
 Internal as well as External Audit 
 
 . 202 
 
 Place of Audit .... 
 
 . 202 
 
 One Auditor for several Offices 
 
 . 202 
 
 Special Auditors .... 
 
 . 202 
 
 Remembrancer .... 
 
 . 202 
 
 E.\planation of Office 
 
 . 202 
 
 Objects of Appointment . 
 
 . 203 
 
 Duties to be Performed 
 
 . 203 
 
 Advantages of sucli an Officer to Minister 
 
 . 203 
 
 Survey to Disclose how now Provided for 
 
 . 203 
 
 Calendar — Instrument of Action 
 
 . 203 
 
 Framing of Calendars 
 
 . 203 
 
 Superintendent .... 
 
 . 203 
 
 Range of Duties . . . . . 
 
 . 203 
 
 Utility of such an Officer . 
 
 . 204 
 
 Qualifications necessary for the Office 
 
 . 204 
 
 Controller ..... 
 
 . 204 
 
 If Office not Extensive may be Dispensed with 
 
 . 204 
 
 Duties to be Performed 
 
 , 204 
 
 Report of Controller 
 
 . 204 
 
 Responsibility of Controller 
 
 . 205 
 
 The Administrative Committee 
 
 . 205 
 
 Of whom to Consist 
 
 . 205 
 
 Times of Sitting . . . . . 
 
 . 205 
 
 Business to be Transacted . . . . 
 
 . 205 
 
 ESTABLISHMEXT . . . . . 
 
 . 206 
 
 Chief Officer and Assistants 
 
 . 206 
 
 Public Agent . . . . . 
 
 . 206 
 
 Duties to be Performed . . . . 
 
 . 206 
 
 Facilities with which he should be Provided 
 
 . 206 
 
 Remuneration . . . . . 
 
 . C06 
 
 Responsibilities — Cleans of Ensuring 
 
 . 206 
 
 Qualifications . . . . . 
 
 . 206 
 
 Assistance Required . . . . 
 
 . 206 
 
 Accommodation Required . . . . 
 
 . 206 
 
 Expenses — How to be Borne 
 
 . 206
 
 344 
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 
 
 Page 
 
 Receiver and Examiner of Papers . 
 
 . 20G 
 
 To Keep Official Register .... 
 
 . 207 
 
 To Prevent the Introduction of very Incomplete 
 
 Docu- 
 
 ments ...... 
 
 . 207 
 
 Clerk of the Minutes, Board, and Hearings 
 
 . 207 
 
 Nature of his Duties 
 
 . 207 
 
 Clerk of the Correspondence and Orders 
 
 . 207 
 
 Nature of his Duties .... 
 
 . 207 
 
 Clerk of the Acts and Records 
 
 . 207 
 
 Nature of his Duties .... 
 
 . 207 
 
 (1) To Distinguish all final Acts from Current 
 
 run of 
 
 Papers ..... 
 
 . 207 
 
 (2) To make Notes and Digests of important Matters . 207 
 
 Advantages of Distribution of Work as above compared . 208 
 
 Accountant and Statist 
 
 . 208 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 208 
 
 Supernumeraries .... 
 
 . 209 
 
 Use of .... . 
 
 . 209 
 
 Special Mechanical Services . 
 
 209, 21.5 
 
 Necessity of Employment of 
 
 209, 215 
 
 Advantages derived therefrom 
 
 209, 215 
 
 Stationer ..... 
 
 210, 211 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 210, 211 
 
 Advantages resulting from 
 
 210,211 
 
 Printer ..... 
 
 211,212 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 211,212 
 
 Modes of Printing .... 
 
 211,212 
 
 Matters to be Printed 
 
 211,212 
 
 Bookbinder ..... 
 
 . 212 
 
 Advantages of Binding 
 
 
 212 
 
 Duties of Bookbinder .... 
 
 
 212 
 
 Engraver ..... 
 
 
 213 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 
 213 
 
 Advantages resulting from 
 
 
 213 
 
 Copier ..... 
 
 
 213 
 
 Uses of . 
 
 
 213 
 
 Duties of, &c. .... 
 
 
 213 
 
 The Household .... 
 
 214, 215 
 
 The Office Keeper .... 
 
 214, 215 
 
 The Housekeeper .... 
 
 214,215 
 
 The Doorkeeper .... 
 
 214,215 
 
 The Messenger .... 
 
 214, 215 
 
 The Porter ..... 
 
 214, 215 
 
 With Description of their Duties 
 
 21 
 
 4,215
 
 Tabic of Contents 345 
 
 Page 
 Attendant . . . . . . .216 
 
 Qmilifications . . . . . .215 
 
 Duties . . . . . , .215 
 
 DEPARTMliiNT OF INQUIRY ..... 217 
 
 Table of Comniittoe of Inquiry, showing its Constituent 
 MenihtTs and Establishnieiit . . . 218,219 
 
 Committee of Inquiry to Constitute a Special Branch of 
 
 Privy Council 220 
 
 Conduct of Inquiries ..... 220 
 
 Advantages of Committee of Inquiry or Official Inquirer to 
 Ministur . . . . . . .220 
 
 Mode of i'ayment of Costs of Inquiry . . . 221 
 
 Agents of Inquiry ...... 221 
 
 Estal)lished Methods of Inquiry .... 221 
 
 Inquiries to be made in Public (except where Unadvisable) 221 
 
 Organization of Committee of Inquiry . . . 221 
 
 Economy and Efficiency ..... 222 
 
 Clerk of the Inquiries ..... 222 
 
 Qualifications Necessary ..... 222 
 
 Clerk of the Surveys . . . . .222 
 
 Duties of . . . . . , .222 
 
 Clerk of the Investigations ..... 222 
 
 Duties of . . . . . . .222 
 
 Imperfect mode of Operation .... 223 
 
 Clerk of the Reports . . . . . .223 
 
 Voluminousness and Immethodicalness of Reports a cause 
 of ?>Iiscarriage of Inquiries .... 223 
 
 Duties of and Utility of Clerk of Reports . . 223 
 
 Clerk of the Instructions ..... 224 
 Clerks and Officers to Start in Department of Inquiry as 
 
 a Means of Instruction .... 
 Duties of Clerk of Instructions . 
 Instruction of Clerks, &c. 
 
 Clerk of the Intelligence • . 
 Duties of . 
 
 Assistance by Probationary Clerks 
 Advantage of Collecting Information from the Public 
 Prints ...... 
 
 Clerk of the Observations .... 
 Duties of . 
 Collection and Publication of Observations 
 
 224 
 224 
 224 
 
 224 
 224 
 225 
 
 225 
 
 225 
 
 225 
 225
 
 346 
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 Master of their 
 
 Clerk of the Interrogations . 
 Objects of Interrogation 
 Occasions of Interrogation 
 Advantages of Systematic Interrogation 
 Conduct of Inquiries 
 Mode of Examination of Witnesses 
 Collection of Methods of Interrogation 
 
 Clerk of the Library . 
 Advantages of Lil)rary 
 Librarian not to be Depositor of Books but 
 
 Contents 
 His Services when Required 
 Arrangement of Library . 
 Methods of Binding 
 College of Librarians 
 
 Clerk of the Expositions 
 Exposition of Matters 
 Utility of Printing as a Means 
 Advantages of various Methods of Synoptical or Tabular 
 Exposition 
 
 Department of Law and Legislation 
 
 Table of Committee showing its Constituent 
 Establishment 
 
 Duties of this Department . 
 
 Staff of Officers Required 
 
 Jurist .... 
 Duties of . 
 
 The Tribunalist 
 Duties of . 
 
 The Pleader . 
 Duties of . 
 Use of . . . 
 
 The Cursitor . 
 Duties of . 
 Use of . . . 
 
 The Formulist 
 Duties of . 
 Uses of . 
 
 The Collector and Enumerator 
 Duties of . 
 
 Page 
 226 
 
 226 
 
 226 
 226 
 227 
 
 227 
 227 
 
 227 
 227 
 
 227 
 
 227 
 227 
 228 
 228 
 
 229 
 229 
 229 
 
 229 
 
 . 231 
 
 Members and 
 
 232, 233 
 
 . 234 
 
 . 234 
 
 . 235 
 
 . 235 
 
 . 235 
 
 . 235 
 
 . 235 
 
 . 236 
 
 . 236 
 
 . 236 
 
 , 236 
 
 . 237 
 
 . 237 
 
 . 237 
 
 . 238 
 
 . 238 
 
 . 238
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 347 
 
 
 Page 
 
 The Receiver anJ Arranger . 
 
 . 239 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 239 
 
 The Stater and Compiler 
 
 . 239 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 239 
 
 The Examier and Objector . 
 
 . 239 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 239 
 
 The Trier and Recorder 
 
 . 239 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 239 
 
 Necessity for such a Process as that Proposed 
 
 . 240 
 
 Clerk of the Codes .... 
 
 . 240 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 240 
 
 Countries having Codes 
 
 . 240 
 
 Collation of Codes 
 
 , 240 
 
 Clerk of the Consolidations . 
 
 . 241 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 241 
 
 Instances of Consolidation 
 
 . 241 
 
 Clerk of the General Laws . 
 
 . 241 
 
 Causes of Failure of General Laws 
 
 . 241 
 
 Importance of this Subject 
 
 . 241 
 
 Clerk of the Special Laws . 
 
 . 242 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 242 
 
 Peculiarities of Special Laws 
 
 . 242 
 
 By whom usually Drawn . 
 
 . 242 
 
 Clerk of the Supplemental Laws 
 
 . 242 
 
 Nature and Exigencies of . 
 
 . 242 
 
 Supplemental Laws 
 
 . 242 
 
 Should Act also as Clerk of Repeals 
 
 . 242 
 
 Clerk of the Bye Laws and Regulations 
 
 . 243 
 
 Peculiar Treatment required in Bye Laws, & 
 
 c. . .243 
 
 Failures in making Regulations . 
 
 . 243 
 
 Clerk of the Digests and Text Books 
 
 . 243 
 
 Object of Appointment 
 
 . 243 
 
 Advantages of Text Books 
 
 . 243 
 
 Clerk of the Instructions' 
 
 . 244 
 
 Instruction a Means of effecting Impro 
 
 vements in 
 
 Economy .... 
 
 . 244 
 
 Requirements of the Service 
 
 . 244 
 
 Clerk of Legislative Matters . 
 
 . 244 
 
 Necessity for such an Officer 
 
 . 244 
 
 Consequences of the Want of 
 
 . 244 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 . 245
 
 348 Table of Contents. 
 
 Page 
 Consolidation of the Law ..... 245 
 
 Advantages of an Office Constituted for the Purpose . 246 
 
 Outline of Proposed Office or Special Commission 246, 247 
 
 Members ....... 246 
 
 Jurist ....... 246 
 
 Tribunalist . . ... . .246 
 
 Pleader 246 
 
 Cursitor ...... 246 
 
 Formulist ...... 246 
 
 Duties of jVIembers ..... 246 
 
 Mechanical Assistants ..... 246 
 
 Stationer ...... 247 
 
 Printer . . . . . .247 
 
 Bookbinder . . . . . .247 
 
 Lithographer ..... 247 
 
 Copier ....... 247 
 
 Mode of Action . . . . .247 
 
 Official Staff 247 
 
 Suggested Unpaid Commission .... 247 
 
 Of whom to Consist ..... 247 
 
 Committees of ..... . 247 
 
 Periodical Reports to ... . 247, 248 
 
 Assistance to be Afforded ])y Legal Members of Public 
 Offices, &c. ...... 248 
 
 Voluntary Assistance to be Invited .... 248 
 
 Preparation of Scheme ..... 248 
 
 Suggestion for Examinations of Candidates for Professions 
 in the Consolidated Law ..... 248 
 
 Estimate of time Required ..... 249 
 
 First Year — 
 
 Preliminary Inquiry, Plan, and Instruction . . 249 
 
 Reports ....... 249 
 
 Second Year — 
 
 Collection, Preparation, and Compilation of Materials . 249 
 
 Third Year- 
 Ascertainment of Questions .... 249 
 
 Fourth Year — 
 
 Preparation of Laws, Consolidation, and Code . . 250 
 
 Fith Year- 
 Examination and Revision .... 250 
 
 Sixth Year — 
 
 Recognition of Services 
 
 Superintendence of the Operations 
 
 260 
 250
 
 Table oj Contents. 
 
 349 
 
 General Considerations 
 Means of ISuccess . 
 Objects to be Attained 
 lle(juironients to be Regarded 
 Consequences of Disregarding 
 Objects and Advantages of Proposed Arrangements 
 Employment of Skill in Wrong Directions 
 Pre-appointment of Stages of Work 
 Payment of Work .... 
 
 Page 
 251 
 251 
 251 
 251 
 251 
 252 
 252 
 252 
 262 
 
 Department of Judicial Matters .... 253 
 
 Table of Committee of Judicial Matters, showing its Con- 
 stituent Members and Establishment . . 254, 265 
 
 Judicial Committee of Privy Council already Existing 
 
 Advantages of Judicial Officer for each Great Department . 
 Uses and Duties of . ..... 
 
 Employment of Official Persons to give aid to Head or 
 Judge ....... 
 
 Ascertainment of Private Methods of Assistance employed 
 by Judges ...... 
 
 Withdrawal of Judicial Business from Courts of Justice 
 
 To whom to be Referred . 
 
 Clerk of the Statements . 
 
 Duties of . . . 
 
 Clerk of the Questions of Law . 
 
 Duties of . . . 
 
 Clerk of the Questions of Fact . 
 
 Duties of . . . 
 
 Clerk of the Judgments . 
 
 Duties of . . . 
 
 Clerk of the General Matters and Appeal 
 
 Duties of 
 Clerk of the Rights and Obligations 
 
 Duties of . . . 
 
 Clerk of the Jurisdictions 
 
 Dutes of . . . 
 
 Clerk of the Allegations and Pleadings 
 
 Duties of . . . 
 
 Clerk of the Procedure 
 
 Duties of . . . 
 
 Clerk of the Forms 
 
 Duties of . . . 
 
 256 
 
 25G 
 256 
 
 268 
 
 259 
 
 259 
 
 259, 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 200 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 . 260 
 
 , 260 
 
 . 2G0 
 
 . 261 
 
 . 2G1 
 
 . 262 
 
 . 262 
 
 . 262 
 
 . 262
 
 350 
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 Department of Finance and Trade 
 Table of Committee of Finance and Trade, sliowing 
 
 stituent Members and Establishment 
 Functions of Committee 
 Special Members, Staff, <fec. . 
 
 By whom to be Composed 
 
 Clerk for Financial Matters . 
 
 Each Office should have an Officer of this Kind 
 Functions of Officer 
 
 Every Department should have Provision for 
 Service subject to Conditions , 
 
 Department of Special Matters 
 Table of Committee of Special Matters, showing 
 
 stituent Members and Establishment 
 General Explanations of this Department . 
 Designer 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Advantages of 
 Planner 
 
 Duties of . 
 Specifier 
 
 Duties of . . 
 
 Estimator 
 
 Duties of . 
 Conti'actor 
 
 Duties of . 
 Maker 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Distinction from foregoing Officers 
 Maintainer 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Qualifications Necessary 
 Cleaner 
 
 Importance of 
 Keeper , , 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Uses of 
 User . 
 
 Meaning of Tei-m . 
 
 Uses of Officer 
 Assistant Officers 
 
 Enumeration of 
 
 Usual Method of Employing 
 
 
 Page 
 
 • • 
 
 203 
 
 its Con- 
 
 
 264 
 
 ,265 
 
 
 266 
 
 
 266 
 
 
 266 
 
 
 267 
 
 
 267 
 
 
 207 
 
 Needful 
 
 
 267 
 
 , 268 
 
 ^ , 
 
 269 
 
 its Con- 
 
 
 270 
 
 ,271 
 
 272 
 
 ,273 
 
 
 273 
 
 
 273 
 
 
 273 
 
 
 273 
 
 
 273 
 
 
 274 
 
 
 274 
 
 
 274 
 
 
 274 
 
 
 274 
 
 
 274 
 
 
 274 
 
 
 274 
 
 
 276 
 
 
 275 
 
 
 275 
 
 
 276 
 
 
 276 
 
 
 276 
 
 
 276 
 
 
 276 
 
 
 276 
 
 
 277 
 
 
 277 
 
 
 277 
 
 
 277 
 
 
 277 
 
 
 277
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 351 
 
 
 
 Page 
 
 EPARTMENT OF LoCAL MATTERS 
 
 • 
 
 279 
 
 Table of Committee showing its Constituent Members 
 Establishment ..... 
 
 and 
 280, 
 
 281 
 
 General Explanations of this Department . 
 
 
 282 
 
 Special Local Officers . . . • 
 
 
 282 
 
 Statist ...... 
 
 
 283 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Every Office to have its Statistical Clerk . 
 
 
 283 
 283 
 
 Surveyor of Districts .... 
 Usefulness of such an Officer 
 Aid to Secretary of State .... 
 
 
 283 
 284 
 284 
 
 Surveyor ...... 
 
 Of Roads and Works .... 
 
 Of Buildings ..... 
 
 Of Institutions ..... 
 
 Of Callings ..... 
 
 
 284 
 284 
 284 
 284 
 284 
 
 Department of Superintendence and Controi, . . 285 
 
 Table of Committee showing itsj Constituent Members 
 and Establishment .... 286, 287 
 
 General Remarks on this Department . . . 288 
 
 Visitor . . . . . . .289 
 
 Uses and Advantages of . . . . . 289 
 
 Controller . . . . . . .289 
 
 Duties of . . . . . . .289 
 
 Advantages as an Adviser ..... 290 
 
 Superintendent ...... 290 
 
 Functions of ..... . 290 
 
 Inspector ....... 290 
 
 Duties of . . . . . . .290 
 
 Collation and Compilation of Reports of existing Othcers 
 of this Description ..... 290 
 
 Office of Inspector to be held only for a limited Time and 
 as a Step in Promotion ..... 290 
 
 Remembmnccr ...... 291 
 
 Functions of . • . , . .291 
 
 Advantages of . . . . . .291 
 
 Qualities as an Adviser • . . . . 291 
 
 Duties may be Performed by Parties Advanced in Life . 291
 
 352 
 
 Tctble of Contents. 
 
 Department op Registration and Record . 
 
 Table of Committee showing its Constituent Members and 
 Establishment .... 
 
 General Remarks upon this Department 
 
 Separation of Official Register from Record . 
 
 Assistants required. Mechanical and Intellectual 
 
 Expediency of Office being well Manned 
 
 Qualifications of Officers 
 
 The Enumerator .... 
 Functions of ... . 
 
 Importance of . 
 
 The Describer .... 
 
 Functions of ... . 
 
 Importance of . 
 
 The Definer ..... 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Want of Definition a frequent Cause of Failure in Legis- 
 lation and Judicial Administration 
 The Classifier . . . • 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 The Designator .... 
 
 Use of . 
 The Librarian .... 
 
 Duties of , 
 
 To Act in Conjunction witli the following 
 
 The Index Maker .... 
 Duties of . 
 Qualifications Required . 
 
 The Reader ..... 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Claimants to higher Positions to be Subject to this Task 
 as a Means of Training . 
 The Abstractor .... 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Qualifications Required 
 
 Office a Means of Training 
 
 The Extiactor .... 
 
 Duties of . 
 Utility of . 
 
 The Collector .... 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Page 
 293 
 
 294, 295 
 
 . 296 
 
 . 296 
 
 . 296 
 
 . 297 
 
 . 297 
 
 . 297 
 
 . 297 
 
 . 297 
 
 . 298 
 
 . 298 
 
 . 298 
 
 . 298 
 
 . 298 
 
 298 
 
 298 
 298 
 
 298 
 298 
 
 299 
 299 
 299 
 
 299 
 299 
 299 
 
 300 
 300 
 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 
 301 
 301 
 301 
 
 301 
 301
 
 Table of Contents. 
 
 353 
 
 The Sorter .... 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Qualifications Reqtiired . 
 
 Sorting a Means of Official Training 
 The Receiver 
 
 Duties of . 
 The Filer .... 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Filing a Means of Checking Miscarriage 
 The Depositor 
 
 Duties of • 
 
 Qualifications of . 
 Keeper of Books and Papers 
 
 Duties of . 
 
 Qualifications of . 
 
 OFFICIAL ADMINISTRATION 
 
 of Business 
 
 Page 
 301 
 301 
 301 
 301 
 301 
 302 
 302 
 302 
 302 
 302 
 302 
 302 
 302 
 302 
 302 
 
 303 
 
 Action of Official Administration 
 Great Measures 
 
 Mode to be Adopted for Consideration of Measures 
 Collection of Materials, &c., and Preliminary Report 
 thereon for Circulation .... 307, 308 
 Collation of the Same and Revised Report for Presenta- 
 tion to Parliament .... 
 Further Consideration and Proceedings thereon . 
 
 . 305 
 . 307 
 
 307, 308 
 
 308 
 308 
 
 Advantages Resulting from such mode of Treatment 309, 310 
 Ordinary Matters . . . . .311 
 
 Working in Parliament and Courts of Justice .311 
 
 Working of Administration Routines of Business , 311 
 
 Sittings of Staff of Officers as a Board, &c. 312 
 
 Advantages of Board as Modified .... 312 
 Arrangements b^' Remembrancer and Controller . .313 
 
 Advantages of Periodical Reports from Inferior Officer 
 
 to Superior Officer . . . . .313 
 
 Means of Increasing efficiency of Officers . . SI.") 
 
 Intercourse of Officers . . . .316 
 
 Advantages of Acting on Common methods 316, 318 
 
 Application to Particular* Matters .... 319 
 Establishment of Model Office . . . .319 
 
 Consolidation of the Law .... 319 
 
 Good enterprize for ^lodel Office . . .319 
 
 Conditions requested to be Observed . .319 
 
 Observations with Regard to Arrangement of Offices, tfec. 320 
 Advantageous circumstance of vacant Site for Building 
 
 Model Office . . . . . ^. 320 
 
 Rules to be Regarded in Establishing Offices . .321 
 
 z
 
 354 Table of Contents. 
 
 Page 
 
 NOTES ON BOARDS and PERSONAL OFFICIAL INTER- 
 COURSE 322 
 
 Objections to Boards improperly Constituted . . 322 
 
 Advantages of Boards as Proposed . . . 322 
 
 Collection of Examples of various kinds of Formal 
 
 Intercourse ...... 322 
 
 Peculiarities of different kinds of Formal Intercourse 323 
 
 Order and Manner of Business .... 324 
 
 Advantages of Systematic Preparation of Business 325 
 
 Matters necessary for Success of Boards and other Modes 
 of Formal Intercourse . . .325 
 
 CONCLUSION 327 
 
 General Remarks ...... 327 
 
 PEINTED BT UARKISON A^D SOWS, 
 
 Londou Gazette Office, St. Martin's Lane, and Orchard Street, Westminster.
 
 ^ 
 
 PB 5314.5-^9
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 
 M. 
 
 ^im 
 
 1 3 1979 
 
 Form L9— Series 444
 
 UC SOUTHERN RfGIONAL LIRR-'^RY r.".ri| iry 
 
 AA 000 670 760 8