The Press THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1938. Administration by Boards

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 10

The Press THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1938. Administration by Boards

Mr Downie. Stewart’s prophecy that .the Government will in time repent of its enthusiasm for abolishing administrative boards is a fairly safe one. As he pointed out, direct Ministerial control of some services is certain to lead to charges of favouritism and unfair political influence. # Broadcasting is an example. Perhaps the most difficult problem connected with any State broadcasting service is that of providing for controversial political broadcasts and at the same time preserving reasonable impartiality as between one school of political philosophy and another. Even where control of broadcasting is divorced from politics,, as it used to be in New Zealand, there is inevitably some .dissatisfaction over the allocation of time to political speakers. Though the present Government can be relied upon not to take an unfair advantage of its power over broadcasting, it will nevertheless find that its impartiality will be called in question and that criticism will not be easy to answer. In short, it has assumed a responsibility which will be a constant source of embarrassment. There is, however, another and even stronger reason why the Government may find it expedient to revert to the device of administrative boards. Not all, or even a majority, of these boards are for the purpose of eliminating political influence. A large number, as for instance the Main Highways Board, the Executive Commission of Agriculture, the Town Planning Board, and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, are designed to co-ordinate the activities of several departments which may be interested in one subject or to co-ordinate the activities of departments and of other organisations working in the same sphere. In theory, coordination of departments takes place in the Cabinet, which is a meeting of non-permanent heads of departments; in practice, the Cabinet is normally so much overworked that it has no time for the task. The Government has recognised as much by creating a Bureau of Industries, which is in effect an administrative board of this second type. Several departments are interested in secondary industries; and the bureau is a means of ensuring that their interests are harmonised. The Executive Commission of Agriculture was established to harmonise the activities of the departments and control boards with powers over primary production. The Prime Minister has announced that iC will be abolished; but if the promise is carried out nothing is more certain .than that some substitute for the commission will be devised. .