BRITISH PUBLIC SERVICE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21973, 23 December 1936, Page 7

BRITISH PUBLIC SERVICE

BROAD EDUCATION FOR HIGHER RANKS

DEFENCE OF THE SYSTEM A defence of the British Public Service was made by Mr F. L. Carter, of Clifton College, England, in an address to the Rotary Club at its luncheon yesterday. In New Zealand, said Mr Carter, youths entered the public service at 16 or 17 and were allowed to study for a degree concurrently. In England, on the other hand, there were two grades of public servant. One grade began at 16 or 17; the other began at 22 or 23 and represented the cream of the English universities. The education of this second grade was broad and literary rather than scientific, said Mr Carter. They were students principally of the classics, philosophy and ancient history. Their minds were nimble and flexible and fitted to weigh evidence. Mr Carter proceeded to give various examples of men in the British Public Service who were educated in this way and who were doing admirable work in the administration of State departments. Ic was a democratic system, said Mr Carter, because it chose the men with brains no matter what their origin. The main fault of the New Zealand system was that it did not encourage a broad and many-sided education. #