CHAIR OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 18 January 1939, Page 4

CHAIR OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

[To The Editorl Sir,—Dr Leslie Lipson will arrive in New Zealand in about a month's time to take up his ddties at Victoria University College, Wellington, in connection with the newly created chair of Public Administration and Political Science. Dr hipson’s appointment is a public acknowledgment of the fact, now universally conceded, that if a little more scientific thinking were done in relation to the government of nations, many blunders might

either be avoided altogether or their worse effects minimised. The question of adequate training of those who desire to fit themselves for the career of public admini-sti-ation and scientific government has been given intensive consideration during the past few years by many of the leading thinkers of the world. It is unquestioned that tho world’s political outlook and social institutions lag feebly behind the astonishing rate of progress in general scientific knowledge; also that the mainsprings of national action, the various governments of tho world, suffer by the inclusion of administrators who have had no scientific trainisg to fit them for their important tasks. It is worse than useless to try to meet the problems of our own age, armed with political and administrative weapons which were originally devised to deal with the difficulties experienced during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Social and political experiment seem more jflian costly. The ancient “hit-or-miss” prin. ciple of government has resulted, times without number, in the unemployment, unhappiness and discontent of countless individuals, together with their descendants unto the third and fourth generation. J here is a strong tendency to arrive af * political and ethical conclusions in terms of emotional reactions, rather than by rational judgment, thus making government an art—the cynic would say, a. dodge ’--rather than a science . 'I ho present New Zealand appointment draws attention to a significant change in the conception of the function of government during the past century,—a change which has exercised a profound influence on the whole theory and practice of administration. This transition has been from the idea of the State as essentially a policeman to that of active promoter and provider of facilities for enabling all citizens to live fuller and happier lives, —a kind of universal provider, in fact. In consenting to absorption by the State of more and still more control of national activities, the democracies should remember, urgently, that such State services are the concern of several political ministries whose nominal heads are help--lessly dependent upon such advice as may be tendered by the permanent officials of the department concerned. As the higher departmnetal staffs consist of individuals who are generally chosen for ability by examinations in

which science of any kind—much less anything so rare as political science—is a subordinate subject, political ministries am scarcely justified in relying upon the advice of such staffs. Even if capable oi understanding the advances of scientific knowledge in the various departments of national life and activity, they have not tfie time to keep abreast of them. Hence the institution of scientific advisory committees in many countries. The weakness of such advisory bodies lies in the absence of strong co-ordinating links between them, whereby the whole of the knowledge possessed by them may be synthesised and utilised in the true interests of the nation and of the race.—We are etc., PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE SOCIETY Onehunga, 13th January.