THE DUTIES OF THE “PRIVATE SECRETARY.”

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 2502, 6 September 1890, Page 6

THE DUTIES OF THE “PRIVATE SECRETARY.”

Most of us are familiar with the 44 Private Secretary v on the stage. Tn one of his recent letters to the Xetc York Tribune, Mr. Smalley gives the following account of the private secretary in real life : Tin: “chief of the staff.”

Mr. E. W. Hamilton was formerly Mr. Gladstone's private secretary. He hold that responsible post for some years, anu if any man iu England knows accurately and fully the inside history of one of the most important periods of recent political history iu England it is Mr. Hamilton. A Prime Minister’s private secretary is a kind of Deputy Primo Minister. He knows everything, and does a great deal; is a sort of first lieutenant to the ship of State, and transacts uo small part of that business which is done in the name of the commanding officer. He stands between the Primo Minister aud the outside world—yes, and also rome of the world which is not outside. Prime Ministers without private se;retaries would bo like a general without a staff. Mr. Hamilton was chief of the staff. There is a well-known definition, perhaps diplomatic iu its origin and not departmental, which describes a private secretary as one who has somebody to write his letters for him. That was hardly true of Mr. Hamilton in the days when Mr. Gladstone used to leceive 30,000 letters a year ; of which the Primo Minister saw a certain proportion, read a certain other anil lesser proportion, and answered iu person a number smaller still. “the coairLETE letter whiter. "’ It would require an essay to set forth all the duties of this office ; like so many others in England, burdened with obligations and responsibilities far in excess of those implied by the mere name of it. In all countries there are, I imagine, private secretaries; probably, in no country so many as in England and nowhere else entrusted with so much of the actual work of the office held by their chiefs, or brought so much into contact with the official and general world. Such a man mast have tact. It is no light thing to determine who among tho many visitors of each day shall see the Minister, and who xbuv properly bo coatent to have a brief interview with the secretary. It does not answer to moke mistakes, whether in personal matters or the writing of letters. There are letters which may be written by a secretary. Others which must come from the Minister. Letters which may be in the third person, and letters which must be in the first. Letters which may be in the handwriting of a secretary, and signed by his chief; others which must he penned from beginning to end by the chiof. The variations are endless, and* the art of saying the right thing iu the right way ia an art by itself ; and an art none 100 common. The structure of a sentence, the tarn of a phrase, the uso of a single word, the tone of a letter os a whole—what mighty issues may not turn on these niceties which so many people think it safe to neglect? The private secretary, at any rate, cannot neglect them. MR. W. E. nAHILTOX’. Mr. Hamilton was with Mr. Gladstone, I think, during the whole of his 1880-85 administration. During the first two years of this period Mr. Godlcy was his superior officer ; during the rest Mr. Hamilton stood nearest to the Minister, whoso high opinion of liis services is known. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister left office in 1885 without appointing him to that office which is traditionally tho reward of such services. He had a' scruple—some departmental rule or custom stood ia tho way of his giving his friend what he thought due him. The Tories came in, and promptly cut the rod tape ; an act much to their credit, when you consider that they did it for an opponent, and a great compliment to Mr. Hamilton, who thus returned to the Treasury, his proper official home, where he had been a clerk before Mr. Gladstone chose him to help govern the empire. He was, I tliiiik, Mr. Gosohen's right-hand man in that gigantic and most successful enterpriser known as the con version of the Public Debt; he has written a history of it which is lucid and authoritative, and as interesting as any history of anv financial matter can well be. SIR REGINALD WELBY. To be a clerk sounds humble ; iu fact the post may bo a very great one, more powerful if not more conspicuous than that of the Parliamentary head of tho office. Mr. Hamilton is not yet the permanent head of the Treasury, but is likely enough to be some day. Tho present Permanent Secretary is Sir Reginald Welby, K.C.8., a man of wide-reaching authority- and ability. It is superfluous to describe him as a man of ability ; be could net retain his present position if he wore not a man of ability, and of great knowledge and experience. He, too, has a private secretary. Social position, moreover, very commonly belongs to the men who hold these great official clerkships. THE GREYILLK OF TO-DAY. The Grevilie of to-day is tho permanent secretary to the Board ol Trade, Mr. Henry Calc raft, and Mr. Hamilton is another of those few men who know everybody and iro everywhere, and kind oi soeialrprestige difficult to describe, but beyond dispute. He cxine into this world some forty years ago, the son of a bishop ; went to Eton and to Oxford, and Ims made the rest of his war in life by himself, as you see. Or rather, not by himself altogether, for such a man is always rich in friends and friendships, and they in this country count for something. Mi. GLADSTONE AND “THE CLASSES.” It will be ft worse, not a better day when they do not; or when*to belong to tho classes, as Mr. Gladstone calls them, shall disqualify a man for the public service. There is not, in fact, the least danger that any such day ever come. The classes are not in favour with Mr. Gladstone at this moment, nor ke with them. They have declined to follow him, and whoever declines to follow Mr. Gladstone when and where he is disposed to lead must expect to face a storm. Intelligence, culture, wealth, political training, an authority which is more than lifelong and reaches back for centuries, may, nevertheless, hope to survive the displeasure of one man of great genius and of some impatience. Mr. Gladstone's invectives against the classes are, after nil, political ; his hostility is not directed against the classes as classes, but against their stubbornness on one particular issue.