THE P.P.S.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1688, 19 November 1925, Page 6

THE P.P.S.

HARD-WORKING OFFICIALS. Observant strangers in the House of Commons are attracted by a row of members who sit just behind Ministers. They are young, and wear an air of importance. Each man is evidently interested in one particular occupant of the Front Bench, behind whom, as nearly as possible, he sits-. Documents pass between them and whispered conversations. They excite the envy of other young members—and of some older ones—who say they give themselves airs; bear themselves as though they carried the burdens of the State on their shoulders; and when the Government is critcised are more royalist than the King. They have never been exposed to these gibes. No political novel is complete without a more or less unsympathetic portrait of a Parliamentary private secretary (writes "An Old Parliamentary Hand" in the Morning Post).

In other 'days a youngster of good family who entered Parliament in obedience to an hereditary ambition (and generally made, in the end, a us-eful member and a successful Minister) might be given the post to keep him out of mischief. Nearly always they are men with political ambition; and in these times have to work hard. Otherwise their chance of promotion -is small; and even the most painstaking Parliamentary private secretary may find himself passed over on the formation or re-construction of a Government because his seat is not too safe, or because for some political reason a less industrious back-bencher has to be found a place. On the whole his prospect of office is good. The iGovernment of Mr Bonar Law included eight Ministers, each of whom war* a Parliamentary private secretary when the Coalition fell. He has become an important cog in the administrative machine; though he works and during the period of probation seldom gets into the Parliamentary limelight, seeing that he is not as free to critcise the Government as- other members' of his party. This limitation used to apply only to his own department, no>w it extends to all; and only last session two resigned because they disagreed with the Ministry on matters with which they themselves had no official concern. A conscientious Parliamentary private secretary starts the day early in the office of his chief, for whom he "devils," much as a newlycalled lawyer does in the chambers* of an older barrister. He is regular in his attendance at the House; and he is pursued by every member who wants to satisfy or shake off a constituent with a real or fancied grievance against his department. He gains in return a fine experience in administration ; and when he and his colleagues dine together at the end of the session they call themselves, not without justifiable pride, the "Alternative Government" group.