LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18809, 3 December 1932, Page 10

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

STAFF OFFICIALS. I 1 I I ! diploma of administration. I i j PROVISION IN BRITAIN. The position of the diploma in -public I administration In the education of the ! local government officer is now before 1 Parliament in the Local Government Officers Bill. The question was discussed at a recent meeting in London of local body representatives in the metropolitan and district areas. Mr T. Harvatt, barrister-at-law, education secretary of National Association of Local Government Officers addressing the meeting, pointed out that the training of local government officers for the various professions—an essential part of the education of a local government officer —was not sufficient for modern day requirements of administration. Under the present organisation of the work of a local government authority, it was essential tiiat an officer should secure his professional diploma, but this did licit teach him the principles which underlie the development of local administration. Many officers considered that the best method of training for local government work was “learning by experience.” There existed a narrow view of what experience was. In reality, many departments were quite unsuited for the instruction of junior officers, and were specialised units; the staff were not teachers, and had very little time for teaching. Generally, teaching given in such an environment lacked historical background, and was unsystematic and often contradictory. The universities, the speaker stated were turning their attention to the study of social and political theories and the history of administration. Thus, from the experience of the past ages with their triumphs and failures, the reason was obtained for the present form of social phenomena. University courses. The reason for the present form ol diploma course was explained by Dr. H. Finer, who, with Professor Laski, has charge of the special course for the diploma in public administration at the London School of Economics. The speaker showed how, by means of subjects closely related to the work of present-day administration, the university was giving a liberal education quite as valuable as that given to students of pure mathematics, classics and literature. It was particularly stressed that the purpose of a university course in administration was to make the students aware of the human problems attaching to this work, and how solutions were to be found. The mistakes of past eras, were taken from a critical standpoint in the lectures, so that they might be avoided in future, but particularly interesting were the analyses of past experiments in administration and the historical development of their results. Wise Spending. Dr. Finer pointed out the enormous growth of the expenditure on public administration and mentioned that almost £500,000,000 was spent annually on local services. It xvas essential that this money should be wisely spent, and upon local government officials rested much of the burden of this stewardship. Could not more benefit accrue from the wise spending of this terrific sum than from the curtailment of spending as now practised hy the Government? The meeting concluded with a general discussion, in which it w r as shown that the authorities at the School of Economics were prepared to make any alteration in the arrangements -which would enable local government students to take full advantage of the lectures.