THE  POLITICAL  ACTIVITIES  OF   GOVERNMENT        87
Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the Financial Secretary as
his second in command. The other Lords have routine Treasury
duties—some documents are not valid without their signature—
but their real work is to. act as Government Whips—i.e., to
see that Government supporters in the House of Commons
are there to vote when required. The Parliamentary Secretary
to the Treasury is the Chief Government Whip, and the unpaid
Assistant Whips are nominally attached to the Treasury. A
Treasury Minute—i.e., a statement of one of its decisions—
usually takes the form, "The Chancellor of the Exchequer
recommended. . , . My Lords concur." Also attached to the
Treasury is a lawyer who drafts Bills for the Government, and
another, known as the King's Proctor, who acts for the Crown,
when it is interested in Civil lawsuits.
In effect, the Commission of the Treasury is two distinct
things—a Treasury proper, and what might be called a Prime
Minister's Department. Again, when the former of these is
considered, the real financial work must be distinguished from
the running of Government as a whole. Because it sees to the
spending of money, the Treasury has become, through its
Establishments Department, the employer of the Civil Service;
it has the last word on appointments and salaries, and on any
proposal for reorganising a Department which will mean
spending money. The work which the word Treasury usually
suggests is mainly performed through the Finance Department.
The first duty is to arrange for the collection of money, which
is performed by four bodies under Treasury control. The Board
of Inland Revenue collects "direct taxes9' such as Income Tax.
The Board of Customs and Excise collects "indirect taxes"
,, i.e., taxes on articles produced in this country (Excise) or
imported from abroad (Customs). These two boards collect
more than nine-tenths of the total revenue, A further sum comes
from the Post Office, and the fourth body is the Commissioners
of Crown Lands. In the Middle Ages a very large part of the
King's income came from land, and no distinction was made