THE CIVIL SERVICE Jl

striking implrovements in public Departments have come from
people new to the work, approaching it with a fresh mind.
Florence Nightingale instructed the War Office in the obvious
principle that when hospital stores are at hand* -and needed,
they should be used—there is no need to wait till next month
for permission to "open them. Common sense, it is argued, acts
as a corrective to routine.

There is a real distinction between the work of a political chief
and that of a Civil Servant. The former decides what the objects
of Government policy -are; the latter advises how they can be
attained. The former must be ready to move from one Depart-
ment to another, as the death or retirement of members of his
party create vacancies; the latter is usually engaged on one type
of work throughout. The former inust leave his work when his
party is defeated; the latter is a permanent official.1 This
distinction, however, must not be over-emphasised. No one can
say what the Government ought to do unless he has some idea
how it can be done. Ministers, therefore, do make an attempt to
understand the technicalities of their Departments: among^the
leading figures of any party there may be one who has devoted
special attention to education, another to foreign affairs, and so
on—if their party is victorious it is clear which Departments
they will control. In every subject there are certain fundamental
rules which anyone of good intelligence can grasp, without making
the subject his life-work. For example, a Foreign Secretary may
reasonably consult his Civil Servants to find out what are the
historical and legal claims of Britain and Persia to the Bahrein
Islands; but he ought to have made up his own mind as to what
is involved in membership of the League of Nations. A Chancellor
, of the Exchequer need not be a man whose life has been spent
in the City; but he should know what debt conversion means,
what conditions are favourable to it, and what results are to be
expected if the Government borrows large sums of money. The

1 During one decade in this century, the Post Office enjoyed as many
as ten different Postmasters General.