THE ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES OF GOVERNMENT 103

the economic field. This chapter will deal with four Departments
to which these economic activities are entrusted.

THE POST OFFICE.

This Department is run by a Board composed of two politicians
—the Postmaster-General and the Assistant P.M.G.—and a
number of Permanent Officials, including a Director-General
and Directors for the different aspects of the work. The Board's
first duty is to organise the postal, telegraph, and telephone
services. Out of these it makes a profit which was at one time
paid over to the Treasury. The Post Office, in consequence, had
not sufficient money to improve its services; being thus prevented
from adopting new ideas it developed a rigid attitude which
aroused a good deal of criticism. In 1932 a Committee was
appointed to report on Post Office organisation, and several
refortns were introduced. Chief of these was that the Post Office
should in future pay a fixed sum to the Treasury, so that any
profit above this might be used for development. A number of
Advisory Committees keep the Post Office in touch with fhe
business world, and in recent years its services have much
improved. Other recent reforms have been the shifting of work
from Headquarters to the London and Provincial organisations,
and the appointment of a Director of Personnel, since it appeared
that the training of the staff, and the relations between the Post
Office and its employees, were not receiving sufficient attention.

The Post Office does not concern itself only with communica-
tions. Having offices in every town and village, it is a convenient
channel for much Government business. It sells National Health
Insurance Stamps, and acts for those insured persons who do
not belong to an Approved Society;1 it administers Old Age
Pensions and War Pensions. These, however, are only matters
of routine for the Post Office; the determination of policy lies in
other hands. It acts as a financial agent for the Government by
selling National Savings Certificates, and through the Post Office

* See Ch. VIII.