AN EXASPERATING COMMITTEE 287

capital free, before we have even Arrived at the
most serious objection to regulating it under Treasury
licence. This objection is the exasperation, delay
and uncertainty involved by this control. Even if
we had an ideally wise and expeditious body to decide
about capital issues it might not be the best thing
to set it to work. But when we remember that in
order to see that the wrong sort of issue is not
made, all issues will have to pass through the
terribly slow-working process of Official selection
before the necessary licence is finally granted, it
begins to look still more likely that we should do
well to run the risk of letting a few goats through
the gate, rather than keep all the sheep waiting
outside for months, with the probable result that
many of them may lose altogether their chance of
final salvation, It will be noted from the official
statement that the arbitrary methods of the old
Committee are to be modified. It has long been a
by-word among those who had dealings with it;
they abused it in quite sulphurous language and were
wont to quote it as an example of all that bureau-
cratic tyranny is and should not be, thereby doing
some injustice to our bureaucrats, seeing that the
Committee was manned not by officials but by
business men, clothed pro hac vice in the thunder
of Whitehall. The new Committee is to sit by
panels of three, so as to expedite matters, and so
as to allow applicants the privilege of giving oral
evidence. This is an innovation , that will save
some exasperation, but it will hardly accelerate
matters, especially as the decision of the panels will