Abstract
THE views expressed in our leading article in this issue upon the composition of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service represent, we believe, the feelings of scientific workers generally. As at present constituted, the Commission cannot be regarded as competent to assess the importance of according to the scientific and professional staffs of the Civil Service their share in formulating policy. The Royal Commission will also have to consider whether an administrative structure designed to meet Victorian conditions has adapted itself to modern needs, and in this connexion the Commission would undoubtedly have been strengthened by the presence of one of those students of public administration whose names are familiar to those who have before them the ideal of efficient State machinery. In our issue of Aug. 31, we referred to the proposals submitted by the Institution of Professional Civil Servants to the Treasury Committee presided over by Sir Harold Carpenter for the creation of a unified State Scientific Service, of which a Ministry of Science would be the ultimate expression. We learn that the chairman has ruled that the latter project is outside the terms of reference of the Committee, although they include the examination of the functions and organisation of the scientific and research establishments. In view of the chairman's ruling, it is evident that the Institution's proposals for the unification of the scientific services will have to be carried to the Royal Commission.
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News and Views. Nature 124, 590–595 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/124590a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/124590a0