Science in Public Affairs 



of the country and the empire are, in order to im- 

 pose upon the army and the navy definite duties 

 and responsibilities, for which it then becomes the 

 function of the respective departments of State to 

 equip them. The result, if the work of the Com- 

 mittee be properly carried out, is a proper alloca- 

 tion of expenditure to the army and the navy, a 

 definite scheme of action in which each shall 

 play its part with due regard to the interests 

 and the capacities of the other, and, through the 

 co-ordination of the two services, a great increase 

 in the real efficiency of both. 



The Committee of Defence, no doubt, is, more 

 or less, composed of members of the departments 

 concerned, with the addition of certain political 

 members of the Government ; because the Com- 

 mittee deals with a matter in which, speaking 

 generally, the experts are all in the service of the 

 State. In other departments of administration 

 this is not the case ; and, so far, the Committee 

 of Defence is an imperfect analogy. 



Its essential character, however, is strictly rele- 

 vant to the necessity for the organisation of free 

 expert knowledge in order to determine the 

 essential objects to which, in various relations, the 

 work of government should be directed, and the 

 functions which the various departments of State 

 and local administrative bodies must be called 

 upon to discharge. In each case what is required 

 is a reliable body, not bound by purely official 

 traditions, nor limited to the consideration of the 

 work of one department of State, charged with 



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