180 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



business enterprises in the world. In the performance of such a 

 task it is of the highest importance that the business side of the under- 

 taking should be in skilled hands, that the control of all beginnings of 

 development and of the utilization of resources should be under the 

 direction of the highly qualified administrators — responsible to poli- 

 tical heads but with discretionary power to act within certain limits 

 prescribed for them by the governments. The objection that is 

 sometimes made that the placing of more reliance on skilled adminis- 

 tration will lead to bureaucratic control is usually voiced either by 

 men who are interested in conserving power in their own hands or 

 by those who fear the effect of more efficient management in cur- 

 tailing their profits from vested interests. The successful democracy 

 entails two kinds of trust — trust in the people by their rulers and 

 trust by the people and the rulers in their public servants — both 

 forms of trust, in the words of an eminent statesman, being qualified 

 by prudence. 



Devolution of Power to Permanent Officials 



According to Sir George Murray, the present system of transact- 

 ing public business in Canada imposes an intolerable burden on 

 ministers; the growth of government business can only be met by 

 the division of labour and the devolution of power, unless it is permitted 

 to become less efficient or to break down. In any sound system of 

 departmental organization it is necessary, in his view, that the minis- 

 ter shall confine his attention to laying down a line of policy to be 

 adopted by his department, leaving the administration to his subor- 

 dinates.* In his investigations into the public service of Canada Sir 

 George confined himself to the Federal service, but had he made 

 similar investigations in the provinces and the municipalities he 

 would probably have found that one of the weaknesses of Canadian 

 government, in all its ramifications, as compared with government 

 in older countries, was the condition under which elected rulers were 

 required to take upon their shoulders too many of the burdens of 

 administration. The sound system to which he referred prevails 

 in English government, where the executive details in the national 

 and local governments are left to departmental heads, leaving the 

 elected superiors time to deal adequately with questions of policy. 

 One result of this system is that an efficient permanent staff of expert 

 administrators has grown up in the old country, in all classes of 

 government, and matters of technical detail are dealt with more 



* Report on Organization of the Public Service of Canada, by Sir George Murray, 

 1912. 



