XX THE SEA FISHERIES 



addressed to the head of the department responsible for fisheries. 

 It is not merely a case of an occasional question, but the question 

 must be repeated under slightly different forms for weeks or months, 

 it may even be for years. Few permanent officials care for repeated 

 publicity of this Idnd and eventually they find it more agreeable 

 to jdeld than to remain obstinate. This method was adopted by one 

 of the Local Committees in England and Wales, when an applica- 

 tion of theirs for a grant-in-aid of fishery research had apparently 

 been lost sight of by the Central Department. The original appli- 

 cation was forwarded in May, 1910 ; questions commenced to 

 appear in March, 1911, and were repeated at regular intervals, 

 until in November, 1911, a reply was received to the main question 

 that it was proposed to make a grant, and in March, 1912, details 

 of the proposed grant were announced. The replies to the questions 

 were invariably as evasive as possible, and occasionally inaccurate, 

 but ultimately a definite reply was received, nearly two years after 

 the original application had been sent in. 



A condition of public administration whereby it is possible, and 

 given favourable circumstances certain, for an error of judgment 

 on the part of a quite subordinate official to become adopted by 

 the Central Authority, and with the ofiicial sanction of the President 

 forced through an indifferent and apathetic House of Commons by 

 a strictly party vote, is reprehensible and means should be found 

 of altering it. 



Where the heads of the administration lack the expert knowledge, 

 which alone would enable them to carry out their duties in the 

 public interest, the above danger is always present. 



Assuming then that a separate department is the best for the 

 fisheries, how should it be staffed to secure efficiency in administra- 

 tion ? It must be admitted that somewhere in the department 

 expert knowledge is essential, even though it be open to question 

 as to whether the chief official responsible to the Government for 

 the Fisheries should know anything of the subject he professes to 

 advise upon. It is no reflection on the erudition of the gentlemen 

 concerned to say that quite recently the PoUtical Head, the Per- 

 manent Secretary and the Assistant Secretary in special charge of 

 the Fisheries of England and Wales were alike ignorant of the 



