The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-21
Commission SITS
FOR FIFTEEN YEARS
Body Created by Queen Vic
toria Little Appreciated

London, April 20.--(Special. )--Govern-
which the commission is to inquire. The
ments over here have simple and high
ly ingenious way of getting rid of awls-
ward questions. When a popular agita-
ton gains headway. on any subject with
which the ministry in power is especially
anxious not to deal and some kind of
government action becomes imperative.
the modus operandi is nearly always the
same--the matter is referred to royal
commission
A royal commission consists of a special
body of supposed experts, together with
the necessary clerical force. who are ap-
pointed nominally by the sovereign, but
actually by the secretary of state within
whose province the subject comes on
a double purpose To begin with, the awk-
ward subject Is shelved indefinitely, and
simultaneously a lot of fat jobs in the
way of secretaryships and so forth are
created The latter form part OF the
enormous amount of patronage, which
is controlled by the chief ministerial
whip, as keeper of the party pork barrel,
and they are sought with an energy that
would not disgrace the most strenuous
OF the cTOWQ OIL OIIlceStekeTS IoW btSiCS-
ing the new administration at Washing
ton. The actual members of royal COM
missions, on the other hand, are unpaid,
though they get their xpenses-service
on a royal commission constituting an
honor
1t is no mere figure of speech to say
that a subject is shelved ''indefenitely
by referring it to royal commission
Just behind Westminster Abbey and close
To ba of r m the writer re-
Gently discovered an office building which
appeared to be given over entirely to
the housing of these bodies, some OF
which have been sitting for years. The
record for long life on the part of a royal
commission must, however. be held by one
which, it has just been revealed, mas
been meeting now for over Is years, and
which. 1t is solemnly declared, mas not
yet begun its work.
Commission Created
Sir William Ramsay, the famous scien-
tist, told about this long winded royal
commission at a meeting of the institute
of sanitary engineers in London thls
week. The commission was appointed
it appears, to inquire into the disposal OF
sewage. and was called into being Wnile
Queen Victoria was still on the throne,
on May T. 1898, to be exact Ihe usuai
archaic phraseology was used by her ma :
jesty in creating the commission, at lne
request of the then home secretary, the
ohairmanship being given to ''our right
trusty and right well beloved cousin,
Walter stafford, Earl of Iddesleigh' The
other members were DIR. A. Thorne. Cen
eral G. p. Carey G. p. Cotton, Michaei
Foster, Colonel II. w. Harding, u ".
Killick Sir William Ramsay ana Dr
j. b. Russell. DIR. Thorne died IN l9oo
and w H. Power was appointed IN ms
stead.
The commission began it's sittings and
to call witnesses practically Immediately
after it's creation. Since then each year
has Welded its quota of volumes OF evil
dence. and now the blue-backed DOCKS
form quite a decent sized library. q.
p Cotton retired in 1902 and Il. ~ star
ford was appointed in his place, ana thus
changes have gone on. the lase report
being signed by Colonel Harding, cnair-
man. SIR William Ramsay, r. J. Stafford
and r. A. Tatton, only two remaining
Of the original nine members rms re-
port deals mainly with the affluent that
runs into streams.
Fridays Ignored
what Sir william Ramsay meant by
his remark that the commission hap not
began its work was that no government.
as Vet has taken the slightest notice or
the commissions findings, few members
of parliament, In fact, being aware tnat
II exists. This, however, is quite COM
mon thing Frequently government
which has appointed royal commission
to inouire into q certain matter VIII
bring in bill dealing with the subject
before the commission has finished its
deliberations. to say nothing OF having
made its report. case IN poiht was
t1,a walsh disestablishment bill, which
Lioyd-George introduced into the house
of commons before the royal commits
sion appointed to investigate the cues
NJ. Instance OF an inconvenient subject
being shelved BY this means was the ap-
nointment by Premier Asduith Of COM
mission to inquire into the whole ques,
ton Of divorce in England aiter .ne ma,
rassage In parliament Of the deceased
wife's sister bill which had been before
that body for over 70 years. on and on,
d3nt though tfifs royal commission >
much discussed report was maze monta&