Evening star., 1941-09-01
More British Women
To Gef Government
Posts as War Result
Consolidation of Small
Administrative Units
Also Is Predicted
By III. T, J. SARGENT.

war.
l. The probability that many more
women will be employed in govern
ing the country in the coming 2,
years or. say. a generation.
2. Almost the certainty that the
different sections of the country
will be grouped for government
purposes into far larger areas thar
is the case at present.
To take the women first. There
has recently been published the re.
port Of committee which was sci
up by the government to decide
which civil servants should bt
called up for military service anc
which should be left in the various
government Offices
1t should be remembered that the
civil service in England is a jealous
ly guarded closed shop with almost
q caSt-iron security of tenure and
with a difficult entrance eXamina-
ton which varies according to the
class of service a candidate wishes
to enter. Only a great upheaval
like the war through which we are
now going can move a civil servant
from his chair.
May Turn to Women.
The committee recommends that
the young men between Is and 80
years of age Of the administrative
and executive grades. that is to say
the two highest grades I the serv-
ice. should be released iOr military
service,
Certain quite reasonable provisos
ere made to the effect that unless
E man is actually fit for combat
duties he should not be taken from
important work in the civil service
for less important non combat work
in the forces.
But the really important passage
IN the report is where the recon-
mendation is made that for junior
administrative posts fruitful
source of supply might be found in
young women completing their uni
verslty career.
Now these administrative posts
form the keystone of the British sys-
TEN Of government. The first de-
Cision is the class which governs,
whatever ministers who come and
go might say. The first division
which is the repository of the ira
ditional continuity of British ad-
ministration, goes on forever.
Decentralization Carried Far.
There are already few women in
that division. They have entered
after passing a competitive eXami-
nation on equal terms with men
and it is rare indeed that they have
proved themselves other than en-
tirely satisfactory. This war is now
giving girls with a high academic
background a great chance and it
should not be impossible for one
of them in the next Is years or SO
to become the permanent head of
one of the ministries. though the
bare idea would probably make some
of the old permanent Undersecre-
taries of State turn in their graves
There is no doubt whatever
though, that women have come to
stay as vital parts of the British
administrative machine and in that
direction this country is giving the
lie most resoundingly to the Nazi
and Fascist doctrine, of which we
have heard so much lately, that
women are incapable of governing
and must remain at home in OBJ
scure domesticity.
Another fact that the war has
brought out is the redundancy Of
local authorities. The principle of
decentralization is carried very far
in England Except on broad mat
ters of policy, Whitehall, that is to
say the central government, inter-
feres very little with municipal af-
fairs which are left in the hands
of county councils, borough councils
and the like. There is a great deal
of local vanity connected with men,
bership of these bodies, and much
inter-council jealousy which makes
for friction and general difficulties
In Britain's postwar reconStruc-
ton plan. the amalgamation of
many of these local councils is en-
visaged. Britain has something like
1900 local authorities, some of them
of the utmost unimportance, except
in their own eyes.
28 Mayors in London.
London alone has % boroughs with
% mayors, % town clerks and %
of every kind of departmental chief
The London civil defense region
which is only slightly larger than
the region administered by the
London County Council, embraces
80 local authorities. That will give
some idea of how small the areas
are of some of these authorities.
In the first place, London will
be divided, probably into eight, in
stead of into %, areas. My own
borough of st. Marylebone, which
already stretches from oxford street
to Hampstead in Northwest Lon
don, will in all likelihood, absorb
Paddington, Hampstead, Holborn
and st. Pancras, all boroughs in
Northwest and West London.
In East London, which a perfect
honeycomb of little boroughs, these
also probably will be merged in
order to share the great postwar
expense of rebuilding their bombed
areas.
National Police Force.
Some time ago, wrote about the
amalgamation Of the English fire
brigade into one big national serv-
ice. Nothing would surprise me
less than to see the innumerable
police forces Of this country ANAL
gamated into one national body.
1t is standing joke in England
that when a star comes from Holly
wood, the first thing she says when
she lands at Southampton is, Your
police are wonderful" The police
constantly quote this joke against
themselves, but there are no two
opinions in this country about the
fact that the police have shown
themselves to be a most efficient
body of men in the unprecedented
conditions they have had to face
since war began.
In many cases, however, this good