DULL ROUTINE MUST GO

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 71, 17 December 1917, Page 14

DULL ROUTINE MUST GO

"WAR HAS SMASHED PRECEDENTS." Professor P.. T\ Irvine last week addressed the New South Wales Local Government Conference on '■'Municipal Administration." If a. bureau of municipal research, the professor said, were properlv organised and made to do its duty in educating the public and the administrators themselves, it would be an institution of the very greatest utilitv; but, on the other hand, unless 'thev could form for themselves some adenuato conception of administrative ends, such u bureau would take rank merely as another useless piece of machinery. His experiences'of the public service of: this State led him to the conclusion that in Australia far too much importance was attached to knowledge of official routine and details. II the clerks did not look beyond such necessary routine there was little hope of their ever becoming good administrators or wise advisers to the administrators. Precedent, tradition, onerience and rule of thumb wen 1 indeed the" idols of the British -•.irM. But in the Motherland the war had smashed all orecedents and made a mock ol traditional experience. All the swarming little men satisfied U> go on dnltit?" i's and crossing t's in the :uprnrrd *wav had to be brushed asid- Tor the man who had the vision and the faith, who could invent the new thing, and who could think a way mil when tlio "old and tried methods" had brought them-to the verge, of ;nsasTer. , . • The matter of making eity or town beautiful, convenient, and healthy required hard work and study, and '.here was the initial difficulty, and it needed a greater variety of expert kno.vlcdgc tliiin a lavnian usually commanded. But he believed the layman should and cmild know a great deal about all the professional branches of the municipal service.