Jan, 2
Standards of administration ¢annot be satisfactorily defined international polities. Yet never have Pope's lines' been more topical than to-day:
For forms of government let fools contest Whate'er is best administered 4s bes, So, however chary men may be praising one particular system, they seem to know that there is "such a thing og good administration. China re-Cognises this need all too painfully. When the things which Mr. T. V. Soong did as Finance Minister "in a full lustrum of China's revolutionary period are weighed in the balance of the historian, it is possible that the greatest credit may accrue to him in his frank recognition of the importance of establishing permanent civil service. could not carry his ideas into effect, He was able to discern in. the Customs Department. which came within his portfolio 4 remarkable nucleus for the expansion of his doctrine. He gave discriminating supper the head of that great service in protecting his policy of keeping the department out of politics and maintaining its Chinese character which has strengthened his position and maintained its efficiency. Ho endeavoured to check those tendencies which threatened to undermine other departments "with a dominance of political interference administrative matters. To. Wira may be altr'buted a good deal of the credit for the loan of League of Nations official task is to advise on the possibility of creating a civil' service for the general adminis. tration, Conditions unhappily Suggest that practical action in further ay of that iden may be 't¢ long delayed. It is something to have given the principle ¢fficial countenance. Dr. H. IT. Kung, in succeeding to brother-in-law's place, has car-tainly shown no disposition cavil at his predecessor's plans. The only question is whether circumstances will give him vower to carry them part of way to fulfilment. Not the least of the difficulties of the present regime—it is peculiar to most revolutionary regimes—is the loss of the elaborate network a machinery by which, with all its faults, the Manchu Empire Kept the semblance of a coherent administration in running order, This has raised doubts in some minds. It is pessimistically suggested that administrative ability is lacking in the Chinese character. Desperate attempts to prove the falsity of that conclusion have too often been stultified by setting at work the process of imitation and leaving it to operate merely on that superficial basis. Building from the top may be a possible feat in modern days. Tt has t be secured by modern steel-framework which enables delay in the development of foundations to be safely risked. Yet it is patently difficult to create administrative departments starting what che business man would call the head office and leaving the branches to care for themselves. Equipping itself with the necessary focus of a central planning office, the wise Government secks' to tackle the "smallest unit, to link it up with fellow units and ultimately thereby to facilitate he emergence of the larger and fewer entities until the top of the pyramid is reached. It is obvious, that the mere contemplation of such a task in this vast country is calculated to test the geninns of the most richly endowed intelligentsia. So China cannot fairly be reproached if the pace is slow. She must, however, seriously accept responsibility for ensuring that ogress is made on the right ines, Service has grown another utility service which, despite marked deterioration in some respects, has shown a vitaliand, perhaps, a distinct eapaci-_|ty for' recuperation.
The Rose Post Office has been assail 1 jed by political weakness. Yet resistance to that insidious evil is discernible in some of those who take the liveliest interest in maintaining what, on the whole jand considering the enormous scale of its operations, it a by means unworthy administration. In the Salt Department difficulties have occurred and would be foolish to pretend that the achievements of the past have been fully preserved. Fashionable pessimism should not be allowed to obscure the efficacy of measures taken steady the Salt Administration jor toPresJude confidence in their' ultimate "success. The danger lscems to lie in too impatient an emphasis on indigenous recruitment. Foreign assistance and advice have helped to make all these three departments stand jon their own legs. Under present conditions there is no conceivable discredit done to Eh leapacity by frankly recognising the continued need of this service from outside. The old days have gone. The foreign official is plainly a servant of the Gov-jemment. Tt behoves him to act accordingly and it is equally the to Jobligation of the Government, in lits own interests, to ensure [ability to render proper service by such equitable treatment as produces from the employee faithful work for his employer ithe world over. No foreign la-inbour can be so undesirable as} {that which, owing to the constant intrusion of improper influences, is led to perceive its only possible advantage pandering to those influences and consequently ham. bering expression of honest principles of fearlessly efficient administration. No one expects that deep-rooted evils, like patrol nage, nepotism, corruption and intrigue, to be speedily eliminate fed in China, They have had a ong innings in many other coun-Itries and still are in that, for them, blissful state in more places than some of the vitriolic lerities of this country realise. ¥et there can be no hope of, tackling them properly unless a determined effort is made to extend to the administration the machinery which functions so admirably in the departments specified. It may be that this extension will thave to begin on different lines. [Development from the hsien the Province and thence to the central authority may be clearly indicated. Tt can certainly be built up on current measures of help now operating in districts here and there—operating fitfully, painfully and uncertainly perhaps but, still, operating. {It remains for the Government to take this problem into review land in tackling it, to make use {of men on the spot, rather than to endeavour to bring an admi trative fabric into magical exi tence by waving a wand-like pen in a secretariat office in Nanking [or Canton or Peking.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.