Summary of the Proceedings
| Date | 01 October 1926 |
| Published date | 01 October 1926 |
| Author | H. N. Bunbury |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1926.tb02262.x |
The
Summer
Conference,
Oxford,
1926
Summary
of
the Proceedings
By SIR
H.
N.
BUNBURY,
K.C.B.
Chairman
of Conferencz
CONFERENCE
such
as
that in which we have been taking part does
A
not set out to establish or to
affirm
conclusions.
No
large
gathering
such
as
the present can do that. The object
is
rather to propound
questions than
to
answer them
;
to open up, by discussion, problems the
solution of which remains to be found; to provide through the inter-
change of ideas and criticism the raw material out
of
which those solu-
tions
will
eventually be hammered
;
to send people away thinking.
We have discussed these questions as public servants-that is to say,
in
a
spirit of disinterestedness. We are not concerned with the pro-
grammes
as
such or the interests
as
such of political parties. It is, how-
ever, necessary here to guard against
a
misapprehension. It has been
suggested to me that the papers
and
speeches in general have failed to
recognize the place of the elected representative, whether Member
of
Parliament or Councillor, in the scheme
of
administration, and that we
want to extrude the politician altogether. This, as some speakers have
indicated, is certainly not what we mean. The proper place of the elected
representative
in
the management
of
publicly owned utilities is not easy
to define, nor can
it
be.
so
long
as
his possession of the qualities which
make
the successful administrator is, and must remain, very much
a
matter of chance. But to maintain that there is here a problem is not
to imply that we wish to see the ultimate control
of
public utility services
removed from the hands
of
the elected representatives of the people.
There are those who hold that view, but the general opinion
of
the con-
ference seems to be rather that it is
a
problem
of
defining the spheres
of
activity
of
representatives and
of
officials,
and
of organizing the adminis-
tration accordingly. It must always be remembered
that
we are dealing
solely with public utilities, not with Government or Municipal adminis-
281
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