The Editor looks Back
| Published date | 01 December 1966 |
| Date | 01 December 1966 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1966.tb01596.x |
The
Editor
looks
Back
In
1942
Mr.A.C.Stewart resigned from the editorship of the Journal.
Stewart had been Editor almost from the beginning, having taken over
from Mr.John Lee in
1924.
The first issue was published in
1923.
The
Emergency Committee which ran the Institute during the war years
asked me, together with John Warren (then Town Clerk of Slough) and
F.R.Cowel1, to form an Editorial Board to be responsible for the editing
and publication of
Public
Administration.
It
was an extremely difficult time
to be running a journal. Only three issues a year were possible and one
or
two
of
those were painfully thin. But like another famous institution ‘we
never closed’. I became solely responsible in
1946.
In
1944
the Institute moved from its two rooms at the top of Palace
Chambers, opposite Big Ben,
to
Ashley Place. At the end of the war it
had an Honorary Secretary (R.C.J.Kenrick) and the energetic and
resourceful Miss Kemball.
As
Editor
I
had to do practically everything
-
write to possible reviewers, check proofs, measure up the galleys for paging
and layout, etc. There was no money to spare and the economy format was
dictated as much by the shallowness of the Institute’s pocket as by the
shortage of paper. The situation was transformed when the Institute
became rich and enterprising enough to have
a
Publications Officer for
now
I
could concern myself very largely with authors and their articles
and general policy. MrShelley and
his
predecessors have greatly eased
the life of the Editor.
As
the years passed my life was eased in another way-by a steady
increase in the number of articles submitted
or
available for consideration.
In the early years
I
occasionally had to publish an article to fill the space.
In recent years
I
have had the choice of four or five for every one published.
Right from the beginning the Journal has been fortunate in attracting
contributions of
a
high standard from leading public servants, including
Ministers. Strangely enough it has proved easier to get articles from
leading civil servants than from chief local government officers. In part
this may be accidental, due to the London Lectures and to the fact that
most chief local officials write about technical
or
specialist matters not
covered by the Journal. In part it is that the Administrative Class contains
many dons
manpis.
On the whole few Town or County Clerks are ready
to write about local government and seldom if ever about the organization
387
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