10 JANUARY 1914, Page 3

Professor Lowell, in his masterly work, The Government of England,

notes a perceptible decline in the influence and prestige of permanent officials, and ascribes it to recent relaxations of the salutary principle of Ministerial responsi- bility, under which the permanent official, like the King, can do no wrong. He recognizes the possibility of their losing their permanence and their non-political character along with their complete immunity from responsibility and publicity. The drawbacks noted by this most competent critic only con- stitute an extra inducement to permanent officials to regard Government service as a half-way house to fortune.