BRISTOL'S P.R.O.
SIR,—It is a pity that Janus, before condemning so severely the deci- sion of Bristol City Council to appoint a Public Relations Officer, did not turn up the files—for there he would have found that Bristol was merely following the advice given in The Spectator of June 1st, 1945. "The lack of public interest in local government," you wrote then, " is one of the most serious administrative defects in this country.. . . Just as every Government department has its Public Relations Officer, so it should be in the case of every major local authority. . .. Local government has become the weak spot in our democracy. Publicity issued from within, and free criticism directed from without, could go far to stimulate the interest that is at present so widely lacking."
It is to be hoped that Bristol and the many other city, borough, county, and even rural councils which, by the appointment of public relations or information officers, are to-day seeking to establish " an active partner- ship between the citizen, the councillor, and the local government officer, working together in the interest of the community " will heed the advice you gave eighteen months ago and disregard that which Janus gives
today.—Yours faithfully, ALEC SPOOR, Public Relations Officer.
[Janus writes : My paragraph was not concerned primarily with the appointment of a Public Relations Officer, which may be a very good thing, but with the functions attributed to him, such as " revision of editorials " and the compilation of a list of persons receiving paying guests.]
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