more importance and a claim therefore to higher salaries; sometimes it
is the natural tendency of the vigorous man to enlarge the scope of his
influence. _Boni judicis_, says the old maxim, _ampliare
jurisdictionem_. ("It is characteristic of the good judge to extend his
jurisdiction.") It would be a good thing if instead of estimates being
laid directly before a Committee of the whole House of Commons, where
some small item is often the subject of long and acrimonious debate and
millions are passed without comment or consideration in a few minutes,
the estimates of each department were fully considered as a whole by
some small competent Committee of the House, uninfluenced by party
feeling, and representatives of departments could be asked questions on
their estimates.

To compare small things with great, a committee of this kind has been
found of the highest value in institutions where there are various
departments requiring large expenditure. It is usually then felt by each
person who sends in an estimate that it is to the credit of his
department not to make claims for expenditure which cannot be justified.
When the scale and character of the expenditure have been scrutinised
and the estimate has been passed, it is much better to leave a very free
hand as to the exact mode of expenditure. Outside control then becomes
irritating, and is itself a cause of extravagance; it means more
accounts, more correspondence, more consideration of papers.

(2) The Treasury is supposed to have the function of control, but a
change appears to have taken place, and it has now to a great extent
lost its control, and has even itself become a spending body. Professor
A.L. Lowell, in the work above referred to, after speaking of the
Treasury as the department which exhibits in the highest degree the
merits of the British Government, points out that even ten years ago,