ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides insights into how a department in British centred government actually worked and consequently to add to knowledge about the practice of public administration in a particular context. It discusses and explains the gestation, growth, development and eventual demise of the Civil Service Commission. The book outlines and considers, in as much detail as possible, a number of themes and specific problems that illustrate how the Commission worked. It focuses on the period from the creation of the Commission and goes up to the reconstruction work after the First World War. The book provides detail and insights into the actual working of the Commission as a department of government. It explores the ethos of the Commission through its administrative culture and through a consideration of bias in selection.
