ABSTRACT
Changes in the nature and scope of government during the early years of the twentieth century had important implications for the work of the Civil Service Commission in two ways. The purposes of government changed in the early years of the twentieth century as a result of such legislation as the Old Age Pensions Act, the Labour Exchanges Act and the National Insurance Act. The MacDonnell Royal Commission on the Civil Service reported in 1914. The Leathes Report rehearsed the theory expounded in the Macaulay Report on the Indian Civil Service. The combined effect of the MacDonnell and Leathes Reports was considerable. The Leathes Committee owed its existence to MacDonnell’s recommendations. A committee was also set up, chaired by Sir Malcolm Ramsay, to recommend to the Minister of Labour arrangements for the recruitment of disabled and demobilised men for temporary employment in government departments.
