The Express.
London, England, 1862-03-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAT. MARCH 20.

Tit Civil;ani,

have just pub-

hiked their sevesth Report. Considering the
extravagant prejudice against the system of exa-
mining the officers of the Civil *orrice at its first
institution, and the thousands of young men who

Lave wised through the ordeal—some success-
fully, but many unsuccessfully—the fact that no
single case of harsh dealing on the part of the
Coniminioners has been established, is conclusive
proof that they have exercised their powers with
singular tact and discretion. The novelty of the
present Report consists in the fact that in
the Treasury at least the competition has

been converted from a sham into a reality.
Until the subject was examined by the
_ _

Select Committee of the House of

more it Wu no

thing for a Minister,

after proclaiming his desire to throw open his
patronage to the public, to nominate three youths,
of whom two were mere incompetent dummies, so
that the third might seem to win the appointment,
not by the favour of the Minister, but by the

superior power of his abilities. The remedy for
this was very simple. It was proposed that
before any nominee entered into a competition, he
should be bound to pass a preliminary examination
in certain elementary subjects, such as reading,
writing, and arithmetic. Having passed this test,
it was thought that he might then enter
as a competitor for the situation. This new
system has been tried since last April, and
the necessity for its introduction is abundantly
apparent from the statistics just published. It
appears that out of 594 persons nominated to
compete, as many as 302 failed in the preliminary
examination. Seeing that the failure must have been
in some elementary branch of knowledge, these 302
cannot have been persons who ought ever to have
been nominated at all. If they had been allowed to
compete they would have been sham candidates,
and their presence in the examination-room would
have given a semblance of reality to the
contest which it did not in fact possess.
But the change does not stop here. The Parlia-
mentary Committee h►d observed that where the
convenience of the public service allowed, several
vacancies should be competed for at once, it being
obvious that a competition between 30 candidates
for 10 vacancies is more likely to result in the ap-
pointment of young men of talent and industry
than if each place were competed for by three
candidates separately. Accordingly, arrangements
have been made by which as many situations as
possible may be competed for at ono., so that the
best candidate out of the whole number may he
selected. These are changes in the right direc-
tion. But unfortunately they are confined to the
Treasury ; and even if they were generally applied,
they would fall short of a really open competition.
The only important case of a real competition
is that of the Civil Service in India. It is esti..
factory to find that the number of candidates
steadily increases. In 1856 only 56 were exa-
mined. In 1861 as many as 176 were examined.
4)u the other hand, it must be observed that the
number of appointments has increased front 20 in
1855 to 80 last year. Considering the l►rge
emoluments which belong to those who obtain
these appointments, it may seem remarkable
that the number of candidates is not larger ;
but, as the knowledge of the advantages
which these appointments offer becomes more
general, the number of competitors will
increase. At the same time, it must be observed
that by the publication of the examination papers
and of the performances of the candidates it is
tolerably easy to anticipate whether any particular
individual will stand much chance of success ;
and than who are not likely to succeed, no doubt
hesitate to encounter certain defeat. It does not
appear whether the inquiry which was understood
to be instituted in India for the purpose of ascer-
taining the merits of the new system is
concluded. But it is certain that up to
the present moment no public complaints
have been made against it, or if made, they have
not been authenticated. It is sometimes asserted
that the new race of civil servants will be drawn
from a lower clam of society, and, in fact, will be
less gentlemanlike in tone than the civil servants
of former times. The facts annually published by
the Commissioners are a conclusive answer to any
such allegation. I hit of the 171 candidates last year,
there were 1:1 the sous of officers in the army and
navy ; there were 39 the sons of clergymen, one of
whom was the head of a college ; there were 6 the
eons of physicians ; and, besides the sous of lawyers,
there were 15 the sons of independent gentlemen.
The position of the candidates under the new sys-
tem has certainly not been lowered. Tried by
any other test the conclusion is the same.
Although the age of the succeseful candid/son
varies between 19 and 23, it appears that wit of
171 candidates 147 had been without occupation
since leaving college, and out of the 82 successful
candidates four had been tutors and 75 had been
without occupation. Again, having regard to the
please at which the candidates received their
education, it is clear that they must be drawn
from the upper strata of the middle classes. Out
of 171, there were 36 from Oxford, 34 from Cam
bridge, 27 from Trinity College, Dublin, 7 from the
Queen's Universities in Ireland, and 20 from the
Scotch Universities. It was feared that Scotland
would probably ►ufer niore than any other part
of the empire by the inauguration of the new sys-
tem. As everybody may be assumed to have an
aunt at Bath, so it might have been assumed •
few years ago of every Scotchman that he had an
uncle or a cousin in India. It is probably with
reference to the alarm which wee felt by our irri-
table brethren of the North that the C 0111.131411-
sioners state that of the five first candidates
four were Scotch by birth and education.
This is only one illustration of the benefit which
public competition confers on the education of a
tountry, awl the noble results which it produces.