The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-14 00:00:00

LI CITY..

TEN Emma, THE Tv-Jo-Ras. Ur. Widdiennb.—And
MASI L ET. Mean. Feehter, Jordan. Emery Price, Widdleomb,
lunddrick. Evan% loaltou, Moreland. Newbnund, Reynold+, An-
derson, end VirLui ; Mileol floored., Jaanortny. &C. Loalmeq.

THIN EVENING, MARRIETCDAIWirMIS AND YOUNG HUS-
RA N Di.—ESSIKKALDA ; OR, THE 813NSATIONGOAT. Mews.
Thorne, James, and Turner ; Mesdames Swanboroup;h,
Ilughvs, Newton, W.atbersby, tte..—Aad A SUIT ON ZW Want.

HOLBORN.

Tins ErrsnicL HY IfiN NiaT. Mr. Behnore: Muss
Foote and Lentms —and FLYING SCUD. Items. Neville, Bel-
more, Blake, Vullaire, ate. ; Ilesdamss F. Josephs, C. Saunders,
Boas Foots. ihhlss, Lenaoz, RaFTscad.lo.

BBISA2 (L►.

THIS Evivino, TIIE LADY OPI.YONs —A Farewell Addrem
by %Ira E. Tarn.ld —After which the Opentim of the PANTO-
- ending with the tirand Transformation Scene. lira Lime
at MIS. Jacobs.—Mid other Entertainments.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tins DAY —Wnroing. 7h. Om-- —Afternoon, Sh. ISak
to-Moluww—Morang, Bh. she Anima" 88. 4428.

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 14.

THE Civil Service is an institution which at one
time or another has attracted a tolerable share of
public attention, chiefly, in later years, on account
of the experimental working of a system of exami-
nations devised to secure candidates better adapted
to the requirements of the national business than
were formerly supplied through the medium of
direct appointments. Allowing for difference of
opinion with regard to minor details, it is ad-
mitted that on the whole we do get a better class
of men drafted into the Civil Service through the
hands of the examiners at Dean's-yard than we
used to get when members of Parliament sent
anybody they pleased, no matter what the cha-
racter or qualifications of the appointee, to a desk
at Somerset-house or Whitehall. As might have been
predicted, one consequence of this elevation of the
standard of admission has been to raise the tune of
the service itself, and the members of it have not
been slow to discover that the public is getting a
superior article in many cases at the old price paid
for the inferior. Hence applications to the Go-
vernment from various departments for an im-
proved scale of pay have had a tendency to mul-
tiply, as the young and vigorous blood imported
into them has stirred up the " old stagers" to a
sense of the claims which the higher position they
now occupy is assumed to justify them in asserting.
Our present object, however, is not to discuss
the question how far any claim for an increased
scale of salaries on the port of the civil servants
of the Crown is or is not justified by present cir-
cumstances ; but to call attention to a bad prac-
tice which obtains at the Treasury, of dealing
with applications from departments for an in-
crease of salaries in a narrow and piecemeal
fashion, and not on any broad principle of equity.
In a majority of cases the success of a memorial
depends almost entirely upon the influence by
which its prayer is supported. A Cabinet Mi-
nister can get anything he chooses to ask for, but
" my Lords" are commonlyobdurete when the peti-
tioners are not lodged in the aristocratic regions
about Whitehall and Downing-street, unless indeed
external pressure can be brought tobearuponthem.
Perhaps it is on account of this chance-medley sys-
tem that a change of Government is always hailed
throughout the Civil Service by the many, as it is
regretted by the few who lose pleasant private
secretaryship', and the like. It is generally
remarked in public offices that an incoming
Ministry is usually more pliant than its predeces-
sor, so that it is by no means surprising to learn
that petitions for increase of pay and re-organiza-
tion have, since last July, flooded the Treasury
table, and that the cry is still they come.
The mischief arising from this state of things is
that different departments are dealt with more
frequently according to the political leanings of
their heads, the interest they can bring tip bear,
and their official rank, than on the broad ground of
meritorious service. Furthermore, it may happen
that the head of an office is incapable of sympathy
with his less fortunate subordinates, or he may be
politically opposed to the party in office ; in such case,
if the clerks feel themselves aggrieved, the chief
may refuse to forward their application to the Trea-
sury—such instances have occurred—and then
what is their position f "My Lords," we learn
from a published Treasury minute of March last,
" will not absolutely decline to receive it direct
" from the subordinates ; but a copy or a state-
" meat of the refusal (of the head of the office)
" must accompany it, and it will rest with my
" Lords to consider whether the communication
" was one which should be addressed to them."
If the decision be against the subordinates, they
have rendered themselves liable, first, to repri-
mand ; secondly, to reduction ; and, thirdly, to
dismissal.

Now, all this is, we submit, most unsatisfactory,
and can only be remedied by a thorough investiga-
tion conducted in a judicial spirit. The root of the
evil lies in the absurd classification adopted, by
which certain imaginary lines are drawn between
different groups of offices to indicate their posi-
tion and pay. There is a constant en-
deavour to got these barriers removed, and
clerks in badly paid offices are apt to institute
comparisons between their position and that of
their more lucky brethren. Comparisons are no
doubt odious to "my Lords," who assert that
" the duties and the position of a clerk in the
" offices at Whitehall, or in the War-office or Ad-
" miralty Departments, are far higher" than those
of clerks in less aristocratic offices. But is this
the fact ? On the contrary, we believe that
an impartial inquiry would show how utterly
fallacious such a statement is—at least so far as
the duties are concerned. We believe that the
grossest inequalities would be met with if the
whole case were thoroughly sifted ; that men of
fifteen and twenty years' service would be found
engaged in duties every whit as important as any
that fall to the lot of government clerks, yet
who, because they happen to serve in what is
styled an " inferior" office, are receiving about
half as much pay as men of half their length
of service are receiving in the " superior" offices.
This fictitious distinction is a relic of bygone
times ; and now that the conditions of entry into
all branches of the public service are nearly