The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-15 00:00:00

THE CIVIL SERVICE.

The speeches both of Mr. CHILDHR2 and Mr.
WARD Hula last night point to the same conclu-
sion. The anomalies, inequalities, and inconsis-
tencies of our Civil Service will never be redressed
until a royal commission has been issued, and the
constitution of our Government offices generally
and searchingly examined by thoughtful and able
men. Those interested in the subject cannot do
better than read Mr. Cannes.' speech; those
anxious to be puzzled and amused should
turn to the diverting dissertation indulged
in by Mr. WARD HUNT. The member
for Pontefract's shaft went home when he aimed
it at the lack of classification in the service; and
the absolute confusion existing in it between the
the work of brain and that of the hand. There is not
a great department under the Crown in which
precisely the same labour is not paid for at ab-
surdly different rates ; and it not unfrequently
happens that the amount of salary given is in an
inverse ratio to the importance of the services
rendered in return. What private business, con-
ducted on this principle, would not land its
principal in the Gazette, The excellent theorists
who agitated a dozen years ago for " the able,
" ambitious, and energetic young men of
" the country," as recruits for the Civil
Service, succeeded in their efforts. Our
public offices are full of instruments too fine
for their work, who are either wearing their hearts
out with the consciousness of being cajoled, or
have subsided into a cynical determination to give
nothing for nothing, and to be as like machines as
possible between ten and four. For the principles
of advancement remain practically as they were,
while the conditions of entrance are so
enormously altered. "Promotion by merit" was
not found to work well, and though it is
the theory of the service, it is not made the prac-
tice save in rare instances. The men upon whose
fiat promotion lies are exposed to far more tempta-
tion to favouritism in a government office than in
any other walk of life. Their proceedings are
secret and irresponsible, and they do not personally
suffer from the consequences of promoting
unworthily. The result is that the endless
variety of classifications mentioned by Mr.
CHILDERS are so many impediments in the way of
the industrious and able man. He must wait his
turn, or perhaps play the sycophant to be elevated
per aalturn at the expense of his daily associates.
A comprehensive re-arrangement, and co-equal
ranks throughout the service, would remedy
some of this injustice ; but this can
only be arrived at after laborious and
well-considered inquiry. So much for Mr.
CH I LDERS. Mr. WARD Hiner, who has
not before appeared before the house in the cha-
racter of ascetic preacher—made the inequalities
of the Civil Service a plea for indulging in a
wandering sermon upon the luxuries of the age.
People expect more and enjoy more than they
used to do, quoth Mr. HUNT, and " persons
" now required luxuries and refinements
" which a few years ago were only
" enjoyed by those in a higher grade."
Pray where is the harm ? Do not country gentle-
men expect more refinements and luxuries than in
Squire WESTERN'S day, and is not the general
diffusion of comforts an evidence of the progress
of the age ? The CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHZQUHR spoke sensibly last night when he said
that not only salaries, but duties, must be consi-
dered before the Civil Servioes can be reformed,
and that nothing but a Commission would meet
the 'complex difficulties of the case. But Mr.
HUNT is not a JUVENAL, and his comical discovery
that the comforts of to-day exceed those of pre-
vious generations assuredly fell wide of the mark.