The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-24 00:00:00

PUBLIC cOMPFTITIVE EXAMINATIoNS
FOR THE Pi BUG SE.,VICB.

SOU ['HAMPTON, AITG. 22.
A meeting was held today in the Town hall, of the
representatives of the district educational institutions
belonging to the Hants and Wilts Educational Society
in union with the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and
Commerce, London. The chair was taken by the Rev.
James Booth, F.R.S., as chairman of, the council of the
Society of Arts. He was supported by the Mayor of
Southampton, by the Venerable Archdeacon Wigram,
the Hon. and Rev. S. Best, from Andover, Ed win
Chadwick, Esq.. C. 8., the Rev. Thos. Bacon, from Win-
chester, Wyndham Portal, Esq., from Winchester, and
by a much larger number of st sretaries and delegates
from other towns aed local institutions than on any
similar occasion. The object of the meeting was to
confer on the means of promoting the instruction of the
industrial classes, the extension of local associations, and
the furtherance by united exertions of those already
instituted.
The CHAIRMAN opened the business of the day by re-
ferring to the general feeling which he said pervaded all
society as to the position in which the country was now
nlaced, which rendered the exercise of practical science
And skill, sound instruction, and pure social feeling in all
',ranches of the community more than ever necessary for
its safety, and for the maintenance of its position in the
civilised world, as well as for the continuance of its ma-
terial prosperity. He referred more especially to the
subject of lectorial instruction, and to the instruc-
tion of examinations for certificates of compe-
tency proposed by the Society of Arts as
a means of rendering that instruction efficient. The di-
rection of the thoughts and action of the educated mem-
bers of the societies in union, on the question of public
examinations and employments as determined by sure
tests of competency, was at this time the really import-
ant topic for their consideration, and the exercise of their
united influence. When the formation of an union of
the local institutions in connection with the Society of
Arts was first proposed the advantages of united action
were only dimly perceived, and only 35 joined ; now the
affiliated institutions numbered 400, and the members in
connection with them 70,000. In the present position of
the country it appeared to be necessary that they should
exercise the influence of that union protectively for the
best interests of the country. Since the passing of the
Reform Bill we had no longer, in the old sense, a Govern-
ment taking up measures and executing them on its own
judgment of their importance ; we now had what might
he more correctly called an administration, acting on the
predominant views, wishes, and eepresentations of the
community. Now was this the time—when the leaders
in' education, those who had the direction and the for-
mation of the industrial and scientific education and
;sower of the most numerous classes of the community,
their intellectual and moral force—to exert themselves
to secure the evident public administrative means by
which those powers might be augmented for the public
good ? (Applause.)
The Hon. and Rev. Mr. BEST briefly opened the sub-
ject of examinations for certificates of competency as
proposed by the Society of Arts, and expressed his con•
viction of the importance of their adoption, as a means
.f advancing the instruction of the labouring classes.
Fie instanced their use as accredited passports to em-
ployment.
Mr. CHADWICK—I attend here upon an invitation
arising from a knowledge of the consideration I have
given to the hearing of examinations for the public vier-
vice on educational institutions ; but in taking part in
;his discussion I am only retui ning to what is to me an
old field, for some 30 years ago, before I entered into
the public service, the first part I ever took in public
matters was in lending humble aid to my late friend Dr,
Birkbeck, in the formation of mechanics' institutions,
and was a vice-president of two of the first that were
formed after the chief institution in the metropolis. In
entering upon the subject of public examinations, as tests
of educational merit for the public service, I do not think
we are obnoxious to the charge of any serious infringe-
ment of the understanding not to enter into party poli-
tics, for appointment for merit is an admitted principle by
the heads of the chief political parties, Lord Derby, Sir E.
Lytton, and Lord Stanley on the one side, and Mr. Glad-
stone and Sir Stafford Northcote and a large body on the
other, having expressed concurrence in the pr:nciple.
The main question is; however, by what means can the
principle he best tested and its application be enforced ?
there are few of us who may not as readers have exer-
cised the faculty of reading on one subject to an audi-
ence, and having the thoughts directed to another ;
whilst pupils hearing lectures, having the semblance
of close attention, have nevertheless their thoughts
elsewhere. The cure of this inattention, the remedy
for the failure of lectorial instruction, my friend, the
chairman, pointed out in a pamphlet—entitled " Exam-
ination the Duty of the State "—in which he antici-
pates much of our present thoughts on the subject. His
view as to the necessity and importance of public exa-
minations has been recognised by all the affiliated insti-
tutions, and by the parent instit:mtion as means to insure
sound instruction. The commissioners of inquiry into
the means of improving the education at the University
of Oxford have given a definition of the qualities required
For efficient examinations, which I beg leave to quote
from the report of the Society of Arts on industrial in-
druction, as showing the progress of concurrent
out independent opinions on this subject. Those
commissioners say that " to render a system
of examination effectual, it is indispensable that there
:should be danger of rejection of inforior oandi fates, hon-
ourable rewards and distinctions for the able and dili-
gent, with examiners of high character, acting under
immediate responsibility to public opinion." Now
whilst the chairman tenders educational institutions,
Oxford inquiry commissioners, and combatants against
gnorance were saying these things, Sir Charles Trevel-
van, and Sir Stafford Northcote, myself, Mr. John
Wood, of the Customs, and others of the largest ex-
eerience in office, remonstrants against the evils of igno-
rance and incompetency prevalent in the public service,
wereindependently saying much the same things as to the
eature of the examinations requisite, in the first instance,
'or the correction of those deplorable evils. Whilst we
were contending for open and competitive examinations
is the only safe test of educational qualifications for the
while service, others out of doors, promoters of educe-
icnal institutions, were looking to more than honorary
'istinctions, as real rewards to the diligent, and neces-
ary inducements to attention, and to undergo the re-
pisite ordeal of examinations, and were regarding the
iiepointment to public offices as prizes necessary for the
elvancement of general education. Here, then, form
,ifferent starting points we, with a large body of think-
eg persons who have hitherto taken no part in public
Auestions of any sort ; but we, moved to the like con-
clusions by impressions derived from the extraordinary
tents of the times, are brought to a common field, for a
soncerrence of opinion, and, it is to he hoped, a union
,1 forces. (Applause.) The attention of all leaders of
slucational institutions has recently been arrested by
he first conspicuous example which we have gained of
iublic competitive examinations for appointments-1
mean for the writerships in the Indian service—which,
ie it noted, are appointments leading to eventual multi-
gents of four or five thousand pounds per annum, equal-
ing the pay of Cabinet Ministers, and having jurisdic-
: ions, wider often and more important perhaps than in
f :rmer times belonged to lord-lieutenants. We all know
the difficulties under which parents are placed to judge
,if the positive or relative merits of particular seats of
'earning. By the new arrangement definite tests are
irovided from year to year, which will ai I their judg-
ment as to where they will send their children. Let us
regard the new impulse which these examinations will
Tive to the heads of colleges and others to be wakeful
and keep up with each otherand with the times, under the
ure penalty of immediate desertion. Look next at the aid
Ind relief the examples give to the competent and willing
seachers, in the stimulus it gives to the attention of flag-
sing pupils, who cannot at present be got to work for
distant, indefinite, or uncertain objects, on whom this
annual gaining and losing, not only of honours but of
,arge substantial prizes, must make the strongest impres-
sions. Now, this new power, gained by these competi-
tive examinations for medical appointments, as well as
lay the competitions for cadetships now going on—a
:mower gained for the educational institutions which
are appropriated to the wealthier classes, is of a
ipeoies which just meets the pressing wants of
parents, pupils, and teachers in respect to the
schools for the middle and lower portions of our
industrial communities. I submit they meet the chief
weaknesses and failures in the special class of institu-
tions under your care. Competitive examinations for
certificates of competency for school teacherships in-
ducted under the auspices of the Committee of Privy
Council afford, by the use made of them, important evi-
dence of the value of competitive examinations as au-
thentic and trustworthy tests of the market value of
qualifications for commercial service. The effect of those
examinations of competency for school teacherships, of
some seventy pounds per annum, or more, has been to
call forth qualifications for clerkships of one hundred,
and a hundred and fifty pounds per annum, in the com-
mercial labour market ; and as Parliament, with waste-
ful parsimony, does not choose to pay the proper market
value of tested educational qualifications, the successful
competitors have used their certificates as a means of
obtaining more lucrative commercial clerkships, or
clerkships to engineers and manufacturers ; and I am
Assured that some of these successful candidates are
answering so well that future men of wealth and posi-
tion in commerce and manufactures will have owed
their prosperity to these competitive examinations. The
new certificates of competency, obtained upon compe-
titive examinations conducted at the school of practical
art at Marlborough House, I am assured are beginning
to afford similar promise of success. There can be no
doubt that similar certificates of competency, awarded
upon competition by known and responsible examiners,
would furnish a means for raising talents from the
lowest ranks, and would be of great convenience to em-
ployers whose time is valuable, and whose own means
of mutual examination are very limited. Other consi-
derations on the side of the interests of education will
he suggested by your own experience and observation.
Let me advert to the claims of the publics for adminis-
trative improvement. Lord Wrottesley, the, Presi-
dent of the Royal Society, whilst agreeing in the gene-
^al principle, takes exception to what he considers the
depreciatory manner in which I have spoken of quali-
fications in abstract science. Now, whilst lam still of
opinion that we should contend for the special
and the practical as against the general and
the abstract, and I still think the subject-
matter of the examinations for the writerships
open to objections as being too scholastic ; yet even esi
they are, I must admit and declare that the evidence is
decisive that they are yet a great gain to the public and
to India. Sir Charles Trevelyan, who himself studied at
Haileybury, attests the fact, that the same mop ill
were failures at the College were the same wll9.
office failures, and bad bargains for the pusisticl.r
Hopkins, the late president of the Geologniciralaey Society,
with
attests, upon 30 years' observation and t
:set
thera;etA thola 'who gtia zczAlmical tci'lc_ll"