The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-20 00:00:00

THE VACCINATION COMMISSION.

The committee appointe I by the Government to
inquire into the certainty and extent of Dr. Jenner's
system of vaccination is to consist of fifteen members,
one of whom is to be Sir Dominic Corrigan, Bart.,
junior M.P. for Dublin. We mention his name
as the Irish papers are rather jealous that only one
physician should be chosen from a country where the
principles of early vaccination are most extensively
and successfully adopted. The Saturday Review is
of opinion that the inquiry is calculated rather to do
vast mischief than good. The very fact of ap-
pointing a committee, it argues, implies doubt at a
most critical period as to the efficacy of vaccination.
The Review wishes it could feel certain that the pro-
posal for an inquiry was not meant chiefly to throw
a sop to awkward constituents whose votes may de-
pend more or less on the vaccination question.
THE REVENUE OF INDIA.

The official statement of the revenue and expendi-
ture of.lndia in the year ending March 1870 has been
printed, and it is with regret; though not with dis-
appointment, that we find the net expenditure
exceeding the net receipts by a sum of £2,480,045.,
The gross receipts in the year were £50,001,081, but,
the total charges against this income (the charge in
' England included) being £,8,765,729, the net receipts
are reduced to £41,070,258. The most significant
article by which the profit of the country is made is
opium. The receipts in the trade were for 1869-70,
£7,953,098, while the expenditure connected with it
was only £1,820,683.

REPORT OF THE CAVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS,

The fifteenth report of the Civil Service Commis•
sioners makes a bulky volume. The Order il

Council of June last introduced some importai

changes in the method of filling appointments in the
Civil Service, but the most material of these changes
did not come into operation until after the period to
which this report refers. The total number of can-

didates on.the lists from the first constitution of the
Commission until June 30, 1870, was 71,971. Of
these 4,607 were competitors for the Indian
Civil Service, 188 were - candidates for admission
to the army, 6,690 were candidates for situations
in the Home Civil Service, for which' certificates
have not been thought necessary, and the remaining.
60,486 were candidates for civil appointments for
which certificates are requisite; 1,234 nominations
were cancelled after they had been
.received; 3,566
nominees either absented themselves altogether, or
withdrew without completing their examination.
The total number disqualified has been 11,403. Of
these 8,790 were rejected as deficient in knowledge
and ability ; the rest failed in age, in character, or in
physical capacity. It is worthy of note that only
289 failed in the tests of general intelligence and
cultivation, while 8,501 came short in reading, spel-
ling, writing, arithmetic, and the practical work of
the office. In pursuance of the report of the Military
Education Commissioners, the candidates for the
entrance examinations at Woolwich and Sandhurst
and for admission into the army by direct commis-
sions, being merely tests of general knowledge, are
now under the direction of the Civil Service.