The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-16 00:00:00

CIVIL APPOINTMENTS THROUGH THE
NAVAL AND MILITARY SERVICES.
A most influential meeting was held ow Wednesday, at
the Royal United Service Institution, the Earl'of Derby
in the chair, to advocate the policy of making the road to
the subordinate civil appointments through the ranks of
the naval and military services. Amongst those present
were Prince Teck, Sir ,John Hay, Bart., Sir William
Mansfield, Colonel Lindsay, LordLucan, Colonel Ormsbey,
Sir Charles Trevelyan, Lord William Paulett, &C.
The noble Chairman said that up to July or August
last he should have thought it necessary to apologise as a
civilian not only-for presiding over a public meeting or
even taking part in it, called together to discuss a question
the interest of which perhaps was mainly military, but
the last six months, if it had not made them all soldiers
had set them all discussing military matters. Whether
this had been of advantage or not might be another ques-
tion, but our whole military system had been, and would
be thoroughly overhauled, and if it should occur,
which was highly improbable and undesirable, that we
should be dragged into foreign troubles, we should not
find ourselves so unprepared as we were twelve months
ago. (Hear, hear.) The scheme that required their con-
sideration that day for the most part affected the army and
naval administration, and no' doubt they would hear it
treated from both points of view. What they wanted was
some system equally cheap and effectual, which should
induce the best men to enter the ranks, and when their
time of active service expired that the means of obtain-
ing permanent employment in the Civil Service
should be afforded them. On the following day
a new scheme of military reorganization would be in-
troduced, and therefore it might be an inconvenient
time for discussing a matter of this kind. With regard
tel the increase of our forces, and the subject of reserves,
the noble lord said the latter was a spent question, and
did not affect the subject before them; but he was con-
fident that whatever may be contemplated with regard to
home defence, the regular army would be purely on the
voluntary principle. If so, and we were to gain in-
creased numbers of men, it was obviously desirable that
every inducement should be held out to the men to enlist.
As to bounties he need not discuss that. They were
liable to hold out strong temptations to fraud; and done
away with, every one would agree with him that it
was not desirable they should be restored. A soldier
after forty years of age was hardly fit for military duty,
and the question was what was to be done with him then.
They had to see how ready and willing a man who had
passed six years in the service would be to go back to the
agricultural mode of life from which he was taken. This
much was certain that in an overworked community like
ours they could hardly offer to any man a greater
boon than that he should feel assured there
was a probability of employment hereafter, from which he
could not be removed except from his own misconduct.
But employment of this kind could scarcely be given
except through the State. An employer might die, but
the State was permanent, and it was to be hoped would
always be solvent. The noble earl then observed that there
I was another view of the case to be taken which was with re-
gard to old soldiers and old sailors who had given proof of
their fitness to do the work required of them. Educa-
tion to any great extent would not be required, from the
fact that many men who were mere copyists could per-
form their work without it. He, the noble lord, was one
of the earliest, he believed, to support the plan of open
competition now introduced into the Civil Service. (Hear,
hear.) When at the head of the India Office he had an
opportunity of testing it on a small scale, and during
fifteen or sixteen years he 4d never varied in the
slightest degree from his conviction of its advantages.
He looked to it as the means of getting rid of all dirty
and local influence, so that it might give place to a purer
administration and a greater public morality. And al-
though the competitive test might not be a perfect one, it
was one mote adapted than any other which they might
be able to apply on a small scale. He did not know where
the Ti easury drew the line with respect to the amount
of intellectual competition, but it has been stated that
there were 100,000 persons in the Civil Service appoint-'
ments, out of which only 14,000 were engaged on duty
that might be called intellectual.—After some further
observations, the noble Earl sat down amidst loud ap-

plause.
Sir William Mansfield proposed the following resolu-
tion :—" That the appointment of soldiers and sailors who
had served their country with credit to the various subor-
dinate situations in the public departments would in every
respect be highly conducive to the interest of the King-
dom as furnishing both an inducement and
reward for military service. They recommend, there-
fore, that soldiers and sailors of good character who had
completed a sufficient period of service and are able to
pa;g3 the necessary examinations of the Civil Service Com-
missioners, shall have a preference over other candidates
for vacancies in the public departments."
Sir John Hay seconded.
The resolution was carried unanimously.

The Leeds Co-operative Flour and Provision
Society, whose members are mainly working men, have
contributed 25 sacks of best flour for presentation to the

distressed inhabitants of Paris.

A marriage is arranged, and will shortly take place
between Captain Seymour Corkran, of the Grenadier
Guards, aide-de-camp th Sir Hope Grant, and eldest son of
Mr. Charles Corkran, of Long Ditton, Surrey, and Miss
Florence Peel, eldest daughter of Mr. Charles Lennox
Peel and the Hon. Mrs. Peel.

A. committee has been formed in Monmouthshire
fOr the purpose of obtaining suffrage for female house-
holders. The secretary to the committee is Lady Amber-
ley ; and Lord Amberley, Mrs. Oakley, Mrs. Hamilton,
Miss Williams, Miss Jones, and Miss E. Jones, form the
committee, with power to add to their number. Petitions
for the Women's Disabilities Bill are being extensively
signed in Monmouthshire.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE NEAR DEWSBURY. —On
Tuesday evening, about six o'clock, a fire broke out in the
worsted mill near Birstal station belonging to Messrs.
Marriott and Co. It originated, as is supposed, in the
over heating of some of the shafting, and by half-past six
o'clock the whole building (ten windows in length and
five storeys high) was in flames. The building was gutted
and the whole of the valuable machinery destroyed. The
damage is roughly estimated at about £20,000.
THE HUNTARIAN ORATION.—Sir William Fer-
gusson has lately delivered the biennial discourse in
memory of John Hunter. He explained that the object
of the ceremony was to celebrate the birthday of the
celebrated anatomist, physiologist, and surgeon, John
Hunter, who flourished in London in the eighteenth cen-
tury. Hunter's Museum, which contained valuable
specimens, was collected by his own exertions at a cost of
seventy thousand pounds, and was purchased by Govern-
ment after his death, and presented to the Royal College
of Surgeons. Sir W. Fergusson said that Hunter had
anticipated by a hundred years the science
of the system of grafting and transplanting which
is much favoured by the surgeons of the present day.
Respecting the results of Hunter's works, he said that
the treasury of facts in his museum and writings may be
considered the fountain-head of modern science in the
medical profession. The streams had flowed in various
directions, and no one could tell the course they may yet
take. In conclusion, the orotor pointed out the interest•
ing nature of Hunter's career.' He had no wealth or
influential friends to assist him, but he rose to be the
foremost surgeon and physiologist of his day. Some of the
results of his physical labours were treasured in the walls
of the College of Surgeons ; his mental labour had
become the property of the world at large ; and his
mortal remains rested with those of England's greatest
sons in-Westminster Abbey.
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS DIRECTORY.—The
twenty-sixth annual issue of Messrs. Mitchell's News-
paper Directory, which gives valuable particulars relating
to every journal, magazine, and review published in the
United Kingdom, has reached us, and we find some start-
ling facts contained in it respecting the growth of news-
papers in Great Britain and Ireland. In 1851, the year
of the first International Exhibition, there were 563
journals published, 18 of which were issued daily. At
the present tune there are, on the other hand, 1,450 news-
papers printed in these islands, 120 of which
are given daily to their readers. Of our present
supply of daily newspapers, one only is printed in Wales,
and one in. the Channel Islands. Eighty-eight are pub-
lished in England, 19 in Ireland, and 11 in Scotland.
The magaziuss now in course of publication, including the
quarterly reviews, number 638, of which 236 are of a
decidedly religious character, representing the Church of
England, Wesleyans, Methodists, Baptists, Independents,
and other Christian communities. We may here state
that even while the 1871 Directory was in
type, five different newspapers were ushered into
existence, one of these being the new School
Board Chronicle, a paper which, published under
the auspices of the Education Councils of England,
cannot fail to diffuse much information useful in all locali-
ties where School Boards are either . established or about
to be established. The Directory as a work of reference,
is most useful to literary men, and to advertisers who
desire to be acquainted with the papers of highest circula-
tion, or of respectability, in the kingdom. The casual
reader will moreover find in its pages many generally un-
known facts of interest connected with the age and his-
tory and method of inauguration of the different journals.