The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-15 00:00:00

CIVIL SERVIOE APPOINTMENTS.

In February last the House of Commons ap-
pointed a Select Committee to inquire into the mode
of examining and nominating candidates for junior
appointments in the Civil Service of the Crown.
The object of the inquiry was to ascertain " whether
greater facility may not be afforded for the
admission of properly qualified persons." The com-
mittee included Sir S. Northcote, Mr. Bright, Lord
Stanley, Mr. R. Lowe, Mr. Roebuck, Colonel Sykes,
Mr. Maguire, Sir W. Hay ter, and Mr. Hennessy. It
represented both sides of the controversy on the sub-
ject of previous examination and competitions for
civil appointments. The committee sat for a fort-
night, and obtained evidence and information from
the heads of all the principal departments of the
civil service, both as to the working of the old sys-
tem of nomination by interest atone, and the new
one that inquired into moral and intellectual fitness
for the duties to be discharged. The report of the
committer, drawn up by the chairman, Lord Stanley,
has just been presented to the House of Commons.
It contains some interesting information ; the
opinions of the effects of the change differ in dife-
rent departments, and are not, therefore, quite con-
clusive, but the condemnation of the old system is
decided, and the general result of the reform is a
very considerable improvement. The necessity of a
change in the system of appointments was pointed
out by the report of a commission that sat in 1853.

t had then become evident that the civil service,
if not deteriorating in comparison with its efficiency
at former periods, was not keeping pace either with
the increased demands on the service itself, or with
the standards furnished by private establishments.
The public service did not draw into its ranks the
ablest of the youth of the country. Admission into
it, or a "situation under Government," was cer-
tainly most eagerly sought ; the lists of the candi-
dates " put down" for appointments in every branch
of the service always presented a formidable aggre-
gate of claims, which it was one of the duties of a
member to his constituents to urge on the dispensers
of patronage. " Competition" in this matter was,
in fact, very keen for many years before any " test
examination" was dreamed of. Public employment
was " eagerly sought, but it was for the unambiti-
ous, the indolent, and the incapable that it was
chiefly desired." The results of this system, accumu-
lated through a series of years, became unfortu-
nately perceptible as the pressure of public business
increased and ministerial changes became more
frequent. In those departments, in which every-
body and everything is permanent except the Minis-
ter, the importance of the immovable staff became
immensely increased ; but commerce and the active
professions continued to absorb the ablest of our
young men, and to the public offices were left the
less capable, the more indolent, the physically weak,
and those who were content with easy work, cer-
tain if not high pay, and a provision for the future.
These were drawn, as if by a natural affinity, to-
wards the civil service. Of course there were better
elements mixed up with this mass of passable
mediocrity ; but the language of the Commissioners
of 1853 clearly, though tenderly, intimates that the
public offices contained many individuals who in
another branch of the service are called " her Ma-
jesty's hard bargains." Certain heads of depart-
ments demurred to the Commissioners' estimate of
the efficiency of their particular staff; "others,
with Sir James Stephen," confirmed their general
accuracy. It is curious to observe that one of the
most recently created departments, that of the Re-
gistrar-General, appears to have been the worst ;
and it was formed, it must be supposed, out of the
candidates the period provided. Most of the
"frightful examples" of unfitness, of several kinds,
are given from this department. These abuses,
which occurred 24 years ago, are no longer pos-
sible, it is said ; but before the existence of an in-
dependent Examining Board there was no security
against them ; and it should be noted that " they
have only come to light in the course of this in-
quiry." The Registrar's-office has worked itself
clear of its first mistakes in the lapse of years, and
got rid of its fraudulent debtors, its cheats, its
batches of inefficients, and those whose misdeeds
are put down generally as " disgraceful conduct."
But it was not so easy as might be imagined to un-
seat an employe ; in one department a positive, not
a comparative, idiot was appointed; and the head
of the office, it seems, found very considerable
difficulty in " getting rid of him." The report
of the Commissioners of 1853 states as its con-
clusion that, with all the drawbacks, " the men
are better than the system—better than un-
der such a system they can fairly be expected
to be ; but the necessity of amendment was great
and undisputed."
It became, in fact, necessary to improve the sys-
tem itself; the establishment of an Examining
Board, and some test of capacity, was not a need-
less fancy or modern crotchet, as it has been termed.
It was an unavoidable measure of policy. On the
21st of May, 1855, the order in Council was is-
sued appointing the Civil Service Commissioners,
and defining their duties. On that order the board
still acts.

The report, quoting at length the evidence of Mr.
Maitland, describes its proceedings since that pe-
riod. The general results are these :—Up to the
end of 1859 the total number of nominations to
which the order in Council had been ap-
plied is 10,860. The competitors for 732 appoint-
ments have been no less than 2,821, or four to one.
In the last year 1,179 persons competed for 259
appointments. The severest competition, however,
in point of number, was that for nine clerkships in
the India-office ; 391 candidates contested these
prizes; it was the only occasion "on which the
principle of an entirely open competition had been
practically tested." The number of rejections was
greatest in 1855-6, when out of 1,686 more than
one-half failed to pass the test. The number has
since decreased, rather, the Commissioners state,
from a lower standard of examination having been
adopted than from an improvement in the attain-
ments of candidates. It is scarcely credible that,
of the whole 2,479 failures, all but 106 were re-
jected for ignorance in the very rudiments of edu-
tion—arithmetic or spelling. This, the committee
thinks, should be borne in mind when complaints
are made of needlessly high educational require-
ments being imposed by the examiners.
As to the results and effects of the change, the
evidence of several heads of departments was taken.
The opinions vary. Mr. Arbuthnot, Auditor of the
Civil List, thinks the competition has excluded in-
capable men, but that the supplementary clerks it
has introduced into the Treasury are above their
work, and that a discontented body of men has been
created ; but this feeling has not extended to the
regular es:tabliphutent clerks. Sir B. Hawes, repre-
senting the War-office, speaks in favour of the sys-
tem. Mr. Trevor, of the Inland Revenue depart-
ment, says the recent appointments are men of
higher education and superior social position than
they were formerly ; but he does not admit that
they are better for the work for which they are re-
quired than the old race of clerks. He is not aware
that their higher education has rendered them dis-
contented with their duties. Sir T. Fremantle,
Chairman of the Board of Customs, believes the ap-
pointments since 1854 are very much of the same
character as they were previously; they come from
the same class of society; the literary education is
higher than before, the general qualifications are
not; and in the selection of some inferior officers
he states too much stress has been laid on intellec-
tual attainments, and too little regard has been paid
to physical fitness. From the Post-office Mr. Tilley
reports that the change has made no perceptible
difference ; the clerks are neither more nor less
useful than they were before ; the class is the same,
the duties of the same simple routine character.
requireof
the
He fears that sometimes those who have Passed.
a higher examination are less contented and,
less good as clerks than others not so highly
a cghe sm
toa
trained. He thinksmirt.dnisoanidvilain:
in candidates a knowledge their duties will not
call into exercise.
Board of Audit, though opposed to an unlimited
competition, speaks very favourably of the system
of examination.
Sir H. Bromley, Accountant-
General
clerks,o bt
uh
te
cNO au vs
iyd,
ear ds mt iht
es a superiority in the
present test higher
than the service requires. Mr. Merivale, for the
Colonial-office, briefly deposes that " inefficiency is
excluded ;" but his experience has only been of
seven appointments out of 24. From all this testi-
mony, therefore, the committee infer that sufficient
time has not been allowed for a fair anet full trial
of the regulations of 1855 ; and that the opinions
expressed by individuals upon those regulations
must be groanded in theory rather than experi-
ence ; but no one has affirmed that, so far as appoint-
ments to this class of clerks are concerned, the ser-
vice has suffered harm by their adoption, while
their tendency to exclude men intellectually unfit
is recognised without exception by all.

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