The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-28 00:00:00

ARMY COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS.

A copy of correspondence between the Very Rev.
Canon Moseley and the Council of Military Educa-
tion as to the mode of conducting these examina-
tions was yesterday published by special order of
the House of Commons. The result of the
examination for admission into the Royal Military -‘
Academy at Woolwich, held in Piccadilly on the 16th
Jan. last, is prefixed to this correspoudeace, and it
thence appears that 30 candidates were successful.
The highest on the list, Mr. W. Emerson Peck,
was educated at King's College (London) School; he
obtained 5,468 marks, and it is curious to note that
the lowest on the list, a Mr. H. G. Palmer, was also
educated at this school, and yet only obtained
2,985 marks; the age of both gentlemen being
identical. The University of Dublin, as usual,
ranks high, and the second candidate on the list,
Mr. C. Ardah, was one of her alumni. The Leeds
Grammer School, as usual, ranks low on the list, and .
the Queen's College at Cork is lowest but two.
Nine of the 30 successful candidates—as if to
prove that a collegiate or purely scholastic education
is by no means a necessary qualification—were
privately educated, and one of these (Mr. A. C.
IVallinger, aged 19) stands as high as seventh on
the list. The average number of marks won by
each candidate was 3,660 against 3,724 and 3,344
at the last two examinations. The aggregate num-
ber of candidates who applied to be examined at •
five examinations, of which this was the last, was
537, of whom 493 presented themselves at the ap- .
pointed time, and, omitting those who were re- ,
jected by the medical board and those who broke
'down at the " qualifying examination" in French
(always a great stumbling-block), there remained
463 who competed for commissions in the Artillery,
or for admission into the Royal Military Academy. •
Of these 190 succeeded in getting appointments.
Canon Moseley reports that the offering of a wide
range of subjects to the choice of the candidates
(necessary at the first examination) was found at
subsequent examinations to have encouraged a
slovenly diffuseness or desultory style of reading,
which was manifested by a fatal tendency, on the
part of inferior candidates, to gather up mere
crumbs of knowledge in many things, without
seeking for depth and reality in any, in the hope
that a paucity of marks, in very many subjects,
would make up a respectable sum total. The
number of subjects has since been restricted with
good effect ; a notable advance in mathematical
studies is reported, for while at the first examina-
tion only 20 per cent. of the candidates afforded
evidence of a mere " moderate" degree of mathe•
matical knowledge, at the fifth and last the num
ber rose to 80 per cent. Mr. Moseley adverts to
the remarkable testimony in favour of open com-
petition for public appointments afforded by the
career in the academy of the youths selected at the
examinations, especially when the competitive
cadets are compared with those who get in by
" nomination." The Council of Military Educe- :
tion, in a memorandum on Canon Moseley's re-
marks, expresses a regret that he has so far mis-
apprehended the object of a former memorandum
as to devote himself almost exclusively to a defence
of the principle of competitive examination rather ,
than to an inquiry into the possibility of amending
the system now adopted, a serious defect in which
the Council have pointed out. This and other de-
fects relate rather to questions of detail, and may
therefore be passed over in silence.

Country Markets.

MANCHESTER-MAY 27.

Owing to the occurrence of our annual holidays there wag
a most meagre attendance of buyers at market this morn-
ing, and few factors found it necessary to open their sem'
pies. Under the circumstances we can only repeat the
quotations of this day se nnight.