The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, JUKE 2, 1934. BRITAIN'S CIVIL SERVICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

SATURDAY, JUKE 2, 1934. BRITAIN'S CIVIL SERVICE.

for the cause that lacks assistance. For the icrong that needs resistance For the future in the distance, And the good that 'tec can do

]f women succeed in gaining admission to the higher posts in the British diplomatic service, they will have scaled one of the two highest- peaks in the British Civil Service, the Treasury and the Foreign Office, of which the former is slightly the higher, because the Permanent Secretary of the Treasury lias the added designation "Head of His Majesty's Civil Service." The Schuster Committee, in which there were only two -women out of eight members, is reported to have admitted the principle of equality for women, but to have recommended that their admission to the j diplomatic service should be limited at present to certain posts. It is noteworthy that j Sir Warren [Fisher, the Plead of the Civil Service, favours the employment of women in the Foreign Office.

This special report ■ will- direct attention afresh to the high quality of the British Civil Service and its methods of recruitment and promotion. In the Civil Service there are in all some 450,000 -workers, to whom the country pays £ 84,500,000 per annum. But what is generally meant by the service in Britain is the administrative class, numbering 1500, whose life work it is to run the British Government, under the systept of Ministerial responsibility. They form a trained force of administrators, selected by competitive examination, whose initial qualifications are not narrowly specialised knowledge, but broad classical culture and intelligence. Most of them have graduated brilliantly" from Oxford and Cambridge, and the nation has absolute trust in their ability and their integrity. Lord Macaulay had great faith in the advantages of a liberal education over any special training. "Men," he said, "who have been engaged up to one and two and twenty in studies which, have no immediate connection' with the business of any profession, and the effect of which is merely to open, to invigorate and to enrich the mind, will generally be found in the business of every profession superior to men who have, at eighteen or nineteen, devoted themselves to the special studies of their calling." Notwithstanding Maeaulay's advocacy, the principle and general practice of competitive examinations .were not finally adopted till 1870.

Those. 1500 administrators are members of a caste. Their hours are indefinitely prolonged or shortened as the,exigencies of duty demand. When entrance to the service was made competitive there was no intention of democratising it. It is largely the private preserve of an intellectual aristocracy. In the viva voce, examination, while the candidate answers, his judges consider.his manner, his accent, his dress and general poise. For appointment to the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service candidates must take a viva voce examination first. The set questions cover a wide range of subjects and languages. The candidate may be asked to write a congratulatory ode to. a gas empany, or an essay in Arabic on the benefits of wireless to an ordinary listener. Last year 373 men and six women presented themselves for examination, and only 70 men, and no women, were appointed. Of the appointees, 47 had been to either. Oxford or Cambridge.

To the Civil Servants belongs the duty of administering a Bill on«e it has become law. They have to interpret it for application, and can make their 'interpretation lenient or drastic. They have to be "jealous for the honour and traditions of the service," and disinterested advisers of Ministers. The politician Minister turns to his trained assistants for advice, and they have to be free from political or party leanings, and bring to all problems disinterested intelligence and devotion, to the national need. A liberal, unspecialised training is the basis of. this administrative division of the Civil Service, and the product is the finest in the world. The pay is small compared with what might be earned in commerce and the higher professional ranks, but the prestige is high. The service has earned the gratitude and trust of the nation, and it is a model for others to copy if they can.