RESULTS OF COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION.

Press, Volume V, Issue 558, 13 August 1864, Page 4

RESULTS OF COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION.

[From the Times.']

The annual Reports of the Civil Service Commissioners are always instructive documents, and hare sometimes risen to the level of being amusing. That ■which has just been issued for the year 1863 is better entitled to the former than to the latter description. It wants the liveliness of those earlier publications in which, the Commissioners defended themselves with great spirit against hostile criticism. The principle for which they then contended is now virtually established, and no one thinks of maintaining in earnest that the public service should be a refuge for dunces and invalids. The Reports, therefore, are gradually becoming less controversial, and the one before us, being the ninth in the series, is little more than a satisfactory record of smooth and steady progress. It does not even contain an assortment of curious blunders for the diversion of the public, or Examination Papers suited to the taste of cavillers; for those in the Appendix were set for the benefit of candidates for the Indian Civil Service, from whom special knowledge may fairly be expected. In default of exciting topics we cannot do better than examine the everyday working of the Commission, as it appears in these statistical tables and correspondence. The mere fact that more tban 25,000 nominations have been "notified" to the Commissioners since the beginning of 1856 will serve to give an idea of the vast influence -which they exercise. Every one of the persons thus nominated, except those who may have withdrawn in the meantime, has been subjected to an examination of so>ne kind. During the past year 609 superior appointments, sucli as clerkships, and 1,663 inferior appointments, such as nut-door situations, hare been filled up through the Commissioners. Of the former 253 were thrown open to competition, and 813 candidates in all were entered to compete, being in the proportion of about three for each vacancy. No less than 291, however, out of the 813 -were found to be below the minimum standard of a pass-examination, so that the bona fide competition was very much limited. In three of these so-called competitive examinations, none of the candidates -were found competent; in two others, the competent candidates fell short of the required number; in twelve more, there were only just enough to fill the vacancies. The Commissioners complain, with some reason, that "only 23 " qualified candidates were sent up to compete for 30 situations." The remedy which they recommend is a " preliminary text examination," which has already been adopted by several important offices, the result being that very nearly half the would-be competitors were rejected altogether. The proportion of failures among the recipients of " absolute nominations" was not 6O large, 256 out of 478 having succeeded in obtaining certificates. In the lower grades of the service rejections are much rarer, owing, no doubt, to the comparative simplicity of the intellectual test. No one will be surprised to hear that nearly all of i those who failed to satisfy the examiners broke down lin " elementary subjects." It is the old story. Here is the weak point of the rising generation in every class of society. The complaint is everywhere the same. The masters of public schools protest that the boys "who come to them are scarcely ever well grounded even in JLatin ; they do not know their grammar; they cannot parse, and they are incapable of gmng reasons for the little they do know. So

universal is this testimony that or.c sometimes wonders what goes on in schoolrooms nowadays. Younc people are kept poring over their books quite as lon-as ever, and the facilities for teaching and learning are vastly increased, and ret nothing wm> to come of it. If we had any reason to behove that Latin and Greek had been displaced by Freud, or •jeosrapliv, or music, or tho elements of natural science, we might, at any rate, feel that we had gained something in the place of what we had lost, is it is, we can only suppose that modern tutors will not condescend to the wearisome labour ot Deginning from the beginning, and making their pupils master rudiments before aspiring higher. How is it possible otherwise to explain such a statement as here stares us in the face,—that of 2,331 young gentlemen rejected by the Civil Service Commissioners since 1856, all but 183 failed in orthography, handwriting, or arithmetic ? There is not one of these acquirements that may not be imparted to the dullest youth with ease and certainty. Handwriting is really a mechanical art, requiring a Tery little dexterity, which may be gained by method aud practice as readily as the" use of the knife and fork. Orthography involves a greater exertion of the mind, but only of its lower faculties, and there are many who are saved from blunders in spelling by attention and observation alone, without any knowledge of etymology. As for arithmetic, which, in its highest branches, affords scope for the exercise of the subtlest mental qualities, experience proves that its principal rules may be communicated almost mechanically, and applied correctly by persons of less than average intelligence. There are National Schools in which almost every lad becomes an expert arithmetician, solely because the master knows how to use the black board. It is nothing less than disgraceful for gentlemen's sons, at the age of 18 or 20, to be ignorant of that in which thousands of Charity School children are proficient. Su«h, however, is the meaning of this statement, and it is one beneficial result of the Civil Service Commission that it has detected and exposed a sad defect in our system of instruction. # . There is another point brought out in this Report which as hitherto attracted still less attention. Tn the endless discussions between the advocates of competition and the advocates of patronage, the latter were wont to insist with peculiar emphasis on the paramount importance of moral character. Examinations, it was said, might possibly test ability, but they could not test integrity, or veracity, or discretion, or modesty. These, it was assumed, "were the qnaliucatione which the head of a department would scrupulously seek to discover, unless he was fortunate enough to find them combined, ready to his hand, in the person of some nephew or protege. Perhaps it may be euggeeted that individuals are less conscientious in the choice of their nominees when they cannot insure their appointment; but, unless this be the case, there is here some evidence very damaging to the opinion in question. Not only do persons wholly disqualified for efficient service by physical weakness or infirmities constantly obtain nominations, not only are the grossest mis-statements of age very common, but candidates whose character will not bear inspection frequently present themselves. We select from a list annexed to this report a few notable specimen*. "A. B. had, under another name, suffered 18 months' imprisonment for forgery. B. C. had absconded with funds intrusted to him as adjutant and paymaster of a regiment. Hβ had alao been imprisoned for obtaining goods under false pretences;" and we leaan from another pert of the report that, notwithstanding these antecedents, he " produced an unusual number of flattering testimonials from wellknown gentlemen occupying high positions, including two peers and four majore-eeneral in the army." Others Had undergone texrxns of i-m;piTi*ottn»enfc, lxa.d been diimiJiflfl from tlie urny of tie police force, of had otherwise incurred infamy. No wonder that after such experiences the Commissioners set a very low value on " written testimonials, coached in general terms, and passing through the hands of the parties interested." There are few subjects on which even honourable men are so habitually unscrupulous, and we fear that some people who would not for the world deceive a friend would sleep quite soundly after getting a mauvais sujet a place under Government. When we consider the opportunities of fraud enjoyed by the humblest clerk in tho Contract Department of the War-office or the Admiralty, we cannot but applaud the efforts of the Commissioners to make this moral scrutiny more and more effective, and trust they will not relax their vigilance in guarding the entrance of the Civil Service.