and except the time for advertisement the process would not seem to involve much more labour than the holding of an ordinary test examination or a limited competition. I am, &c. How single or few vacancies in Class I. should be filled. The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Treasury. 19th February 1876. SIR, As many inquiries are daily addressed to the Civil Service Com- Conversion of missioners respecting the operation of clause 12 of the recent Order in writers into Council, by which writers are made eligible, under certain conditions, clerks under for admission to the new "Lower Division" of clerkships in the Civil Order in Service, I am directed to bring the subject under your notice in order that the Commissioners may be informed of their Lordships' views with regard to the part which the Commissioners will have to take in carrying out the provisions of the clause referred to. As their Lordships are aware, two classes of writers are made eligible for appointments to the "Lower Division," viz. (1) writers employed before the 4th June 1870, who have been registered specially without any examination, and (2) writers placed upon the general register after having passed an examination of an elementary kind. The former are eligible for the new appointments, if "thoroughly qualified," the latter if (having served for three years, having been under 30 when registered, and having been recommended by the departments in which they are serving) they prove their fitness by a supplementary examination. The Order of the 12th inst., it will be observed, does not specify the nature of the qualifications which are to be shown by the former class, nor that of the examination which is to be passed by the latter class, nor does it indicate the authority by which these points are to be determined. Falling back, therefore, upon the Order in Council of 4th June 1870, the Civil Service Commissioners assume that the appointments in question are to be made under clause 7 of that Order, and that after their Lordships and the heads of particular Departments have concurred in presenting certain candidates of either class to them in this exceptional course, it will be for the Commissioners to consider how far, if at all, they may be able to dispense with any part of the examination now prescribed for men clerks of the "Lower Division," viz., that which is specified in the existing "Regulations II." The Civil Service Commissioners will be glad to be informed whether their Lordships agree with them in this view. I am to add, for their Lordships' information, that according to the best calculation which the Commissioners are able to make, the number of writers eligible, so far as age and service are concerned, for appointments under clause 12 of the recent Order is as follows: : Council of (1.) Writers serving before 4th June 1870 441 445 886 The total number of writers now upon the General Register (i.e. of writers registered since 4th June 1870) is 1,742, of whom 1,229 are actually serving. I am, &c. Conversion of writers into clerks under Order in Council of February 1876. The Secretary, Treasury, to the Civil Service Commissioners. MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN, 22nd February 1876. In reply to your letter of the 19th inst., I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to state that it appears to my Lords to rest with the heads of departments to set in motion the 12th clause of the Order in Council of the 12th inst. as they may severally see fit. The advancement of writers appears to my Lords to be only a part of the reorganisation of the offices in which they may happen to be serving, and to be authorised by the Order in Council in those cases only where the heads of the same offices think it advisable. The course which you indicate for passing such writers as may be selected for transfer to the Lower Division of established clerks under the 12th clause appears to my Lords to be such as it would be proper to adopt. I am, &c. Order in which The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Treasury. SIR, 27th January 1877. I AM directed by the Civil Service Commissioners to acknowledge Lower Division the receipt of your letter of the 3rd instant, transmitting for their clerks are to be observations copy of a letter from the Commissioner of Valuation, Ireland, in which he asks that A. B. and C. D., who have recently passed the examination as boy clerks of the lower division, may be assigned to his office. selected for duty. In reply, I am in the first place to explain for the information of the Lords of the Treasury that these boys obtained respectively the second. and the sixth places in the competition held in June last for 20 boy clerkships of the lower division, and that, application having been made by the Education Office, London, for 15 clerks of this class, these two were selected for duty in that Department. By an omission since supplied, they were at first led to suppose that they had been assigned to the Education Office, Dublin, where no vacancies existed. The Commissioners had not at the time, nor have they yet, received any application for boy clerks from the Valuation Office. Up to this point these cases have been dealt with in exact accordance with the "general rule" laid down in clause 9 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876, the selections having been made strictly according to the order of the names on the list. But the questions now arise, whether that rule is intended to be absolute, except as excepted in the clause itself, and, if not, whether, and to what extent, the particular circumstances justify a departure from it; and as the same questions have arisen, and will no doubt again arise, in other similar cases, the Commissioners avail themselves of the present opportunity of stating for their Lordships' information the principles which they think ought to govern the decision of them. The 9th clause of the Order stands as follows: "From these lists (i.e. from lists of the competitors made out in the order of merit) the "Civil Service Commissioners, on the application of departments "having vacancies, may supply, on probation, the requisite clerks, "whether for permanent or temporary duty. Selections shall, as a "general rule, be made by the Civil Service Commissioners according "to the order of the names on the lists; but the Civil Service Commis- Order in which "sioners may select any clerk who, in his examination, has shown "special qualifications for any particular subject among those included "in Regulation II., if special application for such a clerk be made by "any department." It need hardly be observed that the task of administering the general rule" here laid down would be comparatively easy if it were to be treated as subject to no exception other than the one which is expressly provided. But as the language of the Order is not perfectly clear on the point, the Commissioners have felt it their duty to consider what course is likely to be best for the interests of the public service; and being of opinion that the interests of the public service require that some discretion, such as is usually implied by the term "general rule," should be admitted in this case, they have thought it right to act upon that opinion. The cases in which questions may arise divide themselves into the following classes : (1.) Where the head of a Department, having a vacancy, asks that a particular candidate may be assigned to it. (2.) Where a candidate desires to be assigned to an appointment which does not fall to him in his turn, or to decline an appointment which does fall to him. (3.) Where special circumstances, independent of the expressed wish of either Department or candidate, point to a special assign ment. Under the first head, assuming the request to be based on official grounds, such as the familiarity of a particular candidate with the business of the Department, the Commissioners think that some departure from the prescribed order of selection may properly be allowed; provided that no other Department having, by reason of priority of application, a prior claim, is thereby left without a clerk, and that no other candidate, having a higher place on the list, is left without an appointment. They think it possible, indeed, that special cases may arise in which it may be right to dispense even with these provisoes. Under the second head, as the Order does not appear to contemplate any right of choice on the part of the candidates, the Commissioners do not consider that they would be justified in paying regard to any wish that an individual candidate might express for a particular appointment; or, which would amount to the same thing, in permitting him to decline successively the appointments offered to him in his turn until there came one which he was desirous to accept. Nor, indeed, do they think that any candidate ought to be allowed to decline an offered appointment except for very grave cause, in which category they would not reckon considerations as to the nature of the appointment offered, its emoluments, present or prospective, or, in the case of men clerks assigned for permanent duty, the locality in which it is to be exercised. The only cases in which the Commissioners are at present disposed to think that it may be desirable to permit a man clerk to postpone permanent employment are those in which a candidate, having come in under the impression that he would not be called upon for immediate service (an impression derived, perhaps, from clause 6 of the Order, which speaks of providing for the vacancies of six months, or from clause 8, which contemplates the possibility of a clerk's remaining unemployed for over five years), may have accepted an engagement from which he cannot free himself at short notice without serious inconvenience to himself or to others. But the Commissioners do not anticipate that Lower Division clerks are to be selected for duty. Order in which any serious difficulties are likely to arise in dealing with cases of this Lower Division character. clerks are to be selected for duty. The case of boy clerks under this head stands in one respect on a different footing from that of men. Having regard to the early age at which these boys are selected, to the very low rate of their pay, and to the necessarily temporary nature of their employment, which must terminate when they reach 19, it does not appear desirable to force them, on pain of being removed from the list, to accept appointments at a great distance from their residence; for instance, to require a boy of 15 to leave his home and his friends in Ireland or Scotland and come to London to serve at a salary of 14s. a week. In such cases therefore the Commissioners are prepared to give weight to any representations which may be made to them similar to that which is contained in the letter of Mr. E. F., a copy of which is hereto appended. The only case which has yet arisen under the third of the heads above mentioned is one in which two boy clerks had to be supplied for temporary duty, not expected to be of long duration, in an office in Edinburgh. On that occasion the Commissioners so far departed from the natural order of selection as to choose the first two candidates who were resident in Edinburgh: and they would have thought it right, having regard to the temporary character of the employment, to follow the same course if the requisition had been for men clerks instead of for boys. Reverting now to the two particular cases to which your letter refers, the Commissioners find that there is nothing in the principles above set forth to prevent their complying with the request of the Commissioner of Valuation so far as concerns A. B. They are willing, on the grounds stated, that he should decline the employment offered to him in London; and as he will stand first on the list of boy clerks resident in Dublin, they will at once assign him to the Valuation Office on receiving a formal demand from that Department for a boy clerk. a C. D. is differently situated, as there will be other boy clerks above him on the list waiting for employment in Dublin. And though it is stated that he has some special knowledge of the business of the Department as regards "calculating areas of land, prices per acre, &c.," the Commissioners do not consider that this constitutes sufficient ground for giving him an appointment to the exclusion of those who have a prior claim. On the other hand, having been permitted on the same ground as A. B. to decline the appointment offered to him in London, he will be quite at liberty, so far as the Commissioners are concerned, to continue serving in the Valuation Office as boy writer until he is selected for service as boy clerk in Dublin; and if circumstances should hereafter enable the Commissioners, consistently with the principles of procedure described in this letter, to assign him to a boy clerkship in the same office, they will have pleasure in doing so. I am, &c. MILITARY EXAMINATIONS. The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Admiralty. SIR, January 10, 1876. I AM directed by the Civil Service Commissioners to acknowledge Qualifications the receipt of your letter of the 3rd inst. requesting them to furnish for commissions a certificate of competency for Mr. who has been nominated for a in the Royal direct commission in the Royal Marines in virtue of the examinations Marines. which he passed in July and December 1874, for admission to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. Before replying to it the Commissioners would be glad to be informed what meaning is to be attached to the words "qualified competitor" as used in the third line of the enclosed notice, i.e., whether they mean a candidate who has passed the "preliminary examination" prescribed by paragraph 11. of the Regulations respecting examinations for first appointments in the army, or a candidate who has passed the "qualifying examination" described in paragraph 22 of the Regulations. A copy of the Regulations is enclosed for convenience of reference.* ENCLOSURE. Extract from Notice above referred to. "His Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief is happy to have it in his power to announce that the Lords of the Admiralty have intimated that they will be prepared to offer to the qualified competitors in order of merit, at the Army Entrance Examination which is now in progress, a certain number of immediate commissions in the Corps of Royal Marines Light Infantry, the pay of which is the same as in the line." * The Secretary, Admiralty, to the Secretary, Civil Service Commission. In reply to your letter of the 10th inst., requesting a definition of the words "qualified competitor" as applied to the army candidates offered direct commissions in the Royal Marines, I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to inform you that they consider a "qualified competitor" to be one who has passed the qualifying examination described in paragraph 22 of the enclosed Regulations for First Appointments to the Army, and not one who has merely passed the preliminary examination referred to in paragraph 11.† * See p. 242. I am, &c. It has since been arranged that all qualified candidates, according to their position in order of merit on the list, in the competitions for admission to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, [or the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich,] shall be eligible for admission to the Royal Marine Light Infantry [or the Royal Marine Artillery]. See p. 589. |