frequent lectures on scientific subjects were given by experts.

Turning now towards the Lines, famous in “Pickwick,” we found that during the fourteen years we had been at Sheerness, New Brompton had become a large town; that a new Church-St. Mark's-had been erected; and that the place continued to grow with the increase of the number of men employed in the Dockyard. Returning again towards the Dockyard, we passed, in the avenue leading from Old Brompton, the site of a new Institute for Soldiers (after the Aldershot model), then shortly to be opened by Miss Daniels.* Another Soldiers' Institute-the "Buckley," a fine building erected, we were told, by public subscription (chiefly at the instance of Major Buckley) at a cost of £3,500, and opened in 1872-stood on the high bank opposite the Marine Barracks. (It is interesting, by the way, to notice that the insignia or badge of the Royal Marines, handsomely sculptured on the gates of the Marine Barracks, are said to have been the work of a convict.†) We could see, then,

We have already referred (p. 306) to the good work begun at Aldershot by Mrs. Daniels in 1863 in the establishment of a Soldiers' Home and Institute at that centre of military life. The foundation of branch homes of a similar character at the principal home stations of the British Army was long meditated by that lady and her daughter, but they were unable to carry out their desire. After some years of labour at Aldershot, Mrs. Daniels died, and her daughter, carrying on the work, endeavoured in 1871 to begin the establishment of branch homes by erecting one at Chatham as a memorial to her mother. But it was most difficult to meet with a suitable site, and the sum required for the building was large, and this led to delay. It was not till after Weedon, Colchester, Manchester, and Plymouth had been served that Chatham could be dealt with. By the aid of the Rev. Daniel (now Canon) Cooke, Incumbent of Brompton, all was at last arranged, and in September, 1875, the building was commenced. It was opened on the 10th June, 1876.

It should be observed that Miss Robinson (who had previously organized and brought to a successful issue the National Temperance League's novel experiment of establishing refreshment and recreation tents in the camp during the autumn manœuvres) had meanwhile been engaged in establishing a similar Institute and Lecture-hall at Portsmouth, together with a dormitory and kitchen for the accommodation of soldiers' families embarking or disembarking, whose condition at such times was often most pitiable.

It is yet more interesting to learn that a handsome model of Chatham Dockyard, executed by two of the convicts of St. Mary's Convict Prison, was sent to the International Exhibition. The model is said to be one of the most perfect works of the kind ever executed; and in addition to every portion of the old Dockyard, the whole of the Extension works, with the docks, basins, wharves, factories, workshops, etc., are shown to the minutest details. The execution of the model occupied the two convicts employed on it between two and three years to complete.

from this glance around that neither Chatham nor Rochester had been standing still during our residence at Sheerness.

Sunday in Chatham was much such a day as it used to be. The Dockyard Chapel was attended by the Officers of the Yard and their families who belonged to the National Church, as well as (in the morning) by the sailors of H.M.'s ships in harbour and the Royal Marines, who, led by their fine band, were followed to the gates as of yore by the idling crowds; sailors and soldiers of other denominations were marched to their respective places of worship; the Cathedral, Churches, and Chapels were, of course, all open, and appeared to be well frequented; Sunday-schools (including the Ragged School, with which I again became associated) appeared to be well sustained; and the public-houses were thronged in the evenings by men of both Services.

Hopes had for years been entertained that some other relics of the Franklin Expedition might be found; and in 1874 an Arctic Committee had been appointed by the Royal Society to consider the propriety of recommending to the Government the fitting out of another Search Expedition; and the opinion arrived at was so favourable that the Admiralty were induced, on the representation of that Society, to appoint a Naval Committee to review the subject. The result was the fitting out of an Expedition this year, to the command of which Captain Nares was appointed, who was accordingly recalled, as we have seen, from the Challenger, and sailed with the Alert and the Discovery on the 1st June in the hope of reaching the North Pole.*

It having been decided that the Prince of Wales was to visit India, H.M.S. Serapis was selected to convey His Royal Highness thither. The circumstance is only mentioned here in connection with our Fleet. A magnificent ship, magnificently fitted and superbly decorated, she was to the millions of India a well-chosen representative of our glorious Navy, and of the power and resources of that nation whose

* Vide "The Shores of the Polar Sea a Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875-76." By Dr. Edward L. Moss, H.M.S. Alert. Imperial Folio. Price five guineas, with sixteen large chromo-lithographs and numerous engravings, from drawings made on the spot by the author.

Sovereign the Prince would himself represent, and to whose throne the Prince himself was heir.

By new Dockyard Regulations of this year it was directed that all Principal Officers and Clerks were to be superannuated on attaining the age of 70 as a maximum.* Of course only such of these gentlemen as had entered the Service before the passing of the Superannuation Act of 1859 were affected by the Order, as all Civil Servants who entered after the passing of that Act were obliged to retire at 60, or at the latest 65.

The same year which gave the Alexandra to the Navy deprived it of the Vanguard, a fine ironclad of 6,034 tons, constructed in 1870. While cruising with the Reserve Squadron off the coast of Wicklow on the 1st September, in a thick fog on a moonless night, she was rammed by the Iron Duke, which struck her four feet below the armourplates on the port quarter abreast the engine-room. Most happily, the wonderful discipline maintained availed to save every life; but half a million of money may be said to have gone down with her.

The Goliath, training-ship, was burnt on the 24th December, a Christmas Eve which will be remembered by all on board!

Ten ships were broken up at Chatham in 1875-the Ocean, Fearless, Dreadnought, Handy, Latona, Drake, Ajax, Royalist, Phaeton, and Columbine. The Cossack was sold out of the service. Some of these names will be full of meaning to those familiar with the Navy.

This was a repetition of an Order of the 1st September, 1858, by which Dockyard officers and workmen were to be superannuated at 70, and previous to which no definite rule of age was laid down (see p. 28) for retirement.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

CIVIL SERVICE, FURTHER PROGRESS.

THE "CHALLENGER" EXPEDITION-FREE LIBRARY AND OTHER POPULAR MOVEMENTS.—THE "INFLEXIBLE" AND "TEMERAIRE."

TH

HE condition and prospects of the Civil Service were of growing interest to the nation, for as education advanced it was looked forward to as a profession for their children by tens of thousands of our countrymen. The Royal Commission appointed in 1874 to consider and report on the condition and possibilities of improving the Civil Service continued its sittings till February, 1876, when an Order in Council was published bringing into operation the scheme which we have already seen they proposed in their First Report. By this scheme the Clerks of the future were to be formed into two divisions, Higher and Lower, the Commissioners regarding such division as the very key of improvement. The Candidates for the Higher Division, which would be open to all persons above seventeen years of age, would be required (besides a medical survey, which would be in all cases necessary) to pass a Preliminary Test Examination, and subsequently a Competitive Examination of a high standard; and the appointees would be selected from among the most successful competitors, and would, after mastering, during a year's probation, the elementary and routine, be employed in the superior and responsible duties, of their several Departments. Their Salaries would be such as, together with the distinction of being Government servants, the assurance of permanent engagement, and the prospect of retiring pensions, would, it was hoped, induce men of liberal education from the

Universities, etc., to compete for these appointments. Commencing at £100 per annum, and rising by triennial increments within twenty-four years to £400, they would have Duty Pay for Special Services amounting to £50, £100, or £200, and would be eligible for Staff Appointments. The Lower Division would be open to young men of from seventeen to twenty years of age, whose Examination, though competitive, would be of a moderate standard; passing which, they would be placed on a List of Candidates eligible for any vacancy, though they would have no claim to an appointment, but, being selected,* would be appointed as a rule in the order of merit indicated by the result of such Examination, would be required to serve a year on probation, and would receive suitable salaries. Commencing at £80 a year, they would rise by triennial increments (in the same manner and on the same conditions as the Higher Division) to £200; with Duty Pay, in a few cases in each office, to those of special aptitude, not exceeding £100 per annum; and the possibility of promotion to the Higher Division, though this was not to be regarded as a matter of course, and would, indeed, be of rare occurrence. They would be employed in the subordinate and routine work of the several offices, and no Department of the Civil Service would be permanently increased or regulated afresh without providing that such of its duties as were of a suitable character should be performed by members of the Lower Division. Of this Lower Division the existing Civil Service Writers were to form the nucleus, and to take over the duties till then performed by that class. All Writers who had entered the Service under the age of thirty, and had served not less than three years, were eligible for promotion to the Lower Division on passing an Examination. The Lower Division, however, was to be mainly recruited from "the open market." It was also to include a class of Boy Clerks, to be admitted by a Competitive Examination of a very simple character at from fifteen to seventeen years of

The candidate would be liable to serve whenever required, but would be free to reject any appointment offered him and wait for a more satisfactory one; but on reaching the age of twenty-five he would be removed from the List.