348 THEORY AND ADMINISTRATION 



and may be trusted not to betray or misuse whatever knowledge of 

 confidential matters he may obtain. 



All the examinations are conducted by a body called C. S. G., 

 under regulations regarding subjects and marks for excellence 

 approved by the Treasury and published. Complaints are some- 

 times made that an examination in literary and scientific subjects 

 does not prove a man's fitness for practical life, and least of all for 

 the work to which in India a youth of twenty-six may be set, of 

 governing hundreds of thousands of people. But the answer is that 

 neither does a system of political patronage secure fitness in point of 

 character, while it offers far less security for intellectual competence. 

 Accordingly, the competitive system has taken root and is not likely 

 to be abandoned. It satisfies the popular desire for equality, and it 

 has raised the level of ability without lowering the level of integrity 

 in the civil service. The officers employed by local authorities (such 

 as city and county councils) are usually also permanent, i. e., are 

 not removed except for misconduct or inefficiency. No executive 

 officer is elected by the people. 



The British civil service is broadly divided, omitting some minor 

 details, into two sets of officials, who correspond, roughly speak- 

 ing, to that distinction which holds its ground in England between 

 those who are and who are not what is conventionally called " gen- 

 tlemen." The second division clerks have duties of a more mechan- 

 ical and less responsible kind, which needs a less complete education, 

 and they receive salaries of from 70 ($350) to 300 ($1500) a year, 

 a very few going as high as 500 ($2500). There are about three 

 thousand in all, and the competition is keen and copious. The first 

 division, higher class, or men who have received a high education, 

 usually at a University, have salaries which, beginning at 200 

 ($1000), rise in the first class of this division to 1000 ($5000) by 

 gradual increment. Some few of the great posts have a salary of 

 1500 ($7500) or even 2000 ($10,000). In the Indian colonial 

 service the salaries are generally higher and the length of service 

 does not exceed, except in very special cases, twenty-five years, after 

 which the official can retire at 1000 ($5000) a year pension. 



Promotion in the lower grades of both divisions is by seniority, 

 but for important posts this is disregarded, and men may rise by 

 merit. Where exceptional ability is shown, a person may be raised 

 from the second into the first division. 



Those who have had experience in the working of an office gener- 

 ally wish that they had a freer hand in promotion than our system 

 allows. They would like not only to secure quicker advancement 

 to capable men, but also more frequently to bring in from outside 

 men of exceptional talent, and to be able to offer them exceptional 

 salaries. I have already indicated the dangers incident to the giv- 



