272 



CIVIL SERVICE 



it was arranged in 1861, on the recommendation of 

 a select committee of the House of Commons, 

 that persons nominated to clerkships in the gift 

 of the Treasury should first be subjected to a 

 test examination of an elementary character, 

 and that those who passed this test should after- 

 wards compete in the proportion of three can- 

 didates to a vacancy. In 1870 the plan was 

 superseded, as far as regards these clerkships, by 

 open competition. Limited competitions have, 

 however, continued for various situations in respect 

 of which the heads of departments retain the right 

 of nomination. It was not until some years after 

 -the promulgation of the order of 21st May 1855 

 that the experiment of entirely open competition 

 was tried. The first absolutely open competition 

 occurred in 1859, when, at the instance of the then 

 Secretary of State for India (Lord Derby), 339 

 candidates, having offered themselves in answer to 

 public advertisement, were examined for eight 

 writerships in the India Office. The advantages of 

 open competition were formally recognised by a 

 resolution of the House of Commons on 24th April 

 1856, as well as by a select committee of that 

 House which sat in 1860. 



The general application of the principle of open 

 competition to the home civil service dates from 

 the order in council of 4th June 1870, which laid 

 it down as to certain specified departments com- 

 prising the bulk of the service that open compe- 

 tition for clerkships and similar situations, instead 

 of being, as before, permissible at the discretion 

 of the heads of departments, should thenceforth 

 be the rule, unless expressly excluded. From 

 that date to the present time the field of open 

 competition has been continually extending, and 

 it now includes several departments which, though 

 not necessarily subject to the rule, have thought 

 fit voluntarily to accept it. From May 1855 to 

 June 1870 the number of competitors was 1594 

 for 37 appointments ; and from June 1870 to 

 December 1885 there were 108,400 competitors for 

 14,717 appointments. Persons seeking appoint- 

 ments in the civil service which are open to com- 

 petition must pass either ( 1 ) a special examination 

 arranged to suit the class of appointment ; ( 2 ) the 

 Class 1 examination, which is generally known as 

 the Higher Division ; or ( 3 ) the Lower Division 

 examination. From 1870 to 1876 appointments to 

 the clerical staff were, except in a few special 

 cases, divided as regards examination into Class 1 

 and Class 2, the former of which still continues. 

 The latter was, however, superseded after the 

 report of a Royal Commission over which Sir Lyon 

 Play fair presided, by the examination for the Lower 

 Division of the service which was constituted by 

 order in council of 12th February 1876. This 

 order provided that no department throughout 

 Her Majesty's civil service shall be permanently 

 increased or regulated afresh without providing for 

 the introduction of a system whereby such of its 

 duties as are of a suitable character shall be per- 

 formed by members of the Lower Division. The 

 intention of this was to reduce the cost of the 

 clerical staff in the various departments. After the 

 system had been in force a few years it gave rise 

 to much agitation among the clerks, and eventu- 

 ally a Royal Commission was appointed in 1886 to 

 inquire into the whole administration of the ser- 

 vice. In September 1888 the Commission presented 

 its report on the working of the Playfair scheme, 

 and on the scales and regulations under which 

 pensions are granted. It recommended that the 

 service should be divided into ' First Division ' and 

 ' Second Division ' to take the place of the Upper 

 and Lower Divisions of the Playfair system ; the 

 salaries of the ' First Division ' to begin at 200 and 

 to rise to 1000 a year, and those of the 'Second 



Division ' to begin at 70 and to rise to 350 a year. 

 The entire civil service was to be placed on these 

 scales so as to secure uniformity and to facilitate 

 transfers from one department to a.nother. The 

 Commissioners recommended a revision of the 

 pension system with a view of compelling civil 

 servants to make some contribution towards their 

 pensions, and they suggested a deduction of 5 per 

 cent, from salaries for this purpose. These recom- 

 mendations of the Commission have never been 

 fully carried out, and on this account there has 

 repeatedly been much agitating on the part of 

 the civil servants about their 'grievance.' 



At the census of 1891 there were 76,361 persons 

 in the civil service, of whom 40,106 were officers 

 and clerks, and 36,255 office-keepers, messengers, 

 porters, and letter-carriers. Of the total 67,026 

 were males and 9335 were females. Appointments in 

 the civil service as a rule are held for life, and 

 confer the right to a pension. The pension system 

 was instituted by the Superannuation Act, 1859, 

 which provides that the superannuation allowance 

 to be granted to persons who shall have served 

 in an established capacity in the permanent civil 

 service of the state, whether their remuneration 

 be computed by day pay, weekly wages, or annual 

 salary, and for whom provision shall not otherwise 

 have been made by act of parliament, or who may 

 not be specially excepted by the authority of 

 parliament, shall be as follows : To any person who 

 shall have served ten years and upwards and under 

 eleven, an annual allowance of ten-sixtieths of the 

 annual salary and emoluments of his office ; for 

 eleven years and under twelve years, an annual 

 allowance of eleven-sixtieths of such salary and 

 emoluments ; and, in like manner, a further ad- 

 dition to the annual allowance of one-sixtieth in 

 respect of each additional year of such service until 

 the completion of a period of service of forty years, 

 when the annual allowance of forty -sixtieths may 

 be granted, and no addition shall be made in 

 respect of any service beyond forty years. Special 

 allowances are made in cases of the abolition of 

 office, and these are entirely in the discretion of 

 the Commissioners of the Treasuiy. By the Pen- 

 sions Commutation Act, 1871, pensions may be 

 commuted by persons entitled to them according to 

 a scale which has been fixed by government. 



In the public accounts of Great Britain the Civil 

 Service Estimates fall under the heads of : ( 1 ) 

 Public Works and Buildings; (2) Salaries and 

 Expenses of Civil Departments ; ( 3 ) Law and 

 Justice; (4) Education, Science and Art; (5) 

 Foreign and Colonial Services; (6) Non-effective 

 and Charitable Services ; ( 7 ) Miscellaneous. For 

 the public accounts, see GREAT BRITAIN ; and for 

 the Indian Civil Service, see INDIA. 



CIVIL SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. In 

 January 1883 Congress passed a law to prevent the 

 abuse of the appointing power of the officers of 

 government. The President was authorised to 

 appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, 

 three Civil Service Commissioners, whose duty is 

 to aid the President in preparing suitable rules 

 which shall provide for open competitive examina- 

 tions for testing the fitness of applicants for the 

 public service, such examinations to be practical in 

 their character, and so far as may be relating to 

 those matters which will fairly test the relative 

 capacity and fitness of the persons examined to 

 discharge the duties of the service. All the olfices, 

 places, and employments arranged in classes or 

 grades are to be filled by selections according to 

 grade from among those graded highest as the 

 results of such competitive examinations. The 

 appointments to the public service in the depart- 

 ments at Washington are to be proportioned upon 

 the basis of population to the several states and 



