THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



to hold examinations, on certain days, in London, Edinburgh, 

 and Dublin ; and at least ten days before the day fixed (or at 

 such period as may be named in the advertisement), persons 

 desirous of becoming candidates must apply to the Civil Service 

 Commissioners, by letter, in their own handwriting, addressed 

 to the office, Cannon Row, Westminster, for permission to 

 attend the preliminary examination. A reply will be received, 

 containing instructions as to the time and place of examination, 

 fees, etc., and a paper which must be filled up, for the purpose 

 of satisfying the Commissioners that the applicants possess the 

 following qualifications for candidature : 



1. That they are natural-born subjects of Her Majesty. 



2. That they are not less than eighteen or more than twenty- 

 four years of age on the first day of the competitive examina- 

 tion. (For " Lower Division " examinations the limits of age are 

 seventeen and twenty. Members of the military and naval 

 services will be considered to have, on leaving their former 

 service, the same age as when they entered it.) 



3. That they possess good health and character. 



4. That they have not previously been selected candidates, 

 and declined to accept the situations offered them, or have been 

 actually employed in the Civil Service. 



Having established his right to compete, the candidate pays 

 a fee (of 1, if competing for a first-class appointment, or 10 s. 

 for the lower division), and attends the preliminary examina- 

 tion. This is only for the purpose of preventing the time of the 

 gentlemen who conduct the competitive examinations being 

 wasted on candidates quite unqualified to compete. This is a 

 reasonable precaution, to which none can object, and as the 

 subjects are limited to handwriting, orthography, elementary 

 arithmetic, and English composition, no person who has any 

 chance of succeeding when the real competition comes, is likely 

 to be excluded. This preliminary examination having weeded 

 out the entirely incompetent, the candidate must prepare him- 

 self for the next test of his ability. First he must decide 

 whether he will try for appointments included in Class I. or 

 Class II. Let us suppose that he enters for the higher prize ; 

 if so, he is called upon to pay a fee of .5, and having done so, 

 he must prepare himself for examination. It is possible, but 

 certainly not very probable, that he may attain the full number 

 of marks appended to each subject ; but he may comfort him- 

 self with the assurance that a number considerably under that 

 amount will be considered creditable, and unless he is associated 

 with wonderfully clever and well-informed competitors he will 

 probably pass. The marks obtained by each candidate are 

 added up, and those candidates (the number in accordance with 

 the appointments then vacant) who obtain the highest number 

 of marks are the selected candidates. 



The competitive examination will take place in the following 

 branches of knowledge : 



Marks. 



English Composition (including Precis-writing) . . . 500 

 History of England including that of the Laws and Con- 

 stitution 500 



English Language and Literature 500 



Language, Literature, and History of Greece . 750 



,, Romo . 750 



Trance . 375 



Germany . 375 



Italy . 375 



Mathematics (pure and mixed) , . 1,2,50 



Natural Science ; that is (1) Chemistry, including Heat ; (2) 

 Electricity and Magnetism ; (3) Geology and Mineralogy ; 



(4) Zoology ; (5) Botany 1,000 



** The total (1,000) marks may be obtained by adequate 

 proficiency in any two or more of the five branches of 

 science included under this head. 



Moral Sciences ; that is, Logic, Mental and Moral Philosophy 500 

 Jurisprudence ......... 500 



Political Economy 375 



None of these subjects is obligatory, and, indeed, proficiency in 

 all is scarcely to be expected. It will be better, therefore, that 

 the candidate should select those subjects with which he is best 

 acquainted, and not attempt too many. But he must at the 

 same time remember, that a certain number of marks must be 

 obtained before he can hope to succeed, and that those who can 

 acquit themselves creditably in the widest range of subjects 

 will probably achieve the highest total. The examination, 

 which extends over sixteen or seventeen days, is conducted by 

 printed questions, to which written answers must be given, and 



by verbal questions which the examiners may think fit to put, 

 to ascertain whether the candidate possesses a competent know- 

 ledge of the subject in hand, or has been merely "advanced" 

 for the occasion. It must be understood that, unless a great 

 acquaintance with the subject is exhibited, no marks will be 

 allowed. The candidate must trust entirely to his memory, as he 

 will not be permitted to refer to any book or memorandum, 

 and any attempt to do so, or to "look over" another can- 

 didate, would lead to his being immediately removed from the 

 list of candidates. 



The examination for appointments under Class II. is held 

 under precisely similar conditions, but the list of subjects is 

 adapted to persons less highly educated, and, as in the superior 

 grade, none of the subjects are obligatory. The fee for this 

 examination is 10s., in addition to the preliminary fee of 10s. 

 The following are the subjects : 



1. Handwriting. 



2. Orthography. 



3. Arithmetic. 



4. Copying MS. (to test accuracy). 



5. English Composition. 



6. Geography. 



7. Indexing or Docketing. 



8. Digesting Returns into Summaries. 



9. English History. 

 10. Book-keeping. 



As we have explained, the number of candidates selected 

 depends upon the number of appointments vacant. The 

 selected candidates will be entitled to choose, in the order of 

 their precedency, the particular departments and situations to 

 which they desire to be appointed, provided they are duly 

 qualified according to the special rules applicable to each 

 department, which are settled by the Civil Service Commis- 

 sioners and the chief authorities of the department, subject to 

 the approval of the Treasury. In case of a vacancy occurring 

 in a department for which no one on the list is in all respects 

 qualified, the Commissioners either hold a special open compe- 

 tition for the appointment, or offer it to the candidate highest 

 at the time on the list of selected candidates, subject to his 

 passing a qualifying examination within such, period as they 

 may determine, 



A few hints as to the preparation for these examinations may 

 be advantageous. It is well, if the expense can be afforded, to 

 employ " a coach," or a tutor whose special business it is to 

 educate candidates up to the mark of proficiency. A " coach " 

 knows the stock questions, and knows also the trick and style 

 of each particular class of examination ; and where cramming 

 is necessary, it is almost indispensable to employ such help. 

 But it is far from being essential. Any one who has thoroughly 

 mastered his subjects, whether by private study or tuition, has 

 no need to fear the most artfully-contrived questions. It is 

 quite competent to a diligent private student, working with 

 such material as the POPITLAB EDUCATOR furnishes and points 

 out to him, to qualify himself for an examination of one of the 

 better sort of offices in the Civil Service. In addition to test- 

 ing his power by such specimens of examination papers as we 

 have been enabled to provide, let him get as many of the 

 papers as possible, and make a habit of going right through 

 them, getting, if possible, some able friend to look over his 

 answers for him, and to set him right when in error. Examples 

 of the papers are contained in the Annual Reports of the Civil 

 Service Commissioners, which can be obtained at the office for 

 the sale of Parliamentary Papers, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's 

 Inn Fields. 



In dealing with the Government Offices for the purpose of 

 these articles, the intention is to group them according to their 

 standing,' as this method will, we think, be more useful and 

 instructive than the alternative mode of grouping according to 

 their alphabetical order. In each instance we state whether 

 appointments are obtained by open competition or nomination. 

 When the former is the case, the examinations of candidates 

 are conducted on the system we have just described. In the 

 case of nomination departments we append particulars of the 

 examinations required to be passed. 



Group I. includes the Treasury, the Home, Colonial, and 

 Foreign Offices. In each case the full establishment of clerks 

 is given (first-class and lower division), together with a list of 

 the various salaries. 



