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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1890. 



THE FUTURE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE 

 EXAMINA TIONS. 



THE importance of obtaining a satisfactory posi- 

 tion for future science candidates in these ex- 

 aminations is now very great. We have not only to 

 consider the need there is that the men selected should 

 represent every side of modern thought and culture, but 

 also to bear in mind the influence of such examina- 

 tions on the development of education at home. It is 

 unfortunately notorious that candidates offering science in 

 the examinations conducted by the Civil Service Com- 

 mission stand, as a rule, at a great disadvantage. The 

 marks allotted to science subjects have often been rela- 

 tively small, and even when outside pressure has secured 

 the allotment of a fair proportion of marks to science, the 

 methods adopted in conducting the examinations have 

 as has been pointed out in our columns and elsewhere, 

 frequently been such as to prevent good candidates from 

 actually obtaining an equitable proportion of them. 



Now as the Commissioners, year by year, deal with 

 thousands, we might say with tens of thousands, of candi- 

 dates of various types and ages ; and as their influence is 

 by no means confined to the actual candidates examined, 

 it is plain that we have in this organization a body whose 

 influence, for good or ill, on education in this country 

 is enormous. Therefore we regard it as most urgent that 

 those who are familiar with this question should press 

 the facts of the present case not only on the attention of 

 the Civil Service Commission, but also at the India Office 

 and on the notice of the public. We are happy to know, 

 indeed, that the subject is being energetically taken up by 

 a number of distinguished graduates of Cambridge. But 

 the forces on the other side are very strong, and past 

 experience of the action of the Commission has made it 

 plain that the representatives of science have a serious 

 task before them. 



In their Report for 1888, the Commissioners have been 

 at some pains to convince the public that their examina- 

 tions have had a minimum disturbing effect on the 

 ordinary course of education. For example, they show 

 that at several recent examinations for Class I. clerkships 

 in the home services, all, or nearly all, the successful 

 candidates have been men of University education. 

 The Commissioners should carry their investigations 

 somewhat deeper, and ascertain how far these selected 

 candidates represent all classes of University graduates. 

 We have done this so far as opportunity has permitted ; 

 and the results of our investigation in the case of the 

 Class I. clerkships (which alone we have at present 

 examined, as it only affects the present question) do not 

 bear out the contention of the Commissioners, but go to 

 show that the examinations concerned are very distinctly 

 calculated either to disturb the course of education or to 

 fail to select men representing all the chief types of 

 University culture. 



From our results, which are given below, it is easy to 



foresee what it is that is to be feared under the coming 



scheme. For in the competition for Class I. clerkships, 



the major limit of age, twenty-four, is not far removed from 



Vol. xli.— No. 1056. 



that about to be adopted for future Indian Civil servants 

 of the highest class. And in them, as we learn will be the 

 case in the future examinations for the Indian service, 

 no limit is placed on the number of subjects that may be 

 selected from those which are examined. 



We have before us the results of a number of these 

 competitions held during the last ten or eleven years, 

 and they show, as might have been expected from the 

 scheme of marks, that science men are practically ex- 

 cluded. We have ascertained as far as possible the 

 degrees taken by the successful candidates, and out of 

 thirty we find that twenty-two have taken their degrees 

 in classics, seven in mathematics, and one in natural 

 science ; whilst the marks of forty others, whose degrees 

 could not be ascertained, show a similar preponderance 

 of classical men. Now, when it is remembered that many 

 men take honours in science at Oxford, that the number 

 who do so at Cambridge is approaching that of those who 

 take classical honours, and that scholarships are now 

 given for science in considerable numbers at both Univer- 

 sities, it is plain that a scheme which is likely to produce 

 such results as those we have quoted ought on no account 

 to be adopted for the Indian Civil Service. Such a one- 

 sided system of selection is not fair to the various classes 

 of candidates, and it is not fair to the dependency which 

 they will be charged to administer. The plain fact is that 

 in the competition for the home services, the marks 

 assigned to classics, mathematics, and science respec- 

 tively are scarcely fair to mathematics, and very distinctly 

 unfair to science. These branches of learning have been 

 placed upon a far more equal footing at our Universities, 

 and science candidates may fairly claim more equal treat- 

 ment from the Commissioners in competitions such as 

 those which we are now considering. In the examinations 

 for first-class appointments in the home services, there 

 is the enormous difference of 375 marks against science, 

 out of 1250 in the effective mark values of classics and 

 science. On a recent occasion the difference between 

 the highest and lowest on the list of successful candidates 

 was no more than 158, and although this is indeed a very 

 exceptional case, it shows how enormous the effect of 

 such a difference may be when the candidates are at all 

 evenly matched. 



Such a boycotting of the men of scientific training is 

 deplorable enough in the selecting of men for the home 

 services, but in the case of the future administrators of 

 our Indian dependency it would be far more unfortunate. 

 There, if anywhere, men of every type should play their 

 part in the national work. The Cambridge men of science 

 are doing their best to avert the catastrophe that we fear. 

 We hope they will be supported promptly, universally, 

 and energetically by their scientific brethren, both great 

 and small. 



THE SHAN STATES. 

 A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States. 

 By Holt S. Hallett. (London and Edinburgh : William 

 Blackwood and Sons, 1889.) 



MR. HALLETT'S journeys in Burmah, Siam, and 

 the Shan States, in search of the best path to 

 connect Burmah with China and Siam, were performed 

 partly by boat, and partly on the back of elephants. 



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