THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[March 



influence, which if universally known 

 among us by the name of jobbing, and which under 

 _ prtMQt vicio«t arrangement* seems to be inevit- 

 able. Theee gentlemen avow that the public service 

 eoffen both in internal efficiency and in public 

 estimation from the existing system of admission by 

 favour, and they do not hesitate to ascribe to it the 

 complaint* tha' are mide of "official delays, 

 official evasions of difficulty and official indisposi- 

 tion to improvement." How far this opinion is 

 mpported by facts known to m& men we need not 



•ay 



Stafford Northcote will really answer the end 

 proposed. Upon this some differences of opinion 

 are certain to be entertained. 



Of what is the proposed examination to consist ? 



; in all cases a competing literary 

 and this is elsewhere explained to 



of acquirements in 



range 



anstocra 



once put down 



honourable rivalry with the democracy S 1 ?* 

 former fairly won, the latter would no Ion *» 

 plain. Q 8**e<% 



It is to be 



examination," 



signify an extensive 



history, jurisprudence, political economy, modern 

 languages, political and physical geography, and 

 other matters, besides the staple of classics and j for 

 mathematics:— rather a tough affair for a gentle- u ~ 



We see 





with amazement that a min^ ^ 

 tion of the newspaper press is protesting ^ 

 men being dismissed for inefficiency, and cr ^** 

 upon the hardship which individuals musf^fL 



have no 



po 

 Those 



who 



P 

 write 



thus 



can 



the reform of the Civil 



real 



W* 



„ The Woods and Forest* afford as much evidence man aspiring to become a clerk with such miser- 



as to the truth of the allegation as any reasonable able pay as the Civil Service offers to the mass 



and Sir Jamf Stephen, who of its officers. The examination is, however, to be 



in the Colonial modified to suit the exigencies of special depart- 



«» 



can require 

 was so long in a high position 

 Office, entirely confirms the statement 

 that when he quitted office seven yeai 

 the gentlemen employed under him * 

 clearly dUtinguishable into three classes . 



ftr4, a wrv small minority j Ike neond being 



He declares ments. We own that we agree with those who 



ago, think such a system not likely to work satisfactorily, 

 were What we want in our public offices are well-educated, 

 the active, intelligent men of business, and it is ques- 

 tionable whether success in any competing literary 



Service, 

 however, who like ourselves represent the pa 

 interest, will listen with little sympathy t Li 

 appeals, and deny that any one would be 2 

 unjustly if deprived of duties which he cannot S 

 and tor not doing which he has already been a lW 

 to plunder the public purse. It is because 

 dismissals are so rare that official incompet 

 so common. TTr ' " 



officii 



more numerow 



$Mmd ,. the number of the others united. 



than the first; an* the third examination will secure such a class. We should say it would not be possible for 



1 Of the contr irv. Let us take the case of a man who has 

 these the first were men of the greatest ability and^^iined the highest honours at an University ; he I a paragraph as the following: 



energy, the second were meritorious, while the third " -*»••• . .** * ^ --i 



was *' made up of persons of whose official characters 

 nothing but the oblation which you have imposed 

 opon me would induce me to speak at all." These 

 last were "without exception, men who had been 

 appointed to gratify the political, the domestic, or 

 th* personal feeling of their patrons; that is, of 

 successive Secretaries of State When we are told 



fcy men of such standing as r Charlks Trevelyan 

 Br StArToai' North t*, Sir James Stephen, and 

 others, that the Civil Service of the country is in 

 such hand*, it ii impossible not to feel that honour 

 able exceptions, however numerous, can have little 

 effect upon a body of between 50,000 and 60,000 

 persons, and we see at once the h lory of our 

 Dangling blundering Civil Service in the Crimea 



It is right to say that Mr. QltOBOK Arbitii^ot, also 

 a high civil officer, does not admit the existence 



of such a state of thini and without nr h regard 

 to official courtesy _ives it a flat denial. But it will 

 be seen by readers of the 



would doubtless stand high in the proposed official 

 examination ; but it by no means follows that he ford Northcote, 

 would make a good public officer. He might want 

 method, good business habits, knowledge of the 

 world, and a practical acquaintance with the subjects 

 with which he would have to deal officially. Place 

 8uchaman in a situation commensurate with the 

 literary attainments he shall be found to possess, 

 and the chances are that he will break down. 

 Examples of officers of state, and high officials, pos- 

 sessing, no doubt, far more literature than any board 

 of examiners could require, being totally unfit to 

 conduct the business of a public department, are un- 

 fortunately too recent as well as flagrant to leave 

 any doubt upon the point. Such men fail, not for 

 want of literary attainments, but because they want 

 clear heads, business habits, and a knowledge of 

 common things, as well as the decision, firmness, 



Papers 



and moral courage necessary to render the other 



3«ialities effective. Nelson would have broken 

 . _ own in the presence of a literary examination, 



«pon which he has ventured to make a stand is and yet what a war minister would he have made ! 

 shown by poniuve evidence to be untenable, and Or if we look at what is, instead of what might have 

 that the assertions of the I .vernment Court of been, we shall find some of the very best of our 



inquiry if it may be so called, remain unshaken, civil officers by no means distinguished for literary i Forests. The ex-Chancellor of the Exchkc. 

 This will surprise no one who recollects that it was attainments. Or let us take the case of a deputy- 



lloyal forest 



We engage to say that as Cfi! 

 increase the latter will diminish, but in an acceb! 

 rated ratio. Under circumstances thus altered* 



an y ^ture bod 



of inquiry to introduce into their report sod 



" We have befott 

 us." say Sir Charles Trevelyan and Sir Staf- 



the testimony of an eminat 

 public officer who was for many years connected 

 with one of the chief departments of the State. 

 He writes thus: — During my long acquaint: 



with the ■ office I remember four, and only fat 



instances of young men being introduced to it on tie 

 ground of well ascertained fitness. I do not venta* 

 to mention any names, but I confidently affirm tt 

 the superiority of those four gentlemen to alltk 

 rest was such as to extort the acknowledgment of I 

 from their rivals, and to win the high applause of 

 each successive Secretary of State." After such a* 

 avowal who can wonder at the calamities that ha 

 of late befallen us, or expect them to be averted 

 the future until jobbing is crushed, and the who 

 race of worthless nominees returned upon thehani 

 of their patrons as discarded public servants ? 



Last Tuesday Sir John Shklley brought on in 

 the House of Commons his motion for a select cot 

 mittee to inquire into the grounds upon which fa 

 Right Hon. T. F. Kennedy was dismissed fromki 

 office of Commissioner of H„ M. Woods aw 



tliis very Mr. Arbuthnot who maintained before Mr. surveyor in a 



DarwMOND's Committee, that .he saw nothing wrong Creek and Latin stand him in any stead ? 



m the management of the Woodfl and Forests, and 

 who from anger dropped to pathos when he adverte 

 to the facility with which any public department 

 b ,ht be run down ; another opinion from which 

 we presume to differ :— the truth beim; that 

 public department can be t$ 



would proficiency in 



He 



from whom the dismissal came, defended his act » 

 a speech, the precise meaniug of which we fail te 

 discover, and in which the statements of mo* 

 public interest were two ■ — the first that I 



being 

 down" 



can be "'run down" until 

 Us mismanagement becomes utterly indefensible. 

 The Times has plainly declared, as the result of its 

 •wa experience, that — 



"The officials of our public establishments seem 

 to think not only that they may do wrong, but that 

 *. is an unwarrantable presumption in any one to 

 »t them right. The same spirit has been visible 

 through the whole period of the war, nor is there, 

 we believe, a single one of the examples of mis- 

 management, now flagrant and confirmed, which 

 was not denied or disputed as long as dispute was 

 possible. 1 



In order to meet difficulties of so great a magni- 

 tude, it is proposed that no person whatever shall 



a 



would not learn either the art or science of forestry 



from the Georgics or the Geoponic writers ; though Mr. Gladstone, was the only person responsible to 



he might from English, French, and German books, LX " rT "* A1 ~ A * ^' " l ^"' 



the very names of which would be to a board of 

 examiners unknown. 



Possibly such a modification as is suggested by 

 the Chairman of Inland Revenue might meet these 

 objections ; indeed, it is evident that without some I 

 such change as Mr. Wood suggests, the system of i 

 examination would lead to no" useful result ; for if 

 it killed the inefficiency which comes of patronage, 

 it might revive inefficiency by erroneous education. 



We think that the head of each department should 

 have absolute control over the appointment, disci- 

 pline, promotion, and dismissal of the persons em- 

 ployed under it, subject to certain rules of universal 

 application, exactly as is" the case in a great public 

 company. The head of the department should settle 



ample manner 

 tation had been ever made. 



the House for the management of the Crown esta 

 and the second that " not one word or syllable bad 

 ever been said by members of the Governim 

 which Mr. Kennedy could imagine to touch to 

 honour, his veracity, or his integrity." Mr. Wilson 

 also disavowed, on the part of the Government, 

 the most ample manner'* that any such imps- 



And yet unless on: 



memory deceives us strangely, the ground oft* 

 Right Hon. gentleman's dismissal was declared 

 to be that a Treasury tribunal had repor 

 unfavourably upon a question, relating to W- 

 Brown and Mr. Kennedy, in which, as the Treasury 

 then asserted, were involved the veracity, honotnj 

 and character of the parses.* Upon this mode 

 meeting complaints comment is superfluous. 

 r The temper of the House was, however, so 





the kind of examination and" probation which its - — *~- - •— .««— ~— , - 



1a admittAti hl^f^ * ♦ Tu r 7t^"i «T"~ T*" P ecallar nature may require; and a general board vious ly hostile to Mr. Gladstone, and speeches b 



£rh^ he C ^. S Y- VlCe0nI f S 2f« M ^w*ou^ L ° rd Stanley, Mr. Malins and others toldrith** 



have pawed certain examinations, and a d,dates in the subjects prescribed bv the head of Se 



To this principle there i department, and in no other. 



period of official probation. 



IS 





.Lrfviu oiainley, ivir. jualins anu oineia wi» "" ... 



force upon the act of dismissal, that a Commit** 

 would have been inevitable had not Lord Pal* 1 ** 



is not influence that reasonable men object to 



provided they are honestly exercised. In a countn? 



like this wealth, political power, or high rank 



trust, always have their legitimate 



mA - " l*° n} y when the y are executed im- 

 pwpjrly that hey require to be checked. The 



vount 22. n °L ° bjeC V t0 Mn Pra «^ an idle 



SKiST?* ^^ he is P lacel in office h r th * 



imkeof Hwwokd; the objection is taken to his 



tne appointment would have been none 



will, \ 

 weight 



unfitness 



ifc<* Kai***. i. jSr--«i*"WM wuum wrive oeen none 



wL £ ad he been the nominee of a tailor 

 Why have we ohi<*t«l ♦- »fc* «— :..* '. , 



claim in 

 I — — nt h any other department; and its per- 

 manent chief should be the only officer with power 

 even to settle the line of examination to which 

 candidates for appointments in the Treasury should 

 be subject. The permanent head of a department 

 knows what is required ; he should be made heavily 

 responsible for the good working of his office ; and 

 if he were able to promote good men, remove bad 

 ; ones and settle what qualifications his rank and file 

 should possess he would, we think, soon take 

 [great a pride in the excellence of 



ston come to the rescue, and undertaken thattb^ 

 should be placed on the records of the Treasury 



full acknowledgment that Mr. Kennedy 

 unimpeached. And so the matter ended. 



stood & 



Forest offic 



objected to the appointments of 

 * Certainly not because their places 



as a good Lieut.-Colonel does in the 

 of his regiment. 



his 



as 



office 



discipline 

 . I he system would require to 



be surrounded by certain precautions, no doubt 



member* of P,rHam^ 1^^ th^C A "^ wh + ° u have th * conspicuous talent shown in 

 wholly ignorant of the duties they h^ to piflrm £3 would T*" ^^ W t0 the P~* 

 A sufficient previous examination 'would h^I n™" 2£\2SJ \ aVe no ,^ ffi ^lty in guardi 



New Plants. , fc 



116. Thyrsacanthus barlerioides, Nees aOMtM' : 

 DCTProdr. xi. 323. Planchon in Van &***' 

 des Sevres , t. 086. 



Why this is called Barleriadike we are unable ; t0 jj 

 prehend, unless upon the principle of lvwan<n l **rL 

 It is a broad- leaved Brazilian shrub, with a close W^ 

 of long, slender, deep crimson flowers, which are , 

 handsome. Dr. Planchon says it has the apP ear 7^,i 

 a herbaceous plant, scarcely woody at the base w * 



nute of March 31, 1^ 



suryiss »« h >-«* -4 Earir, „a 



Tented sachreckle^^nfi #^ iaS^' flr,te ? 1 - "K" nrt al — • 



Previous examinat D and probation'are Bound in 



scandalous appointments, and obtain fair 

 against their recurrence. 





w ng the 



We .should have an end to 



- security 

 the clamour which has 



are not very fairly called 

 influences, by which is really 7 meant 



pn f npv : rt i x i r * / ii J. , **-«ny mean i ^ ^*^"« ^ lUI * * ¥ILSUNauen, i ,reu l 



emary joDDing of all kinds, would bp nf as:;erho " - but we are unable to discorc 



3 vuiu ue at. proposed to effect this desirable object. 



* The words $f the Treasury minute of March ^'"jT W 

 these:— "In the case, however, of the controversy " u && 

 arisen between Mr. Higoinbothom and Mr. Bbo w ., ^ 

 between the former gentleman and Mr. Kennedy on 0f 



of Mr. Krowx's reports on Alice Holt and Woolrner i f ^ yr 

 questions at issue are reduced to matters of simy **&** 

 which, from the spirit in which the discussion dm 

 ducted, have assumed a character involving the veracur. Tfe ^jf 

 and honour of the parties." if there is *ny meaning ^ lf v 

 minutf-s we have here an assertion that the ver , aclt ^n THO*? 

 Kennedy, as well as of Messrs. Brown and Hico" $p* 

 all were parties to the controversy, are involved . ^^ 

 what Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Wilson assured < imt t\n^ 

 Commons wag never said ! ! ! We observe in the i'J ; |aCtsfl djJ 

 m the evening Mr. Wn m attempted to reconcile ta« g jt <v 

 asiertion ; but we are unable to discover by what p 





