Page:Civil Service Competitions.djvu/15

 This may give some idea of the ultimate positions to which the 190 survivors of about 800 contemporaneous occupants of the lowest places would arrive in the natural course of things; not taking into account a certain number of more elevated offices, for supplying the vacancies in which the most meritorious of the 190 might be selected.

I do not pretend that the foregoing figures give a very clear notion of the amount of inducement which might be held out to competitors. Perhaps the main facts upon this point are—that every year there will become vacant, in these three departments, about 300 situations of the immediate value of from £60. to £100. per annum, with the certainty of a slow gradual increase, and an ultimate prospect, in the London offices, of probably £300. a year, with a chance of succeeding, by selection of the most meritorious, to such of the "staff" offices as may become vacant.

It cannot perhaps be contended that to the whole of these situations one uniform plan of competition could be conveniently applied; neither is it necessary so to contend, as competitions can be easily arranged with variations in the details adapted to peculiar circumstances. It is sufficient, therefore, to say that nearly the whole of these 300 annual vacancies can be filled up by the successful candidates in some description of competitive examination.

Since the passing of the Resolution of the House of Commons a plan of limited competition has been adopted; applicable, however, exclusively to permanent clerkships, and usually confined as regards those to a contest between three persons (nominated by the Government) for one vacancy. This is undoubtedly an improvement upon the previous practice of single nomination; but it is easy to shew that in many respects this plan contrasts unfavourably with that of more open and general competitive examinations. In the first place, as the Reports of the Civil Service Commissioners prove that, on an average, one out of every three of the Candidates who come before them is