*In examinations which are not competitive the exercises in Languages are restricted to translation. Government Examinations. GOVERNMENT SITUATIONS ARE NOT IN THE GIFT OF HER MAJESTY'S CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS: -The functions of these Commissioners, as regards first appointments to the Civil Service, are never exercised until after a nomination has been made to some vacant situation. It has been imagined that the power of making appointments is now taken away from the Crown and its officers, and transferred to a body of examiners. This is not the fact. The conferring of certificates of eligibility is not patronage, but a judicial act. The examiners for honours at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, or London, have not the patronage of honours any more than the Lord Chancellor, when he decrees an estate to one person instead of another, has the patronage of the estate. THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURE OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF NOMINATING TO THE CIVIL SERVICE IS MERELY THAT APPOINTMENTS ARE NO LONGER BESTOWED BY THE INDEPENDENT EXERCISE OF UNRESTRICTED PATRONAGE, BUT ARE RECEIVED SUBJECT TO THE LIMITATIONS AND CONDITIONS SPECIFIED IN THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT FROM AN ORDER IN COUNCIL, DATED 21ST MAY, 1855:— "And it is hereby ordered, that all such young Men as may be proposed to be appointed to any Junior Situation in any Department of the Civil Service shall, before they are admitted to Probation, be examined by or under the Directions of the said Commissioners, and shall receive from them a Certificate of Qualification for such Situation. "And it shall be the duty of the Commissioners in respect of every such Candidate, before granting any such Certificate aforesaid, "1st. To ascertain that the Candidate is within the limits of Age prescribed for the Department to which he desires to be admitted; "2d. To ascertain that the Candidate is free from any physical Defect or Disease which would be likely to interfere with the proper Discharge of his Duties; "3d. To ascertain that the Character of the Candidate is such as to fit him for Public Employment; and, "4th. To ascertain that the Candidate possesses the requisite Knowledge and Ability for the proper Discharge of his official Duties." |