VOL. I.-No. 1.] A AUGUST, 1882. ENTRANCE INTO THE CIVIL SERVICE. MONG the various callings or occupations in life, few are to be compared to employment in the Civil Service. When an intelligent youth enters the service of the State he is, humanly speaking, provided for during the remainder of his natural life; and though his salary at first may be small, yet it grows from year to year as his requirements grow, until at length it becomes a respectable provision for his family. Finally, when he has reached the age that suggests retirement, the State has provided a well-arranged pension scheme as a provision for the rest of his life. Though at first his salary as a junior clerk may appear too small, say £80 a year, yet in many instances the work is simple routine, the holidays and vacations long, and the association with educated companions agreeable. Many will say this is a roseate view of the case: we do not think so. When you compare the laborious hours of most City clerks with the stereotyped six hours of the Civil Service, it is greatly to the advantage of the latter. Nevertheless, if a young man have a few thousand pounds capital, he may afford to disregard the Civil Service, and take his place in a City firm, where, though the work may be severe and even badly paid for some years, talent and industry in the end must prevail. The longer an intellient clerk is in a City firm the more indispensable his services become, until finally he is taken in as a partner by the house. In this way most City firms are recruited. The practice of taking in younger men from time to time as partners is an admirable one, calculated to keep up healthy and vigorous It stimulates the youngest action in a concern. assistant, and early inspires him with a laudable All our young men cannot join City ambition. firms, however, and, moreover, few of them have got a couple of thousand pounds capital in immediate expectancy. For the great majority of our youths, then, the Civil Service is the most desirable field to look forward to. For this large class THE COMPETITOR will be a very valuable assistance, in enabling them to become successful candidates, [PRICE SIXPENCE. and in diffasing among them useful and accurate information on the subject. In this introductory chapter we shall merely enumerate the various modes of entering the service, and in our future issues we shall go into the particular offices more in detail. Roughly speaking, the Civil Service may be entered as a BOY CLERK. Candidates for Boy clerkships must be between the ages of 15 and 17. The examinations for these appointments are held from time to time in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh. Again, candidates between the ages of 17 and 20 may enter as MEN CLERKS, or what is known as LowER DIVISION CLERKS. Examinations are held for these appointments about three times a year in London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Cork, Belfast, and Bristol. Or again, you may enter Her Majesty's service as a superior clerk, under Scheme Class I. as it is called, with an examination which includes all the branches of superior education as given at Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, or Edinburgh Universities. Again, you may enter the EXCISE (a branch of the Inland Revenue), age 19 to 22, a service in which the salary, though low at first, finally rises to a very respectable amount. For the Excise, examinations are held twice a year. You may enter the CUSTOMS as an outdoorofficer. For this branch of the service examinations are also held twice a year, the age being from 19 to 25. In the Customs persons can rise to the higher branches of the service, and finally enjoy very respectable salaries. We have now to turn to the fair sex, to whom certain positions in the Civil Service in recent years have been thrown open. The only two great departments open to females are the General Post-Office and the Telegraph Department connected therewith. Female clerks enter the General Post Office between the ages of 18 and 20. What a social revolution the Civil Service Commission has quietly effected! Thirty years ago there were no competitions. In our next issue we shall refer to the subjects of examination and salaries in several departments. B THE A GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT. THE AUDIT OFFICE. HE absolute necessity of a department for auditing the public accounts is self-evident. The indifference with which, in times gone by, public money has been squandered is a well-established fact. Yet we are happy to know that there are many to whom an act of dishonesty in relation to public money would be as reprehensible as a similar act in relation to anything else. We are only too well aware that there are others whose one object is their own self-interest; and, as far as possible, these must be made to act like honest men in their handling of public money, although they cannot be made honest. Were all men strictly honest and accurate there would be, of course, no necessity for an Audit Office, but all history, past and present, shows only too convincingly how backward mankind is in this respect. These are some of the reasons which suggest themselves for the existence of a great financial detective department, by whose agency not only dishonesty but carelessness may be detected; for sometimes the public lose by the latter as well as the former. Indeed, so necessary is such a check in the great spending departments, that practical economists earnestly urge the desirability of an audit which shall be thorough and effective as cheap at any price. The word audit is from the Latin audio, to hear (literally "he hears"), and means, in reference to accounts, an examination of those accounts, with a hearing of the accountants in respect of such items as require explanation. Up to the time of Richard II., and, indeed, with little interference for long afterwards, the king dealt with the national revenue much as he pleased. But as time advanced and taxation creased, people became convinced of the necessity of some restraint on the public expenditure. it was granted. Though during this reign the Commons seem to have firmly established their claim to vote the national money and appropriate it to particular services, they appear for long afterwards to have exercised this right only at long intervals, and in a fitful and desultory way. In the reign of Charles II., owing to rumours which were only too well founded, that a considerable portion of the large vote for the Dutch war was diverted from its original destination by the king making presents to his minions and favourite mistresses, a Bill was introduced by the Commons to appoint Commissioners to audit the public accounts. This Bill was, of course, strenuously opposed by the king and his counsellors as a direct invasion of the prerogative. Charles said he would never give his consent, as men would not take office if they were to be interrogated by the Commons and subjected to the arbitrary will of that House. But the most cogent argument of all was one not placed on the records, to wit, that it would reveal the many and valuable gifts of public money by the king to the sharers in his mirth and frivolities. The opponents of the Court threatened to impeach the Countess of Castlemaine, whom Charles was anxious to screen from prosecution, so he used his interest in favour of the Bill, which was, with little alteration, passed by the Lords.. Coming to later times, we find the auditors of the Imprest, who were officers of the Exchequer, and had the charge of auditing the great accounts of the Customs, naval and military expenses, &c.. Their patents were vacated by the 25th George III. cap. 52, with compensation, and their functions and powers transferred to the "Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts." These Comin-missioners were at first five in number, of whom two were required to be controllers of the army account. In 1805 (45 Geo. III., c. 91) an Act gave power to appoint three more Commissioners as an additional board for auditing the public extraordinary accounts, under the direction of the Treasury. The 46 Geo. III., c. 141, increased the number of commissioners to ten, to hold office during good behaviour, the chairman having a salary of £1,500 and the others of £1,200 a year each. The powers and duties of the Commissioners were from time to time augmented, and several additional offices brought under their audit by various statutes. The very earliest historical record we have of an audit of public accounts is in the fourteenth century, when we learn that a committee of Finance, consisting of Lords and Commons, was appointed with powers to inquire into the expenses of the royal household and of the offices of government. Again, in the time of Henry IV., we find that the Commons, who, during the minority of Richard II. had been occasionally allowed to appropriate the supplies to particular services, now claimed this appropriation as a right. Here we may see the commencement of the present system of appropriation of Parliamentary supplies, that is, to apply the money voted by the House of Commons to the particular purposes for which These various statutes have all been superseded by the Exchequer and Audit Department Act, 1866, which empowers the Crown under letters patent to appoint a Comptroller and Auditor-General and an Assistant-Comptroller and Auditor, neither of whom shall hold any other office nor be capable of sitting as a member of Parliament, who shall examine and audit such accounts as the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury may from time to time direct. This Act also provides that the Treasury shall appoint officers, clerks, and other persons, and that Her Majesty may, by orders in Council, from time to time regulate the numbers and salaries of the respective grades into which the said officers, "are or shall be divided." The establishment is located at Somerset-house, and is at present as follows:-Comptroller General of the Receipt and Issue of Her Majesty's Exchequer and Auditor-General of Public Accounts, salary £2,000; Assistant-Comptroller and Auditor, salary £1,500. These salaries are paid out of the Consolidated Fund. The salaries of the staff are defrayed out of the annual votes of Parliament. We have a division of the department into two branches, as follows: The Directing Branch, consisting of 7 principal clerks (of whom one is chief clerk), salary £775 to £900, by an annual increment of £25; 7 first-class clerks, £620 to £750, by an annual increment of £20; 38 secondclass clerks, 16 first section, salary £420 to £600, by an annual increment of £20; 22 second section, salary £215 to £400, by an annual increment of £15. The other division is known At present there are about 30 in the second section, no appointments having been made for some years, the vacancies having been filled up by the appointment of Lower Division clerks, as may be seen from recent reports. We have also, in addition to the above, what is known as the Chancery Branch of the establishment which was created in 1875. Its duties consists in auditing the various accounts in the Court of Chancery. It has 1 principal clerk, salary £775 to £900, by an annual increment of £25; 1 assistant to principal clerk, £620 to £750, by an annual increment of £20; 3 first-class clerks, salary £420 to £600, by an annual increment of £20; 6 second-class clerks, salary £215 to £400, by an annual increment of £15; 21 third-class clerks, salary £100 to £200, by an annual increment of £10. In auditing the accounts it is the duty of the examiner to see that every item of expenditure is vouched for and authorised, and that no item of the estimates granted by Parliament is exceeded. Should he detect any omission in these respects he must call attention to it, and then the department rendering the account, and, if necessary, the Treasury, are communicated with; and should the explanation not be considered satisfactory, the item under consideration is disallowed, or attention called to it in the annual report to Parliament. The rate of promotion is fairly rapid, the average from second to first section of Examining Branch being five or six years. This used to be a favourite branch of the service for younger sons and other immediate connections of members of both Houses of Parliament. The present mode of appointing is of course infinitely superior. So admirable has the Government system of auditing public accounts proved to be, that all commercial companies have followed in its wake. Nevertheless, many of them have not yet reached a sufficiently independent audit, and the result in numerous instances has proved most disastrous. The melancholy history of the City of Glasgow Bank affords a striking example. Had we an official audit of the accounts of our great commercial companies, including all joint-stock concerns, the public would be supplied with the best guarantee human agency could afford of the healthy working of such undertakings. We require descriptions of every department in Her Majesty's service, somewhat similar to the above, to appear in each successive number of THE COMPETITOR. It will invariably be our aim to select the best sent in, and for this we are prepared to pay a moderate sum in cash. Indeed, one of our principal objects will be to give to the public, information on the working of the various departments under the Crown. We believe that much lukewarm loyalty and scepticism arise from the same cause-ignorance. While we shall make it a point to expose abuses where they evidently exist; while we shall endeavour to direct public attention to all kinds of simony existing under Government; while we shall be the first to recommend reforms, we at the very outset disclaim any intention of prying into trifling matters more or less personal in their nature. Above all, we shall look upon communications sent to the Editor as implying inviolable secrecy. GREEK. LESSON I.-The Alphabet, Parts of Speech, dc. THE Greek alphabet consists of twenty-four letters, of which seven seventeen consonants. are vowels and A person beginning to learn the Greek Language must possess a considerable amount of patience and industry; we hope, however, in the following Lessons to smooth the way for him, by removing every difficulty and placing the subject before him in an easy and intelligible shape. (8) Double consonants :—=ks, ys, or xs ψ=πς, βς, οι φε <=od Χ NOTE.-The learner must at this stage make himself perfectly familiar with all the small letters of the alphabet. He must write out the characters over and over again, and read them aloud until he knows them as well as he knows his own alphabet. The sign (*) placed over the initial vowel of a word aspirates it, as apua (harma). Words commencing with a vowel unaspirated are marked with the sign (') as ek (ek). These signs are called respectively spiritus asper, "rough breathing," and spiritus lenis, "soft breathing." In diphthongs the breathing is placed over the second vowel. There are three accents, the acute (') the grave (`) and the circumflex ( ̃). THE PARTS OF SPEECH. There are nine parts of speech in the Greek language, viz.: article, noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. There are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. There are also three numbers: the singular, used in reference to one object, the dual for two, and the plural for more than two. There are five cases in Greek: the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and vocative. These have the same property as the cases in Latin; the ablative in Latin is supplied sometimes by the genitive and sometimes by the dative in Greek. The definite article, ô, ǹ, Tó. Sing. Masc. Fem. Neuter. av as in αι laud aisle ει sleight οι coil Nom. oi ai Gen. TWV τῶν Dat. τοῖς ταῖς τοῖς Acc. τους τάς τά NOTE. The article is learned thus, and must be repeated several times daily until it becomes fixed in the memory: Nominative-"haw, hẽ, taw." Genitive-"tou, tees, tou," and so on. The plural is done thus: Nominative-" hoy, hai, ta" (pronounce a as in far). Genitive66 tone, tone, tone," and so on. THE FRENCH LANGUAGE. LESSON I.-The Alphabet-Accentuation-Parts of Speech. ALPHABET.-The French alphabet, like the English, consists of twenty-six letters, viz. : Note.-K and w are only found in foreign words. The letters are divided into vowels and consonants. The vowels are a e io u and y. The remaining twenty letters are consonants. ACCENTUATION.-The accents are the ACUTE (') placed over the letter e only, as été, bonté. The GRAVE() placed over the vowels a e u, as là, dès, où. The CIRCUMFLEX (^) placed over any of the Vowels to lengthen their sound, as âme, rêve, epitre, apótre. The accents not only modify the sound of the Vowels over which they are placed, but also change the meaning of the words, as la, the; là, there. The CEDILLA is a kind of comma (c) placed under the letter c, which gives it the sound of ss, as, reçu. The diaresis or tréma ( ̈*) consists of two dots placed over the vowels e i and u, denoting that these letters must have a distinct pronunciation from the other vowels with which they are connected, as hair, Esau. The other marks of punctuation are the APOSTROPHE (') which denotes the suppression of either of the three vowels a e or i before a word beginning with a vowel or h mute, as l'oiseau for le oiseau (the bird); l'homme for le homme (the man). The HYPHEN (-) serves to join two or more words in one, as ai-je, arc-en-ciel. The sign of QUOTATION ("—") indicates a quotation. PARTS OF SPEECH.-There are TEN parts of speech in French, viz. : LESSON II.-The Article. GENDER.-There are only two genders in French, viz., masculine and feminine.Inanimate things, which are regarded as being neuter gender in English, must, therefore, be considered as either masculine or feminine in French. RULE I. The article agrees with the noun which follows it in gender and number. The definite article "the" is rendered in the singular number by le before a masculine and la before a feminine noun. The indefinite article "a" is rendered by un before a noun masculine and by une before a noun feminine. The plural of both genders of the definite article is the same, viz., les. Examples: |