FOREIGN OFFICE CLERKS. May 1876. Condesa viuda de Lemos, á fin de inutilizar el influjo de tan excelente señora. Quizá lo pudiera ejercer en su daño la Emperatriz Doña Maria, religiosa de las Descalzas Reales; mas precavió tal contingencia, dando buen color y pronto remate al designio de que á Valladolid se trasladara nuestra corte. Muy devoto era el Rey Felipe: verdadera pasion mostraba por la caza y el juego; y le divertian comedias y danzas: al hilo de semejantes propensiones, Lerma poblaba sus vastos señorios de conventos de frailes y monjas: á bramas de ciervos y volaterías llevábale á menudo gruesas sumas atravesaba con Genoveses, mientras el Rey Felipe hacia lo mismo con sus cortesanos y la Reina Margarita con sus damas por cualquier motivo imaginaba y disponia encamisadas, saraos suntuosos, toros y cañas con lucidisimas cuadrillas, mascaradas de lujo, cenas en que los platos se servian por centenares; y fiestas dió á las veces, cuya esplendidez no es descriptible sino con el tono de las mil y una noches. Desmienta el cielo las sospechas mias, ? Sabes algo? Ve, tráele á mi presencia, El corazon de una asustada madre. Translate into Spanish : Once more Michael Angelo returned to Florence - according to Vasari, in quest of a noble block of purest marble, the fame of which had reached Rome; according to the more truthful Condivi, because he was called home by domestic concerns. Any way, he did not fail to secure renowned marble. It is well known how this had been injured by the awkward attempts of an inferior artist, who had, more than a century before, begun to carve from it a gigantic figure he found himself unable to complete: how it had since been offered to Donatello, who refused to touch it: how Sansirono wished to try its skill, his offer being refused, and how meanwhile the uncouth, unfinished giant had been left lying in the courtyard of some buildings belonging to the cathedral, till Michael Angelo, grappling with the difficulty, produced his colossal statue of David. He was allowed two years for the task, which he accomplished nearly within that time. As we read of his working day and night at the gigantic figure, we are reminded of the following description given by Vignero, who had, at a much later period, watched Italy's great sculptor at work. CORRESPONDENCE. How single or few vacancies in Class I. HOME CIVIL SERVICE. The Secretary, Treasury, to the Civil Service Commissioners. 25th August 1876. THE Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have had before them Mr. Headlam's letter of the 12th instant, stating, that in should be filled. consequence of the death on the 1st instant of Mr. J. A. Nugent, one of the clerks of the superior grade in your Department, a vacancy has been created which should be filled up as soon as possible, and that the only other vacancy of this grade of which you have yet had notice is one in the Secretary's branch of the General Post Office. You submit for the decision of this Board the question whether a fresh open competition under Regulations I. should be held, or whether it would not be more expedient to resort to the list obtained from the examination very recently held, the result of which was announced in the Gazette of the 18th ultimo. A copy of a letter which their Lordships have received from the Postmaster-General, dated 18th instant, with respect to filling up a fourth clerkship of the higher grade, is enclosed herewith for your information. I am to observe that there never can be many vacancies at the same time to which the higher examination will be applicable, and any difficulty about holding examinations of this character as they become necessary raises some very serious questions. My Lords desire to receive further information as to your views upon this subject. My Lords are not aware of any obligation which is imposed on the heads of other Departments by the Order in Council of 4th June 1870, or otherwise, to receive candidates from a list made up before the vacancies in those Departments had been announced; although of course, as in the case of the Postmaster-General in this instance, they may consent to do so. The presumption is that, if a greater number of vacancies had been announced, a greater number of candidates would have presented themselves, and that those who succeeded under such circumstances would have been superior to the remainder of those attending the examination actually held. SIR, ENCLOSURE. I am, &c. General Post Office, London, 18th August 1876. By the Treasury letter of the 23rd March last the Postmaster-General was authorised to apply to the Civil Service Commissioners, with a view to filling up three vacancies for clerks of a higher grade in the Secretary's department of the Post Office. A fourth vacancy having occurred, the Commissioners were asked to fill it by selecting a candidate from among those who passed in the recent competition; but from the reply dated the 10th instant, of which a copy is enclosed, there seems to be an obstacle in their doing this. A private letter has, however, since been received from the Commission, suggesting that the Treasury should be asked whether under the circumstances of the case that board would concur with the Postmaster-General in presenting the next man in order of merit at the recent examination, under the provisions of Clause VII. of the Order in Council of the 4th of June 1870. It would be greatly to the convenience of the Post Office if this could be done. The Secretary, Treasury. I have, &c. (Signed) J. TILLEY. The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Treasury. SIR, 5th September 1876. THE Civil Service Commissioners have had under their considera- How single or tion your letter of the 25th August, by which the Lords of the Treasury few vacancies request to be informed further as to the views of the Commissioners in Class I. respecting the course to be taken for filling up two clerkships of the superior grade which have become vacant since the announcement of the result of the last open competition. In reply, the Commissioners direct me in the first place to observe that they did not intend in their letter of the 12th ultimo to submit any proposal of a general character, but only to suggest a temporary expedient with the object of meeting a present difficulty. On the wide question of the best method of providing against the recurrence of such difficulties, they would not have ventured to initiate a discussion pending the decision of the Government on the recommendations of the Playfair Commission respecting this division of the Service. But they will gladly, in compliance with their Lordships' invitation, state the results of such consideration as they have been able to give to the subject. It has always appeared to the Commissioners that no system of general competition could be regarded as complete which did not provide for the selection of candidates in anticipation of vacancies. At the same time they are fully sensible of the difficulty which there must be in doing this satisfactorily, so long as on the one hand the appointments competed for at the same examination differ in value, and on the other hand the successful competitors are held to have a right of choice in the order of their places in the list. If the recommendations of the Playfair Commission were adopted, this difficulty would disappear, for not only would the value of the appointments be in great measure equalised, but the right of choice would be transferred from the candidates to the heads of the departments concerned. It appears to the Commissioners that, even under the present system, the desired result might to a great extent be obtained, if candidates were periodically invited to compete for appointments belonging to Class I. upon terms that such vacancies as might occur during the next six months should be offered to the qualified competitors in the order of their places in the list, each candidate being at liberty to decline an offer without losing his right to have similar offers made to him of any vacancies occurring within the stated period. It may perhaps be said that under this plan it might happen that a candidate high on the list might see one greatly his inferior placed in a better clerkship than himself; but as this could only happen owing to his making an injudicious use of his priority of choice, he would have no ground of complaint. It may further be objected (1) that in the present uncertainty as to the number of appointments likely to be made under Class I., the proposed competitions would not attract many candidates, and (2) that the necessity of offering vacancies in succession to different candidates might cause delay in filling them up. But it may safely be answered (1) that the competitions would at least be more attractive than those which now take place, and (2) that the delay would never bear more than a small proportion to that which occurs under the present arrangements. It is true indeed that under the "General Regulations" now in force respecting open competitions, the heads of departments are not only, as is stated in your letter, under no obligation to receive candidates from a list made up before their vacancies were announced, but are debarred from doing so in any way except under the exceptional provisions of should be filled. How single or few vacancies in Class I. should be filled. Clause VII. of the Order in Council of 4th June 1870. But the Commissioners apprehend that the matter is one proper to be arranged under Clause V. of the same Order, "as the Civil Service Commis«sioners, after consultation with the chief authorities of the various departments, and with the approval of the Commissioners of Her "Majesty's Treasury, may deem expedient." If their Lordships should be disposed to think favourably of the plan above sketched, the Commissioners will readily put themselves in communication with the heads of the various departments on the subject, as prescribed in the passage just quoted. It is clear, however, that much time must necessarily be consumed in the required consultation, and they would be very glad if the application made in their letter of 12th August, respecting the clerkship now vacant in this office, could be dealt with at once without waiting for a settlement of the general question. I have, &c. The Secretary, Treasury, to the Civil Service Commissioners. 20th September 1876. In reply to your letter of the 5th inst. upon the subject of examinations for the Higher Division of the Civil Service, I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to inform you that no decision of the Government is pending on this part of the recommendations of the Playfair Commission. The Order in Council of 12th February last is confined to a new Lower Division of the Civil Service, and all that relates to the Higher Division of the same Service, except its relative numbers, remains exactly as it did before that Order was passed. In other words, the scheme of examination known as Regulation No. 1 remains in force wherever the system of open competition for the Higher Division has been adopted, and the power of your Commission and of this Board, under Clause V. of the Order in Council of 4th June 1870, to modify or supersede that scheme also remains precisely what it was. My Lords have no immediate intention of advising the issue of any new Order in Council regulating any Higher Division of the Service to the same extent as the Order of 12th February last regulates the Lower Division; for the present their object is confined to an extensive though gradual substitution of clerks of the new Lower Division for the existing more expensive scales of service under whatever titles. My Lords have judged that it would facilitate the discussion of any particular question, such as the present one, between your Board and the Treasury, to make you thus far acquainted with their general intention, from which it follows that no very large demands are likely to occur soon for the examination of candidates of the Higher Division. My Lords will communicate further with the Postmaster-General on the subject of the vacancy in the Secretary's branch of his office, and in the meantime they offer no objection to the adoption of the plan you propose for filling up the vacancy in your own office, if you have satisfied yourselves that by a new distribution of the duties, such as might relieve your senior and junior clerks of some of their more routine work, a clerk of the new Lower Division might not be made to suffice for filling the vacancy. My Lords have some difficulty in understanding why there should be such excessive delay in holding these examinations for the Higher Division as the occasion for them occurs. The numbers are not great, |