The Report of the Commissioners, being referred by the Treasury to the Postmaster-General, Lord Canning, and having received his almost unqualified approval, was ordered, with little more exception than that already mentioned, to be carried into effect.
Competitive Examinations.
The following entry is on a subject of some difficulty, and of great importance:—
“March 4th, 1854.—The Report of the Commissioners on the Civil Service generally has been issued. Some months ago they requested my opinion on the draft of their Report, in which they had recommended that the patronage should be accumulated chiefly in the hands of the Treasury (i.e., of the Whipper-in for the time being). To this arrangement I objected decidedly, and I now see that they have abandoned it, making the admission to the Service in all cases to depend on a competitive examination, and thus abandoning patronage altogether. This will not, I fear, work well. The competition will, I think, be necessarily thrown on matters of secondary importance. Indeed the Commissioners propose that it shall be literary. The plan is attracting much notice from the public, and is earnestly backed by the Times. The Report is in many respects excellent. Indeed the objects aimed at are, without exception, highly creditable to the Commissioners and to the Government.”
As I feared, the plan of competitive examination worked unsatisfactorily, the criteria not being the best, and the responsibility being so divided that no one is in effect answerable for an appointment made under it. The consequence of its adoption has been in many instances the rejection of men who gave promise of great usefulness, and the admission of others whose usefulness has proved very small. If no way had been open to the public service but through competitive examination, as now conducted, I cannot say what might have been my own chance of admission; since, on the plan adopted, no amount of knowledge or power in other departments is regarded as making up for deficiency in certain prescribed subjects. Under such a system neither George Stephenson nor Brindley would have passed examination as an engineer; nor, perhaps, would even Napoleon or Wellington have been admitted to any military command. The principle, if sound, must be equally applicable to manufacturing and commercial establishments; but I have heard of none that have adopted it. Indeed, a wealthy merchant lately declared (and I believe most of his brethren would agree with him) that if he had no clerks but such as were chosen for him by others, his name would soon be in the Gazette. I have always been of opinion that the more the appointments to the Post Office, and indeed to other public departments, are regulated on the principles ordinarily ruling in establishments conducted by private individuals, the better it will be for the public service. The question to be decided between candidates should be, I think, simply which is best fitted for the duties to be performed, and the decision should be left to the person immediately answerable for the right performance of the duty.[118]
Telegraphs.
In the year 1852 I received (through Mr. Nicholson, of Waverley Abbey) a paper drawn up by his son-in-law, Captain Galton, recommending that the Post Office should become manager of the whole telegraphic system. As the communication was private, I replied accordingly, giving, however, a favourable opinion of the project, and, of course, leaving Captain Galton to take such further steps as he should think best. I knew nothing further of this matter at the time, but have recently learnt that his plan was submitted by him to the Board of Trade, and thence referred to the Post Office, but objected to by the Postmaster-General of the day. A few years later, however, the project was revived within the office by Mr. Frederick Baines, who had at one time occupied a post of considerable importance under one of the Telegraphic Companies. This gentleman drew up an elaborate memorandum, comprising a complete plan; and this was referred by the Postmaster-General to the Treasury, but without any result at the time. I need not add that this important measure is now (1869) on the point of being carried into effect, but must regret that it should be at a cost at once so superfluous and so enormous as to make it very doubtful whether the institution can be self-supporting (that is, paying at once interest on money borrowed, its direct working expenses, and a just contribution to the general cost of management), and almost certain that, save at further loss to the revenue, correspondence by its means cannot be cheap.[119]
FOREIGN EXTENSION.
“October 11th, 1851.—Mr. Von der Heydt (Prussian Minister of Finance), Chevalier Bunsen, and M. Drouet (Chargé d’Affaires for the Belgian Government), met in my room to arrange with me several matters connected with the negotiation for a reduction of rates between this country and the German Postal Union.”
The following general record may render further details unnecessary:—