AT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD
I.
Under the pressure of the excitements of 1882 caused by foreign affairs, business legislation for the needs of the British community had been crushed out, but there was agreement that in the New Year time must be given for Mr. Chamberlain's Bankruptcy Bill to become law; also that the electioneering question of Corrupt Practices should be dealt with. Beyond this immediate programme lay two matters of the first importance—reform of local government in town and in country, and reform of the electorate. In regard to these, the year was chiefly consumed by Government dissensions, partly as to the character of the measures, but principally as to their order of precedence.
As administrator in his new office, Sir Charles turned at once to the position of the civil servants under his control:
'On New Year's Day I had begun to be bothered about what was called my patronage at the Local Government Board, which was considerable. At the Foreign Office I had none at all, and had had the greatest possible difficulty in getting Lord Granville to give a consulate to Henry George Kennedy, who had been my secretary for many years, and who had considerable claims—as he had lost his health in the consular service before he first came to me, and then recovered his health after a serious illness. At the Local Government Board I was my own master, and all the patronage of the office was absolutely at my disposal, and the first post or two that fell vacant I gave to persons suggested by Hartington, James, and other colleagues. But I very soon formed a strong opinion that the patronage of the Local Government Board ought to be used in a different way from that which had prevailed ever since the end of Stansfeld's term of office' (1871- 1874). 'Stansfeld had made excellent use of his patronage, but Sclater-Booth' [Footnote: Mr. George Sclater-Booth, created Lord Basing in 1887.] (1874-1880) 'and Dodson' (1880-1882), 'and even Goschen' (1868-1871), 'had used it less well, and had put in men of the kind that colleagues often force upon one—political partisans or supporters, not always the best men. I talked the matter over, and decided to make the service during my term of office a close service, and to promote men already in the service to all vacancies as they occurred, making inspectors of auditors or clerks, and giving the good auditorships to the best men in the inferior ones. As regarded new appointments to auditorships at the lowest scale, I had a list of men who were working with auditors without pay on the chance of my giving them appointments later on, and I brought in several of this kind on good reports from auditors. Bodley, my Private Secretary, managed the whole of my patronage for me, and did it extremely well, and after I had started the system I was able to leave it absolutely in his hands.'
He notes later on that one of his colleagues was 'furious' with him because he would not do a job for the family solicitor, who was also Parliamentary agent of the colleague's son. A previous President had 'jobbed in a Tory agent,' and the colleague expected that Sir Charles should follow with the Whig agent. 'I refused, as I intended to promote one of our best and worst-paid men.'
An illustration of the same principle is the case of Mr. Walter Sendall:
'It was at this time' (November, 1883) 'that I had taken up, as against Lord Kimberley and Lord Derby, the case of Sendall—an Assistant Secretary in the Local Government Board, who had been previously appointed Governor of Natal, and then withdrawn on account of Natal feeling that he would be too much under the control of Sir Hercules Robinson, the Governor of the Cape. There being nothing against Sendall, I thought that we were bound to find him another Governorship, and Horace Seymour, Mr. Gladstone's secretary, was in strong agreement with me. The matter was brought to a point at this moment by the selection of Blake for a Governorship in preference to Sendall. A strong letter from Seymour pointed out that "heaps of deserving men in the Colonial service were passed by to make this appointment, and Sendall, who has a real claim on the Government, is put on one side. In my opinion an appointment of this kind is most mischievous, and I sincerely trust that the Healys and the Biggars will make the most of it, and for once they will have at least my hearty sympathy…." Seymour was Lady Spencer's brother, and he on his side and I on mine made the lives of Lord Derby and Lord Kimberley' (Ministers responsible in regard to the withdrawal) 'so uncomfortable that we finally got Sendall an appointment. Blake turned out a success as a Colonial Governor.'
Mr. H. Preston Thomas, C.B., in his Work and Play of a Government Inspector, written after fifty years' experience of the Civil Service, bears testimony to Sir Charles's work as an administrator, especially by the introduction of the principle of competition:
"It was during the presidency of Sir Charles Dilke that the staff of the Local Government Board was reorganized, and for the first time placed on a more or less satisfactory footing…. A leaven of highly educated men was much wanted in the junior ranks, and this was secured by the reorganization of 1884, when eight clerkships of the Higher Division were thrown open to public competition…. Every one of the successful candidates had graduated in honours at Oxford or Cambridge, while two or three were Fellows of their Colleges. The infusion of new blood acted most beneficially, and the heads of the department were able to delegate to subordinates some of the duties of which the enormous mass had fairly overwhelmed them." [Footnote: P. 195.]