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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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(SIR W. A. B. HAMILTON.)
It would be easy to write a great deal on this interesting subject, but there has been so much written already that I do not wish to prolong the previous minutes to any great extent.
I propose, therefore, to confine myself mainly to the class of Governor, the improvement of which I understand to be the principal object of Lord Selborne's
memo.
Lord Selborne appears to regard it as a matter of importance that the Colonial Service should be "rescued." from the class of Governor with which he considers it to be at present unduly afflicted; and I understand him to contend, in a general way, that because the Indian Civil Service has succeeded in producing a class of men who are fit for any appointments-many of thein corresponding to the rank of Governor-that they may be called upon to fill, the system under which that service is recruited might with advantage be adopted throughout the Colonial Service.
Every one will agree with Lord Selborne as to the prevalence of a regrettable mediocrity in the higher ranks of the Colonial Service during recent years. But I am inclined to think myself that this is in a great measure accidental, and that it must not be assumed as a matter of course that our service is therefore going downhill. The same thing will
often be found in other walks of life (we have not Is this de me narrata ?—
far to look for an illustration in the political world at this very moment), and it not unfrequently happens in the history of a country that for a certain perjod no one seems to come to the front, and mediocrity reigns supreme. But these things have a way of righting themselves; and I venture to think that it will be so in the case of our Colonial Service. There are a certain number of men at this moment, working up to the higher ranks, whose names must occur to everyone, and who I think, when their time comes, will not be found 1: wanting in the necessary qualifications for a good all-round Governor. But I have always thought that there is necessarily a great gulf between the post of Governor and even the highest administra- tive post beneath that rank, and that it does not in the least follow that a man who may have acquitted himself admirably in the latter post will possess the qualifications necessary for satisfactorily filling the former. These qualifications are soinewhat difficult to describe; but it will, I think, be found that the best Governors have almost invariably been those, who, without being exceptionally brilliant in any one particular respect, have com- bined fair administrative ability with some common sense, tact, decision, knowledge of the world and of
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men and things,” and, above all, with the power of exercising personal influence. Many a Governor, whose career has in other respects been highly successful, has failedfor want of these last-named qualifications in some emergency, while others who have been so fortunate as to possess them, though perhaps not nearly so gifted in other respects, have been conspicuous successes. Such qualifica-
J. C.
agree.-J. C.
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tions are either born in a man, or are the result of some special training and experience, and I suppose that there is no better training school in this respect than the Indian Civil Service, where from almost the very first a government official is launched I agree.-J. C. upon a more or less wide field of responsibility, where he leads an active partly out-door life, that brings him in contact with every phase of human nature and every variety of administrative problem, and where his every-day duties call upon, him for the exercise not only of administrative capacity but of habits of self-reliance and decision that can never be acquired by merely sitting in an office. These conditions of life, however, while they exist almost everywhere in India, do not exist throughout the Colonial Service, and are in fact only to be found to any appreciable extent in Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, and perhaps in a minor degree in the West African Colonies. In the Straits and other Eastern Colonies, the Civil Service, as has been observed in previous minutes, has proved a success; though personally I am inclined to attribute this success rather to the conditions of service being somewhat similiar to those in India than to the examination being the same, for no form of examination cau call such conditions into existence, and the circum- stances of most of our 'Colonies will never admit of their arising.
For these reasons, therefore, I am inclined to doubt whether any such general system of examination as has been proposed would exercise any material influence in the direction of improv - ing our present class of Governor, even supposing that it were possible to bring it about. But I fear that the difficulties in the way of such a system— some of which have been pointed out by Mr. Round—are almost insuperable. I think, however, as I have already said, that there is on the whole a better class of men coming on, and that the existing service will be able to supply a future generation of Governors that will compare favour- ably with the present one; though I fear that it will always be necessary from time to time to go outside the regular service-no matter how con- stituted—and I don't see how this can be by any possibility avoided.
At the same time, I do certainly believe that some extension of the system in force in the Eastern Colonies would have the effect of improv- ing the rank and file of the service; though it seems to me that it could only be worked by some arrangement of grouping, which would require very careful thinking out.
This, together with the question of interchange with the Colonial Office (which I do not regard as altogether out of the question), and other details, would I think provide most useful work for a Departmental Committee.
19th December.
W. A. B. H.
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