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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
7
ILTICO.885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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view my belief is that this office has occasionally within the last few years made mistakes in with- drawing the temporary Administration of Govern- ments from the officer commanding the troops, in favour of a Colonial Secretary, who though he may have more local experience in the details of the Administration, has frequently not got many of the general qualifications that help to make a
successful Administrator, and which a soldier of the I agree.-R. L. A present day, who is getting up in the service, is quite as likely to have. In India I believe that many of the highest civil appointments have been open fo ex-Indian soldiers equally with Civilians.
Mr. Chamberlain's two addenda to Lord Selborne's scheme contemplate the non-exclusion of Indian Civil servants and of Colonial Office clerks from the higher branches of the Colonial Civil Service; but I would go further than this, and not exclude a good man of any branch of H.M. Service, Military, "Naval, Diplomatic, or general Civil Service, from becoming a Colonial Governor, as a close general “Colonial Service" would undoubtedly tend to do.
But there are far greater difficulties, arising out of the special diversities of our Colonial Empire, in the way of organizing one general combined Civil Service.
(1) Language,
Ceylon
Chief
Civil.
Legal.
35
? also 52
47
14
7
10
13
"
14
18
Total
126
104
The great majority of the inhabitants of the Colonies now in question do not speak English, and in the Colonies noted in the margin it has been held and more or less enforced for many years-that a knowledge of the native languages Straits was the primary qualification for an efficient Civil Hong Kong 20 Servant in the Departments that come directly in Cyprus contact with the population, viz.: Revenue, Magis. Fiji trates, and Police; in these Colonies the minor "legal" appointments, as classified in Mr. Harris's tables, are generally held by members of the local Civil Service, and could not now he dissociated without difficulty.
In the four West Coast Colonies also attempts have been more recently made to incluce officers to learn the local languages.
Gambia
If Lord Selborne had pursued his enquiries into the Indian Civil Service a little further, he would Sierra Leone have found that all young men appointed to it are ap- Gold Coast pointed to the service of one of the three Presidencies, Lagos
or of the North West Provinces, and have to learn and
pur-
Chief
Civil.
?
Legal.]
21
43 22
Total ...
91
pass in the particular languages of their pro- vince; and that for many general intents and poses these provincial services are quite distinct until men get right to the top of the tree. It is impos. You.—R. L. A. sible for men to learn all the languages of the Empire, and therefore it is practically a necessity that in these native language Colonies the great majority of officers should belong for the longest part of their career to distinct Civil Services of the separate Governments, at whose expense they have been introduced and "technically "educated.
This difficulty is not touched on by Lord Selborne.
Malta
Cyprus
:
Chief
Civil.
|Subordi-
9101
13 106 Gibraltar ... 6 23 Bermuda
male.
Legal.
13
2. The European Race difficulty,
This difficulty is touched on by Lord Selborne, but rather summarily swept aside on the ground of "general efficiency" of the Empire.
In the nine Colonies noted in the margin there is a large element in the population of European or partly European. blood; the latter as well as the former have had as a rule a European education, 15 which is sufficient to qualify them for their own 10 Civil Services generally, but would leave them quite
out of the running if put in competition with the 16 young man crammed at home.
5
9 9 Barbados 19 61 Mauritius... 25 130 Jamaica 20 184 Leewards... 3 ? Windwards 17
30
? British Guiana.
? Trinidad.
28
26
You. In the Colonies in
Councils would refuse to
To make such a change as Lord Selborne's 23 scheme contemplates, would make“ Downing Street 14 Rule" more odious than ever in several of these.
Colonies; and would in my opinion be most unjust to the “subordinate" officials, between whom and the "Chief Civil" it is impossible to draw a hard and fast line as is done in the Straits, Hong Kong, question it would be im and the West Coast Colonies. In the Colony with practicable to reserve cer- which I am most intimately acquainted, viz. : tain appointments for a close Mauritius, there were in the junior clerkships in general Civil Service. The my own office, with less than £100 a year, young vote the salaries or tas has men, whose education and family position were actually happened in Ber- ample to qualify them to rise to be heads of depart- minda) reduce them with ments, and to "bar" this class of local young men the expressed intention of from promotion in favour of a picked set of men Do outsider would be will from home, who would only regard themselves as ing to accept them. temporarily stationed" there, would be most in- jurious to the harmony and best interests of the Public Service. A few professional men, and specialists, have to be from time to time sent out from home, but beyond this, I believe more harm than good has not infrequently been done to the best interests of the Empire by filling up such ap- pointments as Assistant Colonial Secretaryships by men who have had no local experience, which is after all (until you get to the highest appointments of all) the primary consideration, and that in the face occasionally of strong recommendations from Governors on the spot.
anaking them so low that
R. L. A.
1 quite agree.-R. L. X.
In India I imagine that this difficulty at present only arises in a very minor degree.
In Natal, Western Australia, and the Cape, the Colonial Office practically allowed the local Civil we Services to be almost entirely recruited from the
Yes. There would have
been a deadlock if hadn't done so.—R. L. A.
As it is, some Colonies won't vote the sums required for passages.-R. L. A.
locality some years before the introduction of Responsible Government.
3. The difficulties arising from Distance, Climate, and consequent Expense.
If men are to be required or expected to serve anywhere in the Empire, having once joined a com- bined Civil Service, it would be almost impossible to refuse to pay the travelling expenses of all officers on promotion, and though communications have increased and cheapened of late years in some parts of the world, a great deal of time and money is still expended on passages;" this would be increased, and in my opinion unnecessarily, at the expense of the Colonial communities, who would have to bear
222
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