CO885-5 — Page 116

PUBLIC

RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

8855 PUBLIC RECORD, OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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appointment, and he is at liberty to recommend a can- didate for the final appointment; but it is distinctly understood that the Secretary of State has the power of nominating another instead.

6. This power is, however, seldom exercised in favour of persons not already in the public service. Vacancies are usually filled by promotion; and, as a general rule, it is only in the case of the very highest offices, and those requiring professional or other special qualifications not to be found in the Colonies themselves, that appointments are made by the Secretary of State from this country.

7. In Ceylon, Hong Kong, and the Straits Settlements. cadetships have been established with a view to training up officers to fill eventually the more important posts in the civil services of those Colonies, all the subordinate offices being filled (as in other Colonies) by the appoint- ment of local candidates. The cadets, who must be natural born British subjects and between the ages of 21 and 24 on the 1st of August in the year in which the examination is held, are selected by open competitive examination held by the Civil Service Commissioners, to whom all inquiries on the subject should be addressed. There are no other junior appointments usually open to candidates in this country; but occasionally (ie., about once a year) the Secretary of State has a clerkship to fill up in one of the smaller Colonies.

8. Civil engineers, surveyors, and foremen of works, when required from this country, are usually obtained through the Crown Agents for the Colonies; or, in the case of surveyors, through the Surveyors Institution, 12, Great George Street, Westminster. No list of applicants is kept in the Colonial Office.

9. Candidatesfor educational appointments are obtained. when they are wanted, by advertising in the new papers, and no list of applicants is kept in the Colonial Office.

10. There is practically no ecclesiastical patronage now remaining in the hands of the Secretary of State.

11. Persons possessing a competent knowledge of one or more Indian languages may have their names noted for consideration when vacancies occur in the Immigration Department of any of the Colonies to which coolies are

imported from India. But these appointments are few in number, and vacancies consequently do not often occur.

12. Offices for which solicitors are eligible are almost always filled by the appointment of local candidates.

13. Barristers are required as law officers and judges, and in some instances as magistrates. The salary of a Queen's Advocate or Attorney General (who in some Colonies, though not in all, is allowed to take private practice) varies from 250/. in Tobago to Rs. 18,000 in Ceylon; that of a Puisne Judge from 800. in the Lee- ward Islands to $8,400 in the Straits Settlements; and that of a Chief Justice from 7007, in Bermuda to 2,5007. in British Guiana. In some few Colonies there is a Solicitor as well as an Attorney General. The better paid appointments, and those in the more healthy Colonies, are usually filled by promotion. Candidates for first appointments should, therefore, be prepared as a general rule to accept a small salary or go to one of the less healthy Colonies in the first instance. Magistrates are in many cases selected from the civil service; but in British Guiana and Trinidad there are magistracies, with salaries varying from 600l. to 1,000l. a year, to which barristers are usually appointed. Barristers are also required for the District Court judgeships in Jamaica with salaries varying from 800l. to 1,1007., and for the District Courts in Cyprus where the salaries range from 4501. to 600l. a year. A Magistrate or a District Court Judge is not ineligible for promotion to one of the higher offices, but has no claim to such an appointment in the ordinary course of promotion.

14. Military and naval officers are occasionally required for police or prison appointments, and naval officers as port officers and harbour masters. But in most Colonies there are not more than two or three police officers; and in Colonies where there are more, e.g., Jamaica, British Guiana, Natal, and Western Australia, there are usually many local candidates from whom the Governor is able to fill up vacancies on the spot.

15. In the Constabulary forces of the Gold Coast and Lagos, however, there are about 20 officers, all of whom are appointed from this country. Applicants for an