LORD HALDANE ON CIVIL SERVANTS.

Evening Star, Issue 14932, 19 July 1912, Page 3

LORD HALDANE ON CIVIL SERVANTS.

IT.e Royal Commission (England) ap- ! pointed (as a result of the recent outcry ; against '"class" in the Civil Service) to inquire into the methods of making appointments to and promotions in the Civ.l Service, and to investigate the wot king | and efficiency of competitive examination* I for the appointments, recently issued its , first volume of evidence. I Lord LUldane (Lord Chancellor) v:r.s one < of the witnesses, and gave the results of his experience. Incidentally he touched on the question of red tape. In referring to the transformation of the old Volunteers into the, Territorial Army, he sa.d the military and civilian elements at the j War Offic/ work in entire harmony, but j that had only been brought about by a ! gTeat deal of tact and forbearance en both , sides and study of each other's views. The, work could" not have been done with any civilians who were not highly-edu-cated men. Asked whether men promoted from a lower grade in the service were equal in mental capacity, tact, and judgment to their more highly-educated colleagues, Lord Haldane said: "Well, my broad impression is that a man who has a real gift, wherever he conies from, will make up for the disadvantage* which the want of a very wide, liberal_ education imposes upon him. But thai is not ont man in 20, and the result is that you cannot rely upon their presence. —Red Tape.— "What, I have noticed in working with them all was that tire higher you went the less disposition there was to be bound by red tape, and the greater confidence in their own command, and the more disposition to see the point of view of other people with a wholly different training with whom they were dealing. I have made a point," he said, "of observing the work dono by thes*; lower-grade men, and what struck mo was that it was admirable ir-. many cases—thorough, conscientious, aa good as it could be—but to a certain extent limited by lack of imagination and a disposition to "say ' This is the rule; this is what w© ha,vs to carry out.'" Lord Haldane was asked by what means would the superior education be beet attained, and he replied: ' : The ideal system of university education would, to my mind, if it were possible, be what I h;,ve been familiar with in Scotland. There the *on of a working man, thanks to the old looted system of elementary education and the much more complete system of secondary education than exists in England, has a chance of rising from the ranks through the secondary school or through the ex ten - | sion of the primary- school that wo have there to the university. I have sat side by side in class rooms with the j-on of a ploughman—and a very clever fellow very often he was in many cases. I hare also se«n the son of a ploughman rise up and get ;i university degree, and come back to manual labor because he wa:>, at any rate, not a sufficiently clever fellow to make full use of his opportunities. —Equal Chance for All.— "I have known men who have been at the university working at manual work in Scotland. They come back to the circumstances out of which they rose. If you could have that system developed very much you would get the perfect system. You would get an equal opportunity for everybody, which T think is the real foundation of democracy. You would give the son of the workman his chance, if he had it iu him, to get the highest university training, and to go into any of the professions or to become one- of the highest division clerks; you would get the breaking down of the distinction between clas.es in many cases. We arc very far from that in England at the present time, b".t we are improving." " You would have no bympalhy with ;i proposal to recruit for tho lowest grade !>V an elementary examination, and then "allow the recruit to have a clear run to the highest oflkt'S?"' asked the chairman (Lord Macdonnel!). "I do nob iiko to pay say I would have no sympathy," replied Lord Haldane, "because I have sympathy with everything that fives the" greatest number of people a' chance i but I can only-say that I find it

difficult lo express strongly enough my belief that such a course would bo detrimental to His hi chest interests or the State." —Should Women bo Appointed?— Lord Ilaldane was asked by Mi's P. Streatfeiid for his views as to the exclusion or otherwise of women in the Civil Service, and he replied : '' My belief is that the exclusion of women from a great rnanv professions at the present time js the result of c:iipejstiticn ; and very littj-e clsp " •, ■, ..TMv Phi!ip Snowdcn, M.T., asked: 1» there not a, sort of feeling amongst the second crade that the harriers to promotion to the higher division are almost impassable, and~if that, is so, would it not act as .1 deterrent of any effort on the part of a man to put forward his best, powers in his work?" "I think that is so," was the reply; "and I should like to see a more orgnnh-ed method of picking out exceptional men." Referring to th?- self-reliance of n Diversity men, Mr Snowden asked: "Do you think there is anv danger of that scitosteem, that consciousness of superiority, degenerating into snobbery and into contempt for those, whom they consider inferior ?*' "There is a good deal of sioobery connected with the universities and- public schools." Lord Ilaldane replied ; " hut I think there is less than there was. because in these days of competition and nva.ry ox talent at the Bar and the professions generally thev are finding their piace, and will do'so more as other institutions come up. We all know there is that element, but Ido not think,it counts so much, and when a. man lias it he. is generally quite an inferior man who does not get on.