THE CIVIL SERVICE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 15, 6 May 1871, Page 7

THE CIVIL SERVICE.

That no one can enter the civil service of New Zealand " unless he shall be of the full age of seventeen years, and not more than twenty-two years," is the first of the rules we reprinted yesterday. We submit that such a restriction is most unwise. The civil service should be open to all who have acquired the necessary education. It is clear, however, that none but a limited class can allow their boys after leaving school to spend several years in an enforced idleness waiting till they are seventeen years of age. This restriction, therefore, practically limits the civil service to the well-to-do classes. In a new country like New Zealand where the question is often heard " what are we to do with our boys"? it is most desirable that every avenue of employment should be freely open to all classes. Our democratic institutions recognise no privileged class, and our civil service should therefore be available as a field of employment for the poor as well as the rich. It is the glory of this country to have a Government chosen from and by the people, without reference to anything' but their fitness for the office, and in the selection of its servants, a Government elected on this popular basis should not be confined to any one class. The poorest should have the same chance as the

richest in obtaining for their sons state employment, to the expense of which indeed they contribute even more in proportion. Between the time when children leave school and attain seventeen years of age, the interval is too short to learn any trade or business, and too long to be spent in doing nothing. Nor is it easy to see the propriety of this rule, when >:•* consider the multifarious business tne Government of New Zealand carries on by direction of the Legislature. In private banks, and in private insurance and telegraph offices, no such age is insisted on, many boys from ten upwards being engaged, and found useful. We do not say the Government should hold out any inducements likely to reduce the school age, but we think that the minimum age they have fixed for entering the Civil Service is much too high. If we mistake not, there must be scores of boys in the Telegraph Department alone under this, age, and we know no valid reason for this regulation being dispensed with in their favor. Could the Government not get as many boys as they require fully educated up to the standard of the Civil Service qualifications now laid down ? We answer unhesitatingly that they could, and we maintain that none other should be employed. It would be ridiculous, however, to assert that until they reach the age of seventeen they would not be found useful. The addition to this rale that "the Board of Examiners may, however, examine candidates for employment who are not younger than fifteen years," only shows its absurdity. If they pass the examination satisfactorily at fifteen, why should they not at once be eligible for employment ? Is there any charm in " sweet seventeen " which fifteen or sixteen cannot claim ? Are not many boys at fourteen superior to others even three or four years older? There is one other point connected with this first regulation to which we shall briefly allude. It is that from the Civil Service all females are excluded, " unless he shall be, &c." being the language employed. It would appear, moreover, that " the examination for youths seeking employment in banks, &c," is only open to youths of the sterner sex. Now, in these days of female telegraphists, and Jeaconesses episcopally ordained, and of agitation for female suffrage, it may fairly be questioned whether their exclusion from the Civil Service is just or expedient. Females have been found useful in several departments of the Civil Service at home; and, as our business increases, they may be employed with advantage here. At railway stations and telegraph offices, for instance, they might find employment for which they have a special aptitude ; and we trust when these regulations are again revised, this question will receive due consideration.

The examination of youths above referred to, we shall take another opportunity of considering. Meanwhile, we may point out that if it were open to both sexes its benefits would be more than doubled. Suppose all the children on leaving school were thus publicly examined by colonial inspectors for a certificate, there would be a uniform standard set before all schools to which their masters and mistresses would have to refer. Even private schools would have to keep it in view. There can be no doubt that like the local examinations now held by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, parents would greatly value these tests of the character and extent of education their children have received in schools, while the desire to gain certificates would be a great stimulus to teachers throughout the colony. Indeed, for some time to come they might take the place of inspectors' visits. A school that frequently failed in these examinations would be set down by the public as inefficiently conducted, while one whose pupils were uniformly successful would acquire a reputation that would attract pupils, and give a well merited encouragement to its persevering Head. It cannot be denied, that in many schools with imposing titles and pretentious pospectuses, conducted by ladies, the instruction is not of the substantial or useful character that is desirable for the wives and mothers of to be," Under »o inspection they qpntinue torn yesr to pw twir parrot-like repe*

titions from such books as Magnall's Questions, quite unconscious of any difference between instruction and education. But put before them clearly what their pupils are expected to know at the end of their course, and they will shape their instruction accordingly. There will be less crochetting and more ciphering, less frivolity and more hard work. The " Lady Principals" that preside over these " Seminaries" or " Ladies Colleges," will haply discover that they must pay more attention to principles, and that unless a solid foundation is laid, the superstructure will not stand the test, and its fall will involve not only a loss of reputation but a decrease in emolument. The exclusion of girls, then, from these examinations, seems to us most unwise.