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said, could not be fairly held responsible for the conduct and efficiency of officers imposed upon them by an external power. The objection seems to me to be peculiarly inapplicable under present circumstances; for, in the first place, nearly all the appointments in the Customs and Excise are now made wholly irrespective of the heads of those departments, and in the next place, it is notorious that the great majority of appointments, whether made by the Treasury or not, are made for considerations not exclusively connected with the public interests. The result is, that a government situation now is regarded by the nominee much as if it were a piece of property in the gift of his patron; and this idea, however erroneous, unquestionably influences the heads of departments in their treatment of their officers, and procures for inefficiency a toleration greatly hurtful to the public service. But the rule of appointments by competition would certainly destroy this notion. The title to a place in the Civil Service could no longer be supposed to be derived mainly from the favour of a patron, but must be regarded as depending solely on the presumption, created by successful examination, of fitness for official duties. The different effect, upon subsequent discipline, of these two different views of what constitutes the title to a situation, must be obvious: in the former case the impression produced is that a presentation by the patron is the one and only thing needful, and that this once gained and the test examination satisfied, the nominee has obtained a life interest in the property, whatever may be his future conduct, if it be not extravagantly bad:[1] in the latter case, the impression must be that as the promise of fitness formed the sole title of admission to the service, it can only be by the continued realisation of that promise that continuance in the service can be ensured.[2]
- ↑ "Mr. Bromley, the Accountant General of the Navy, mentions that he has known many instances of individuals boldly stating they were not put into the service by their patrons to work."—Papers relating to the Re-organization of the Civil Service, p. 54.
- ↑ It may prehaps be objected that the strictness of discipline here recom-
