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including the composition of a simple letter on an ordinary topic—which seems to me a very valuable test of intelligence. (I have already intimated my own conviction that further tests might be devised to measure still more directly a man's practical aptitude for official duties; but it will probably be best to confine attention now to the subjects indicated above.)
The competitions should be held periodically, and at no distant intervals (perhaps quarterly), in order that the Departments might be regularly recruited. They should also take place in different parts of the country, in order that the encouragement to education might be generally and equally diffused. The whole might be managed with the utmost facility, and at a very trifling expense. No one need fear lest the country should be overrun by a large army of Examiners from Oxford or Cambridge. As the examination papers would be prepared at the Central Office in London, and as the performances of the candidates would all be transmitted thither for analysis and judgment, it would only be necessary to secure the presence at the local examinations of a trustworthy, intelligent, and business-like officer, capable of carrying out the requisite mechanical arrangements, and ensuring order and fairness in the contest.
If the examinations were held quarterly, the number of prizes to be put up for competition would be regulated by the number of vacancies estimated to occur in the course of the succeeding quarter (say 150), and these prizes would be awarded to the 150 persons whose names might appear first on the list issued by the Civil Service Commissioners, after their decision upon the various performances, provided that these successful competitors had produced satisfactory evidence of their being (1) within the age prescribed, (2) physically competent for their duties, and (3) of good moral character. Of course, no amount of excellence in the literary examinations could counterbalance any serious deficiency in either of the three latter points; and I have already urged that Competition
