Civil Service. Under this head are classed all officers of the crown who do not belong to the military or naval services and are engaged in the administration of the civil affairs of the state, such as the collection of the revenue, the administration of law and justice, the performance of the executive duties of the government, and the representation of the country abroad. Originally the civil service was a body small in number and personal to the sovereign, but with the growth of popular control over state affairs, the number of persons employed under government has vastly increased, and there have been many new departments called into existence to carry out fresh laws. For instance, the Education Department was established to administer the grants made by parliament in aid of public education, the Poor-law Commission for the administration of the Poor-laws, and the Board of Trade for the purpose of carrying out new laws relating to shipping and railways. Posts in the civil service were originally in the gift of the ministers of the crown, and no qualifying test was applied, though in some departments tests of competency were applied by the authorities at their sole discretion to candidates for clerkships. Amongst these departments were the Admiralty, the Audit Office, the Customs, the Excise, the General Register Office, the National Debt Office, the Ordnance Office, the Pay-office, the Post-office (London), the Stationery Office, the Treasury, and the War Office. But no examination whatever took place on appointment to some of the most important offices of the state, such as the Home Office, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Board of Trade, the Office of Works, or the Office of Woods. The inadequacy of these arrangements having been forcibly pointed out in 1853 in a report by Sir Stafford Northcote and Sir Charles Trevelyan, an order in council which was issued in 1855 directed that tests of fitness should be insisted upon as regards all junior situations in all departments of the civil service, and that such tests should be applied by a separate and independent board created for the express purpose.
A Board of Commissioners was appointed, and entered at once upon its duties. Some time, however, was required to bring under the new system all the situations and employments which it was intended to affect. Not the least important of the tests were directed to the proof of a candidate's fitness in respect of age, health, and character. The Superannuation Act, 1859, made the grant of certificates by the Commissioners an essential condition, in ordinary cases, to the receipt of a pension. In the earlier years of the Commission its proceedings were almost exclusively concerned with the examination of candidates nominated singly to single posts, the only question to be decided being whether the candidate reached or did not reach a minimum standard of competency. There was no rule providing for competition either open or limited. On the other hand, there was nothing to preclude competition if those who had the power of appointment to any situation should choose to nominate several candidates for one vacancy, or to invite applications from the public at large. The average ratio of nominees to places was about three to one. But, as many of the nominees failed to reach the minimum standard, the proportion of competent or effective candidates was lower, sometimes not more than one to one, a result of course inconsistent with the idea of competition. To remedy this defect it was arranged in 1861, on the recommendation of a select committee of the House of Commons, that persons nominated to clerkships in the gift of the Treasury should first be subjected to a test examination of an elementary character, and that those who passed this test should afterwards compete in the proportion of three candidates to a vacancy. In 1870 the plan was superseded, as far as regards these clerkships, by open competition. Limited competitions have, however, continued for various situations in respect of which the heads of departments retain the right of nomination. It was not until some years after the promulgation of the order of 21st May 1855 that the experiment of entirely open competition was tried. The first absolutely open competition occurred in 1859, when, at the instance of the then Secretary of State for India (Lord Derby), 339 candidates, having offered themselves in answer to public advertisement, were examined for eight writerships in the India Office. The advantages of open competition were formally recognised by a resolution of the House of Commons on 24th April 1856, as well as by a select committee of that House which sat in 1860.
The general application of the principle of open competition to the home civil service dates from the order in council of 4th June 1870, which laid it down as to certain specified departments comprising the bulk of the service that open competition for clerkships and similar situations, instead of being, as before, permissible at the discretion of the heads of departments, should thenceforth be the rule, unless expressly excluded. From that date to the present time the field of open competition has been continually extending, and it now includes several departments which, though not necessarily subject to the rule, have thought fit voluntarily to accept it. From May 1855 to June 1870 the number of competitors was 1594 for 37 appointments; and from June 1870 to December 1885 there were 108,400 competitors for 14,717 appointments. Persons seeking appointments in the civil service which are open to competition must pass either (1) a special examination arranged to suit the class of appointment; (2) the Class 1 examination, which is generally known as the Higher Division; or (3) the Lower Division examination. From 1870 to 1876 appointments to the clerical staff were, except in a few special cases, divided as regards examination into Class 1 and Class 2, the former of which still continues. The latter was, however, superseded after the report of a Royal Commission over which Sir Lyon Playfair presided, by the examination for the Lower Division of the service which was constituted by order in council of 12th February 1876. This order provided that no department throughout Her Majesty's civil service shall be permanently increased or regulated afresh without providing for the introduction of a system whereby such of its duties as are of a suitable character shall be performed by members of the Lower Division. The intention of this was to reduce the cost of the clerical staff in the various departments. After the system had been in force a few years it gave rise to much agitation among the clerks, and eventually a Royal Commission was appointed in 1886 to inquire into the whole administration of the service. In September 1888 the Commission presented its report on the working of the Playfair scheme, and on the scales and regulations under which pensions are granted. It recommended that the service should be divided into 'First Division' and 'Second Division' to take the place of the Upper and Lower Divisions of the Playfair system; the salaries of the 'First Division' to begin at £200 and to rise to £1000 a year, and those of the 'Second
Division' to begin at £70 and to rise to £350 a year. The entire civil service was to be placed on these scales so as to secure uniformity and to facilitate transfers from one department to another. The Commissioners recommended a revision of the pension system with a view of compelling civil servants to make some contribution towards their pensions, and they suggested a deduction of 5 per cent. from salaries for this purpose. These recommendations of the Commission have never been fully carried out, and on this account there has repeatedly been much agitating on the part of the civil servants about their 'grievance.'
At the census of 1891 there were 76,361 persons in the civil service, of whom 40,106 were officers and clerks, and 36,255 office-keepers, messengers, porters, and letter-carriers. Of the total 67,026 were males and 9335 were females. Appointments in the civil service as a rule are held for life, and confer the right to a pension. The pension system was instituted by the Superannuation Act, 1859, which provides that the superannuation allowance to be granted to persons who shall have served in an established capacity in the permanent civil service of the state, whether their remuneration be computed by day pay, weekly wages, or annual salary, and for whom provision shall not otherwise have been made by act of parliament, or who may not be specially excepted by the authority of parliament, shall be as follows: To any person who shall have served ten years and upwards and under eleven, an annual allowance of ten-sixtieths of the annual salary and emoluments of his office; for eleven years and under twelve years, an annual allowance of eleven-sixtieths of such salary and emoluments; and, in like manner, a further addition to the annual allowance of one-sixtieth in respect of each additional year of such service until the completion of a period of service of forty years, when the annual allowance of forty-sixtieths may be granted, and no addition shall be made in respect of any service beyond forty years. Special allowances are made in cases of the abolition of office, and these are entirely in the discretion of the Commissioners of the Treasury. By the Pensions Commutation Act, 1871, pensions may be commuted by persons entitled to them according to a scale which has been fixed by government.
In the public accounts of Great Britain the Civil Service Estimates fall under the heads of: (1) Public Works and Buildings; (2) Salaries and Expenses of Civil Departments; (3) Law and Justice; (4) Education, Science and Art; (5) Foreign and Colonial Services; (6) Non-effective and Charitable Services; (7) Miscellaneous. For the public accounts, see GREAT BRITAIN; and for the Indian Civil Service, see INDIA.
CIVIL SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES.—In January 1883 Congress passed a law to prevent the abuse of the appointing power of the officers of government. The President was authorised to appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, three Civil Service Commissioners, whose duty is to aid the President in preparing suitable rules which shall provide for open competitive examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for the public service, such examinations to be practical in their character, and so far as may be relating to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the service. All the offices, places, and employments arranged in classes or grades are to be filled by selections according to grade from among those graded highest as the results of such competitive examinations. The appointments to the public service in the departments at Washington are to be proportioned upon the basis of population to the several states and territories and the District of Columbia. The law provides a period of probation before any absolute appointment is made, and exempts all persons in the public service from all obligation to contribute to any political fund or to render any political service. It forbids any person in the public service using his official authority to coerce the political action of any other person or body. Non-competitive examinations in all proper cases are provided for after notice given of a vacancy, the appointing power to give notice in writing to the Civil Service Commission of the persons selected for appointment among those who have been examined. Power is given this Commission to make regulations for, and to have control of, such examinations, subject to the rules made by the President. The Civil Service Commission is required to report annually to the President, for transmission to Congress, its own action, the rules and regulations, and the exceptions thereto in force, the practical objects thereof, and any suggestions for the more effectual accomplishment of the purposes of the law. Provision is made for holding examinations at convenient places twice each year in every state and territory of the United States.
The Commission punishes by fine and imprisonment all in the public service who wilfully defeat, obstruct, or deceive any person in respect to his or her right of examination, or who shall corruptly and falsely mark, grade, estimate, or report upon the proper standing of any person examined, or aid in so doing, or who shall furnish to any person any special or secret information for the purpose of either improving or injuring the prospects of any person so examined being appointed, employed, or promoted. It was provided that after six months from the passing of the act, no officer or clerk was to be appointed until after passing examination, unless specially exempted by the act; and no person in the habit of using intoxicating beverages to excess is to be appointed to or retained in any office, appointment, or employment to which the act applies. This and subsequent legislation has wrought a wonderful change for the better, lessened the number of incompetent politicians who thrive upon the 'spoils system' applying for office, and secures a far better class of public servants in all departments of the government.