Asiatic Quarterly Review (Full Title: The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, and Oriental and Colonial Record): Volume XIII, No. 26 [‎521v] (167/238)

380 Proceedings of the East India Association.
on the Employment of Natives in the Civil Service. It was, he thought,
most important to know the results of the labours of that Commission. At
that time, roughly speaking, the Civil Service of India was divided into five
branches : First, the Covenanted Service, with about 900 members, nearly
all Europeans, holding the highest posts; then there came the military
officers in civil employ, amounting to about 1,600; then the small and
recently established Statutory Service of the natives of India, in which
there were only 30; then came the great army of uncovenanted
civilians, with salaries of ^100 a year and upwards, holding the lower
judicial and administrative offices, amounting to 14,500, about half being
natives of India. Below them came an army of clerks, village officials,
police, and so on. He had made some suggestions that the Indian Civil
Service should be divided into the upper, or Imperial Service, chiefly European;
the Provincial Service, almost entirely confined to natives ; and below'
that, the great army of Civil Servants, doing a variety of humble work. He
believed the Commission reported on somewhat similar lines. He did not
know whether Mr. Pennington could tell them the result of the changes
which had been since made. The age had been raised for the open com
petition in England, and he believed with very good results. He under
stood that a better and maturer class of men had gone out from England
to India. As to the effect on the number of Indian candidates, he
supposed the result was much as before. He did not think any altera
tion ought to be made as regards the Indian Imperial Service, except
in one respect. He thought it should still be open to competition in
England. The coming of the candidate from India to England was in
itself a very good test of enterprise and energy. No doubt it limited the
competition to men fairly well to do, but this was an advantage, as it pro
bably produced men with larger views of life. One change might be made,
that it should as much as possible limit the Imperial Service, which had
still to be recruited by open competition, and gradually from the Pro
vincial Service introduce men of proved ability. He agreed with Sir Lepel
Griffin that the local governments in India must be responsible for securing
adequate tests of competency and executive capacity of men promoted
from the provincial administration. Although the competitive test worked
fairly well in England under certain conditions, he did not think it would
be a good test to apply for the purpose of securing the best administrative
ability in India. Therefore, he said that if they wanted to recruit the
highest administrative posts and the highest executive posts with Indian
gentlemen it must be, not by competitive examination, whether in England
or in India, but from men tried in administrative posts under the eye and
supervision of British officers. It was that which had been the basis of
success in Egypt.
Mr. Allbless thought the tone of Mr. Pennington so reasonable, and
his suggestions so sensible, that very few speakers could take any excep
tion to them. He wished to say a few words on the subject of simultaneous
examination. As a Parsee he had received the highest possible education
at the University of Bombay. He found that that education was not
sufficient; it was solid and sound, but not broad enough, and it was only