And whereas the permanent officers by whom the clerical part of such administration is conducted, although necessarily divided into many departments, have, in a great degree, similar duties to perform: And whereas, in consideration of the premisses, various inquiries have been undertaken, and various measures have been founded upon them, both for the selection and for the classification of the said permanent officers; of which measures the latest is Her Majesty's Order in Council of 4 June 1870, whereby, or by orders and regulations supplementary thereto, the selection of persons for Her Majesty's Civil Service is directed to be made principally by literary competition according to two standards of examination, and the persons so respectively selected are attached either to different offices, or to Higher or Lower Divisions of the same office, according to the examinations passed by them and the duties to be performed: And whereas it appears from certain recent reports made by the Right Honourable Lyon Playfair and others appointed by the Commissioners of the Treasury to be a Commission for inquiring into various questions connected with the organisation of Civil Departments of the State, that further regulations are required for the division of duties in Her Majesty's civil establishments, and for the selection, pay, and promotion of the officers entrusted with such duties: Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, is pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows: 1. A Lower Division of the Civil Service shall be constituted. It shall consist of men clerks and of boy clerks, engaged to serve in any department of the State to which they may, from time to time, be appointed or transferred. The term "Civil Service" in this paragraph, and the same term, and all equivalent terms, throughout this Order, mean such parts only of the said Service as are comprised in the first and second (excluding the third) of the said Reports. 2. 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. 3. Such situations in Her Majesty's Civil Service as are not suitable to be filled up by members of the Lower Division are excluded from this present Order, and shall, until Her Majesty's further pleasure is declared, be regulated, as now, by the heads of the departments to which they belong, subject to approval by the Commissioners of the Treasury, and conformably to Her Majesty's Orders applicable to them. 4. Promotions shall continue to be made, and salaries to be paid, in the case of all clerks now serving, in like manner as if this Order had never been issued. But no vacancies shall be filled up, nor any new appointments made in any departinent, except ORDER IN COUNCIL 12 Feb. 1876. ORDER IN 12 Feb. 1876. by appointing clerks of the Lower Division, until the Commissioners of the Treasury have been satisfied that the number of clerks serving in such department with higher salaries than those of the Lower Division is not in excess of the number sufficient to perform superior duties. 5. The Civil Service Commissioners shall at fixed intervals or whenever they may, with the previous approval of the Treasury, declare it to be necessary, hold competitive examinations for men clerks of the Lower Division, in the subjects included in the scheme of examination* known as "Regulation II. ;" and for boy clerks of the Lower Division, in a more limited number of subjects. Candidates for men clerkships must be over 17 and under 20 years of age. Candidates for boy clerkships must be over 15 and under 17 years of age. This 6. Before any such examination is held, the number of permanent clerkships likely to fall vacant within the next six months shall be estimated by the Civil Service Commissioners. number shall be increased by 10 per cent., and submitted to the Treasury for approval. When it has been approved, the Civil Service Commissioners shall deduct from it the number of unappointed persons (if any) qualified for appointments by previous examinations of the same kind, including examinations under Clause 11 of this Order; and the remainder shall be the number of persons to be selected at the next ensuing examination. This number shall be published as part of the notice of every such examination. 7. A list of the competitors shall be made out, in the order of merit, up to this published number, if so many are found by the examination to be qualified for appointments in the Civil Service. 8. Each competitor named in a list shall remain thereon until he attains the age (if a man) of 25 years, and (if a boy) of 19 years, unless in the meantime he has been appointed to a situation in some public office. Men on completing their 25th year, and boys on completing the 19th year of their ages respectively, or on receiving appointments, shall be removed from the list. * The subjects of examination under "Regulation II." are as follows; viz. 9. From these lists the Civil Service Commissioners, on the application of departments having vacancies, may supply, on probation, the requisite clerks, whether for permanent or temporary duty. Selections shall, as a general rule, be made by the Civil Service Commissioners according to the order of the names on the lists; but the Civil Service Commissioners may select any clerk who, in his examination, has shown special qualifications for any particular subject, among those included in "Regulation II.," if special application for such a clerk be made by any depart ment. 10. No clerk shall remain more than one year in any department unless at the end of that time the head of the department shall signify in writing to the Civil Service Commissioners that the clerk is accepted by the department. If he is not accepted, the department shall report to the said Commissioners the reasons for not accepting him; and such Commissioners shall thereon supply another clerk in his room, and shall decide whether the name of the rejected clerk shall be struck off the list, as unfit for the service generally, or whether he shall be allowed a trial in another department. 11. Boy clerks shall not be retained as such in any department after completing their 19th year; but they may, after two years (or, if admitted after 17 years of age, one year) of good service, to be certified in writing by the head of their department to the Civil Service Commissioners, compete under "Regulation II.," among themselves, for so many men clerkships of the lower division as shall not exceed one-fourth of the number of competitors. The number of men clerkships reserved for such limited competitions shall be reckoned as part of the total number to be published, pursuant to Clause 6 of this Order. Separate lists shall be made out of the competitors successful in the limited competitions, and selections for appointments to men clerkships shall (subject to Clause 9 of this Order) be made alternately from these lists and from the lists of competitors successful in the open competitions (Clause 5). 12. Appointments may be made exceptionally to the lower division of clerks from the body of writers serving before 4th June 1870, if thoroughly qualified, and from those subsequently registered by the Civil Service Commissioners; provided that the age of these latter did not exceed 30 years at the time of their being placed on the register: that at the date of this present Order in Council, they have served as registered writers for a period of not less than three years; that they produce certificates from the head of the department in which they are serving that it is desirable, in the interest of the public service, to retain and employ them in that same Department; and that they prove their fitness by a supplementary examination. 13. The salaries of men clerks in the lower division shall commence at 80%., and shall rise by triennial increments of 157. to 2001. Provided that in any office in which a regular attendance ORDER IN 12 Feb. 1876. of seven hours a day is required, the commencing salary may be COUNCIL. 90%, and the maximum salary may be 2507. ORDER IN 12 Feb. 1876. 14. The triennial increments of salary to men clerks shall not be allowed in full without a certificate from the immediate superior of each clerk, countersigned by the head of the department, or by such officer as he may designate for the purpose, to the effect that the clerk's conduct has been in all respects satisfactory. In cases of demerit, a part, or the whole of the increment may be withheld or deferred, according to circumstances. 15. The salaries of boy clerks shall begin at 14s. per week, and shall rise by 1s. per week per annum as long as they are employed. 16. Extra pay, not exceeding 1007. per annum, may be attached to certain situations open to clerks of the lower division whose duties involve the superintendence of other clerks, or are otherwise of a more distinctly responsible character than such as the generality of their colleagues have to perform. The number of such situations in each department, and the amount of extra pay, subject to the maximum of 100l., to be assigned to each such situation, shall be fixed by the head of the department, with the consent of the Commissioners of the Treasury. 17. Situations carrying extra pay shall be conferred strictly according to positive merit, and not according to seniority. 18. Promotion from the lower to the higher division of the Service shall not be made without a special certificate from the Civil Service Commissioners, to be granted exceptionally, after not less than ten years service, upon a special recommendation from the head of the department, and with the assent of the Treasury; and every such promotion, including such recommendation, certificate, and assent, shall be published in the London Gazette, and shall take effect only from and after the date of such publication. 19. Below the lower division of ordinary clerks (including boy clerks) men and boy copyists may be employed for mere copying, and for routine work under direct supervision, on the same conditions of service as those at present in force for Civil Service writers (men and boys). Whenever it is possible, they shall be paid by piece-work, at rates to be fixed by the Civil Service Commissioners, with the consent of the head of the department, and of the Commissioners of the Treasury. 20. All appointments, promotions, and transfers from one office to another shall be notified to the Civil Service Commissioners as they are made, and shall by them be published together in the number of the London Gazette first issued in each month. C. L. PEEL. At the Court at Windsor, the 27th day of June 1876. PRESENT: THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL WHEREAS Her Majesty's Order in Council, dated 12th February 1876, intituled, "Regulations for the Civil Service," is confined to such parts of Her Majesty's Civil Service as are comprised in the first and second (excluding the third) of the Reports made in the years 1874-75 by the Right Honourable Lyon Playfair and others appointed by the Commissioners of the Treasury to be a commission for inquiring into various questions connected with the organisation of Civil Departments of the State. And whereas it is expedient that discretion should be given to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs, with the previous consent of the Commissioners of the Treasury, to apply the said Order in Council, so far as they may see fit, to such parts of the Customs Service as are comprised in the said Third Report. Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, is pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered, that the said Commissioners of Customs may, so far as they see fit, and with the previous consent of the Commissioners of the Treasury, apply the said Order in Council to the Customs Service accordingly. C. L. PEEL. ORDER IN 27 June 1876. At the Court at Windsor, the 9th day of December 1876. PRESENT: THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL. WHEREAS Her Majesty's Order in Council, dated 12th February 1876, intituled, "Regulations for the Civil Service," is confined to such parts of Her Majesty's Civil Service as are comprised in the first and second (excluding the third) of the Reports made in the years 1874-75 by the Right Honourable Lyon Playfair and others appointed by the Commissioners of the Treasury to be a commission for inquiring into various questions connected with the organisation of Civil Departments of the State. And whereas it is expedient that discretion should be given to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Inland Revenue, with the previous consent of the Commissioners of the Treasury, to apply the said Order in Council, so far as they may see fit, to such parts of the Inland Revenue Service as are comprised in the said Third Report. Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, is pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered, that ORDER IN 9 Dec. 1876. |