ENTRANCE INTO THE CIVIL SERVICE.

AMONG the various callings or occupations in

life, few are to be compared to employment in the Civil Service. When an intelligent youth enters the service of the State he is, humanly speaking, provided for during the remainder of his natural life; and though his salary at first may be small, yet it grows from year to year as his requirements grow, until at length it becomes a respectable provision for his family. Finally, when he has reached the age that suggests retirement, the State has provided a well-arranged pension scheme as a provision for the rest of his life. Though at first his salary as a junior clerk may appear too small, say £80 a year, yet in many instances the work is simple routine, the holidays and vacations long, and the association with educated companions agreeable. Many will say this is a roseate view of the case: we do not think so. When you compare the laborious hours of most City clerks with the stereotyped six hours of the Civil Service, it is greatly to the advantage of the

latter.

Nevertheless, if a young man have a few thousand pounds capital, he may afford to disregard the Civil Service, and take his place in a City firm, where, though the work may be severe and even badly paid for some years, talent and industry in the end must prevail. The longer an intellient clerk is in a City firm the more indispensable his services become, until finally he is taken in as a partner by the house. In this way most City firms are recruited. The practice of taking in younger from time to time as partners is an admirable one, calculated to keep up healthy and vigorous

men

action in a concern.

It stimulates the youngest

assistant, and early inspires him with a laudable

ambition.

All our young men cannot join City

[PRICE SIXPENCE.

and in diffusing among them useful and accurate information on the subject. In this introductory chapter we shall merely enumerate the various modes of entering the service, and in our future issues we shall go into the particular offices more in detail. Roughly speaking, the Civil Service may be entered as a Boy CLERK. Candidates for Boy clerkships must be between the ages of 15 and 17. The examinations for these appointments are held from time to time in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh. Again, candidates between the ages of 17 and 20 may enter as MEN CLERKS, or what is known as LowER DIVISION CLERKS. Examinations are held for these appointments about three times a year in London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Cork, Belfast, and Bristol. Or again, you may enter Her Majesty's service as a superior clerk, under Scheme Class I. as it is called, with an examination which includes all the branches of superior education as given at Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, or Edinburgh Universities. Again, you may enter the EXCISE (a branch of the Inland Revenue), age 19 to 22, a service in which the salary, though low at first, finally rises to a very respectable amount. For the Excise, examinations are held twice a year. You may enter the CUSTOMS as an outdoorofficer. For this branch of the service examinations are also held twice a year, the age being from 19 to 25. In the Customs persons can rise to the higher branches of the service, and finally enjoy very respectable salaries. We have now to turn to the fair sex, to whom certain positions in the Civil Service in recent years have been thrown open. The only two great departments open to females are the General Post-Office and the Telegraph Department connected therewith. Female clerks enter the General Post Office between the ages of 18 and 20. What a social revolution the Civil Service Commission has quietly effected! Thirty years ago there were no competitions. In our next issue we shall refer to the subjects of examination and salaries in several departments.

firms, however, and, moreover, few of them have got a couple of thousand pounds capital in immediate expectancy. For the great majority of our youths, then, the Civil Service is the most desirable field to look forward to. For this large class THE COMPETITOR will be a very valuable assistance, in enabling them to become successful candidates,

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