§ SIR COLMAN O'LOGHLEN,who had given Notice to move the following Resolution:— 1598
That, in the opinion of this House, Cadetships in the Royal Irish Constabulary should be thrown open to public competition similar to that now adopted with respect to first appointments in the Army,but which he was prevented by the Forms of the House from moving, said that at present, as far as he understood, the system was this—a young gentleman who sought to obtain a cadetship in the Royal Irish Constabulary must get a nomination from the Lord Lieutenant, from the Chief Secretary for Ireland, or from the Inspector General of the Constabulary. For every vacancy three nominations were given alternately by the Lord Lieutenant, by the Chief Secretary, and by the Inspector General. He considered that this practice ought to be abolished, and that public competitions should take place for the vacancies just as commissions in the Army were thrown open. The Royal Irish Constabulary Force now consisted of nearly 12,000 men, officered by over 200 officers, and he believed there were 26 county inspectors and 200 sub-inspectors. No one could get into this Force as an officer, unless he could get a Government nomination. These nominations were generally obtained through Members of Parliament; but, of course, no Home Rule Member could get a nomination, because he could not approach the Chief Secretary with whispered breath and bated humbleness, and therefore all the nominations went to the small body of Members behind the Treasury Bench. That, he thought, was extremely hard. He was desirous of having this question discussed in the House, after which lie thought the present system could not stand. He did not believe that there would be any danger imported into the Force by throwing open the cadetships to public competition. Of course if a system of open competition was established—and he did not see why it should not be as good for the Constabulary as for the Army—proper precautions must be taken against improper persons getting into the Force, but he believed this could be done, and that a Force, which he, unlike some hon. Members on that side of the House, looked upon with approval, could be protected against deterioration. In his belief it was a very efficient Force, and a great credit to the country.
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHsaid, that this subject had only very recently 1599 been brought under his notice, since there had been latterly a large reduction in the number of officers; and in consequence, until a few weeks ago, no fresh appointments had been made for some years past. But the competition for three appointments that had just taken place was conducted very much on the principle which the right hon. and learned Baronet had suggested to the House, but with this difference, that instead of the competition being an open one it was limited to five candidates for each vacancy. And if the nomination in one case had been given to the Inspector General of Constabulary, it had not been used as private patronage, but had been made the means of promoting a deserving head constable. The question raised by the Motion was really one between limited competition and open competition, and he confessed that he preferred the former to the latter for the Force. The argument that the same principle should be adopted for the Constabulary as for the Army was an argument that the Constabulary was a military Force; but he denied there was this analogy between the two, and he trusted that no one who ever occupied the position he held would regard the Force in that light. He did not think it possible, under the system of public competition, to take sufficient security for the fitness of candidates for the Irish Constabulary; and he thought it was very necessary that there should be sufficient security that no one should be permitted to enter the Force without proper qualifications. At the same time, it was possible that the present system of limited competition might be extended; in fact, he had already extended it in some degree, and in filling up future vacancies he should be prepared to proceed in a similar direction. Hon. Members from Ireland should remember that up to the present time the Irish Constabulary had been officered almost exclusively by Irishmen; but if the system of open competition was established there might be a large introduction of Englishmen and Scotch-men. He did not say that this would be an injury to the Force; but it would change its character very materially. He promised that the question should engage his attention, and he would endeavour to deal with it on the lines which he had sketched out.
§ CAPTAIN NOLANsaid, he had no fear of the open competition of Englishmen and Scotchmen, for Irishmen had hitherto in all cases held their own very fairly in any public competition to which they had been admitted. As Irishmen were admitted to competitions for admission to many branches of the Imperial Service, and especially to the Indian Junior Civil Services, it would only be right that Englishmen and Scotchmen should be admitted to compete for office in Ireland. He believed, for his own part, that Irishmen had everything to gain by a general throwing open of the appointments to open competition, and he thought that throwing open the appointments in the Irish Constabulary to such competition would tend greatly in that direction. He did not believe that by adopting such a system they would get worse officers than at present, or even of inferior social position. This had certainly not been the case in the Army, but the contrary. The practice of open competition had been to raise the standard of efficiency, and he saw no reason why this should not be the case as regarded the Constabulary. Open competition had been productive of the best results in the Services, as it attracted better educated men. There was no doubt that the Indian Civil Service had been greatly improved by the introduction of open competition, for instead of studying a little for a mere pass examination, they had to study hard to beat one another. On making arrangements at the Castle in Dublin, by political services, or by cultivating social acquaintance, these were the means by which nominations were got. It was very unfair that such privileged persons should have the appointments, and thus keep others out. For that reason he thought the Irish Constabulary ought to be thrown open to public competition, and the same remark applied to all the Services. Let them introduce physical examinations, if they liked; but, whether at cricket or not, let the best men win.
§ MR. O'SHAUGHNESSYadmitted the desirability that a Force like the Irish Constabulary, which had to administer the law, and had besides many official duties, should be drawn from the people as much as possible, and should be officered by persons drawn from all classes. At the same time he agreed 1601 with the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Clare (Sir Colman O'Loghlen) that for a Force of that kind the present competitive examination was utterly inadequate for the selection of the proper men. It was impossible to form any opinion as to the tact of a young man by competitive examination, nor could they tell how he would conduct himself in difficult circumstances. In some Departments of the Indian Civil Service open competitions had been attended with success; but in other Departments it had been a failure. Considering the delicate and difficult nature of the duties which the Irish Constabulary had to discharge, they should hesitate before they adopted open competition. With regard to Englishmen and Scotchmen in Ireland he confessed he should not be sorry to see a few in the Irish Constabulary. An Englishman and a Scotchman had very different ideas as to the administration of the law, and as to the rights of those over whom he exercised that administration, from those of Irishmen. They had been accustomed to deal with people who stood on their rights, and who would resist any attempt to infringe their rights—who would in fact, always resist authority when they thought it was illegally and discourteously used. Therefore, an Englishman or a Scotchman might set an example to many Irish officials, who were wanting in the charities of official life, and bring other ideas of administration not only into the Irish Constabulary, but into other Departments of the State. He was always reluctant to say anything savouring of sectarianism, but when they considered the numbers of Roman Catholics and Protestants in the Force, it was easy to say that the proportion of the latter was very great. That, to say the least, was very natural, seeing that the upper classes were to a large extent Protestants. These who frequented the Castle, whose parents and relatives had held office, had been to a large extent Protestant. He did did not wish to make any suggestion to the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary, as he was quite sure that none was necessary; but he would give a hint as to the undesirability of the system he seemed to approve—selecting candidates from those whose parents, or members of whose families, had been officials. He was very much afraid that 1602 this was calculated to create in Ireland an official caste which was already sufficiently strong, and it was unadvisable that it should grow stronger, especially in the Force which had to deal with the administration of law, and had so many social duties to perform. If the right hon. Gentleman knew as much as he (Mr. O'Shaughnessy) did of the spirit of the country, and saw the hostility and the chasm which existed between the official classes and the people, and what a hobgoblin the official was to the shopkeeper, the farmer, or the labouring man, he would see how undesirable it was to perpetuate that official caste.
MR. SULLIVANsaid, that no doubt the Force in Ireland was greatly indebted to his right hon. and learned Friend (Sir Colman O'Loghlen) for bringing the subject before the House, and especially for having elicited from the right hon. Baronet the Chief Secretary for Ireland, the direction in which his own mind tended on that subject. He could do no more useful work during his term of office than to give the Irish Constabulary that non-Party character which was so desirable in a peace Force. There might be difficulties in throwing open the appointments to public competition; but nothing could be more desirable than that the system of nominations should monopolize the whole field of Constabulary appointments; and, for his own part, as an Irish Member of Parliament, he blessed the day when patronage had been taken from them to the extent to which it had been taken. He was proud to say of his own constituents that from the day he was elected four years ago to the present hour he had got but one application for anything like political patronage, and that, which happened to be for one of these nominations, he was obliged to refuse, stating as his apology that while the courtesy of the Government to Irish Members was beyond all expectation, he could not go to them, and ask them for a favour, as they invariably gave nothing for nothing. He hoped the right hon. Gentleman would narrow as much as possible the area of possible Party appointments, and carry out the idea of opening all branches of the Public Service.
Main Question, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair," put, and agreed to.