§ MR. TREVELYANasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the number of qualified Candidates for admission to the Diplomatic Service is sufficient to admit of the extension to that service of the system of limited competition which in recent years has been adopted in the case of first appointments to the Foreign Office?
§ MR. BOURKESir, it is difficult to say whether the number of qualified candidates would admit of the application of the system of limited competition. There are, no doubt, more applicants than vacancies, and whenever that is the case limited competition is possible; but the number is much smaller than that of the applicants for clerkships in the Foreign Office, and the difficulty of selection is greatly increased in practice by the fact that with the present rates of pay and the cost of living abroad, no man can hold a junior appointment in the Diplomatic Service without private means.