§ MR. TREVELYANasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is the intention of the Government to embody the principle of open competition in the system of making first appointments to the Diplomatic Service, either by selecting fit persons from among the candidates who have succeeded in the examination held by the Civil Service Commissioners for Clerkships of the First Class in the Civil Service, or by nominating a certain number of candidates to compete for every vacant post?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEI am informed by my noble Friend (Earl Granville) that, during his last tenure of Office, he introduced the present system of appointing to clerkships in the Foreign Office, under which the number of candidates nominated to compete for each vacancy was largely in- 1605 creased; and he is now considering the possibility of extending this system to first appointments in the Diplomatic Service.