§ LORD ELCHOsaid, he had had a Notice of Motion on the Paper for a considerable time with reference to giving civil employment to men who had served in the Naval and Military Forces of the country, and proposing that a Select Committee should be appointed to consider the subject. The state of business had prevented his bringing that Motion forward; but he had communicated privately with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in whose hands this matter chiefly rested, and his right hon. Friend the preceding night had kindly intimated that though he could not assent to the Motion as it stood, yet he was prepared to relax the rules in favour of military men having certificates of good conduct. Under these circumstances, he would not press his Motion unless on fuller information he found it necessary to do so.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, the Civil Service was at the present moment open to all Her Majesty's subjects, subject only to two qualifications—firstly, character, which was indispensable; and, secondly, age. By the rule as regards age, however, military men were practically excluded from civil employment, as the maximum age was generally about 25. The Government had, therefore, made a regulation that every soldier leaving the Army should count as his age for the purposes of the Civil Service the age at which he entered the Army. He would take the present opportunity of saying with regard to messengers and other inferior appointments, that they were quite open to soldiers who had left the Army. He had abolished the limitation of age so far as the appointments to writerships were concerned, so that any soldiers who could pass the requisite examination would be competent for appointment to these offices, which were rapidly becoming an important class in the Public Service. He hoped the question would not be pressed further, because it would be unsatisfactory to appoint a Committee in order to the creation of a privileged class of persons for employment in the various Departments of the State.