§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether there were not sixty out-door officers of the Customs Department of the Port of London, from fifteen to twenty-seven years' service, who, after special recommendation, are employed to act as examining officers and gaugers for an average period of seven years, yet who are subjected, in respect to half the vacancies occurring in the examining officers' and gaugers' department, to a competitive examination with young officers of five years' service, who have never acted in the same capacity; and, if so, whether an arrangement could not be made by which the competitive examination would be limited to officers of practical experience, and thus prevent young and inexperienced officers from superseding tried men of many years' service?
§ MR. BAXTERSir, the facts stated in the Question of the noble Lord are generally correct, with the exception that the young officers who are allowed to compete must have not less than five years' service; but I think that the arrangement which he suggests would not be so beneficial to the public service as that which at present exists, and which, while it gives sufficient consideration to practical experience, at the same time is a great encouragement to young men of superior intelligence and ability,