§ MR. MAURICE HEALY (Cork)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he can state the dates of the two competitions to fill the place of assistant in the South Kensington Museum (Art Branch), at which Mr. Herbert Caleb Andrews passed in the obligatory subjects; whether the result of these examinations was gazetted, and, if so, when; why it was that Mr. Andrews did not get a certificate as the result of either of these examinations; and whether any precedent exists for the issue of a Civil Service certificate in the circumstances under which Mr. Andrews obtained it.
§ * MR. HANBURYThe two competitions were held in February, 1897, and June, 1898, and the results were gazetted on 2nd March, 1897 and 5th July, 1898. Mr. Andrews was not successful at either examination, although he qualified at both, and therefore no certificate was then issued to him. It has been the practice of the Civil Service Commissioners that, if only one candidate enters for an open competition, he should, if qualified, receive the appointment in question: It has also been the practice 27 not to re-examine a candidate who has qualified at a previous examination.