Consular Service. (Hansard, 7 April 1914)

§ 1 Mr. NORMAN CRAIG

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether, under the memoranda published by the Foreign Office, as indicating the conditions precedent to entry into the Consular Service, it is provided that candidates cannot be nominated unless they are unmarried and between twenty—two and twenty-seven years of age at the date of their examination, and that candidates must pass the examination in all subjects specified to the satisfaction of the Civil Service Commissioners; and whether Mr. de Bernhardt, recently appointed Consul at Nantes, and Mr. G. Hertslet, recently appointed Consul General at Trieste, complied with these conditions?

(2) Whether, under the provisions of a memorandum dated July, 1913, candidates for appointments in the Consular Service are required to appear before the Board of Selection meeting at the Foreign Office on the first Tuesday in May and November at 3 p.m.; whether the function of the Board of Selection is to recommend candidates; whether Mr. de Bernhardt and Mr. G. Hertslet, recently appointed to the Consular Service, appeared at any and what time before the Board of Selection; and whether their respective appointments were recommended by the Board of Selection?

(3) What are the duties of officials in the Librarian's Department of the Foreign Office; whether there is any examination of persons appointed to that Department in French as a compulsory subject, German or Spanish as alternative compulsory subjects, the principles of British mercantile and commercial law relating to shipping, negotiable instruments, contracts for the carriage of goods, contracts of marine insurance, bottomry, and respondentia, English and metric weights and measures, commercial geography, and political economy; whether satisfactory examination in the above-named subjects is according to the published memoranda of the Foreign Office essential to Consular appointment; and whether Mr. de Bernhardt and Mr. G. Hertslet, who have recently received Consular appointments, have at any and what time passed examination to the satisfaction of the Civil Service Commissioners in the above-named subjects?

1777 (4) Whether Mr. G. Hertslet has been appointed Consul-General at Trieste; whether this appointment is regarded as one of the prizes of the Consular Service; whether Mr. Hertslet has previously filled any and what offices as a Vice-Consul or Consul in the Consular Department; whether Mr. Hertslet was, until the time of his appointment, engaged in the Librarian's Department of the Foreign Office; what commercial experience Mr. Hertslet has had which justifies his appointment; and whether he is aware that appointments of this nature cause dissatisfaction amongst members of the Consular Service, who have begun by examination and worked up by merit, and that a repetition of such appointments is calculated to deter valuable men from entering the Consular Service?

(5) Whether, some few years ago, the office of Consul at Nantes was suppressed on the ground that the work did not justify the existence of a British Consul; whether the work has until recently been done by an unsalaried Vice-Consul; whether a Consul has again been appointed and at what salary; whether the Consul so appointed is Mr. de Bernhardt; whether Mr. de Bernhardt has for thirty-five or some and what other number of years been engaged in the Librarian's Department of the Foreign Office; what commercial experience Mr. de Bernhardt has had which justifies his appointment; and whether he is aware that appointments of this nature cause dissatisfaction amongst members of the Consular Service, who have begun by examination and worked up by merit, and that the repetition of such appointments is calculated to deter valuable men from entering the Consular Service?

(6) Whether Mr. Clipperton has been appointed inspector or visitor of all Consular posts in Northern Europe, and at what salary; whether Mr. Clipperton was about eight or nine years ago appointed Vice-Consul at Rouen at a salary of £300 or thereabouts; whether Rouen was subsequently made a post for a Consulate; whether Mr. Clipperton's salary was increased to £600 or some and what other sum; whether Mr. Clipperton has since been made a Consul-General; whether a new post of inspector or visitor of the Consular posts in Northern Europe has been created and conferred upon him; whether in his new office Mr. Clipperton becomes the superior officer to most of 1778 the visited Consuls, who until a short time ago were his superiors in service; and what considerations have contributed to the rapid promotion of Mr. Clipperton at the expense of many officers of much longer service?

§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Acland)

The conditions referred to by the hon. Member are those which regulate the admission of candidates to the junior branch of the Consular Service. Successive Secretaries of State have always reserved to themselves the right to recommend to the Crown the appointment of persons not in the Diplomatic or Consular Service to higher posts in those services, and they have acted from time to time in this way with great advantage to the public service. The duties of officials in the Librarian's Department of the Foreign Office are to take charge of past official correspondence and to furnish memoranda on political, Consular and commercial cases, and on treaty and other international questions, and to collect and collate precedents for the information of the Secretary of State. Time subjects of examination for that Department, when the two gentlemen in question entered it, were the same as those for the Diplomatic establishment of the Foreign Office, and the examination was likewise competitive. Their long experience of work in the Foreign Office furnishes them with a very complete equipment for the discharge of Consular duties.

The appointment to the Consulate-General at Trieste (which is classed as an ordinary Consulate for purposes of salary and cannot be considered one of the prizes of the service) is counterbalanced by the transfer of a senior member of the Consular Service to the Librarianship; and as the Consulate at Nantes is a new post, no member of the Consular Service has suffered through the recent changes. Nantes was reduced to a Vice-Consulate in 1905, but in consequence of the inclusion of all the Departments of France in Consular districts and a redistribution of districts, a Consulate has again been established at that port, with a salary of £800 a year. Both Mr. de Bernhardt and Mr. Hertslet, in the course of their duties at the Foreign Office, have had close experience of commercial and other matters which, in my opinion, qualified them for the discharge of their present duties. The one has had thirty-five, the other nearly fifteen years' service. 1779 Mr. Clipperton has been appointed Visiting Consular Officer for North-Western Europe. He was Vice-Consul at Baltimore in 1892, and entered the regular service after the usual examination in January, 1894. After various moves he was transferred to Rouen in 1904, when he received a salary of £410 a year. In 1906 he was promoted to be Consul at Rouen, and last year his salary, in common with that of many other Consuls of the same standing in the service, was raised to £800 a year. Four visiting officers have been appointed, of whom he is one; and they each receive an allowance of £100 a year in addition to their ordinary salaries. Their new appointment does not confer upon them any special seniority in their several grades. Mr. Clipperton's promotion has not been rapid. His rank as Consular-General is personal. There are several others with the substantive rank who are of less service. His selection for the duty of the visiting officer was due to proved capacity when charged with difficult tasks and to a knowledge of the details and management of a Consular Office as complete and thorough as that possessed by any member of the service to which he belongs.