QUESTION. OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 21 May 1878)

§ EARL FORTESCUE
said, that having long bestowed much attention on educational questions, he had naturally interested himself in the new system of competitive examinations for commissions in the Army. He had, during the last few years, on different occasions, publicly stated his views on the subject, and, as late as last July, addressed their Lordships at some length upon it. He had then expressed his earnest hope that the Government would carefully consider the question during the Recess, and, for the sake of obtaining the best and most efficient officers, allow excellence in martial and athletic exercises to have its due weight in competitive examinations for commissions, in the nonscientific, as well as the scientific branches of the British Army. He was now happy to have reason to believe that the Government had carefully considered the question. He was not at all opposed to competitive examinations, in order to enable the best out of the numerous candidates for the honour of serving the Queen in the Army to be selected. By all means, let Her Majesty take the best men, but let them be the best men all round, the most likely to prove efficient officers, and not merely the best scholars. The 353 views which he had expressed were not based upon his own individual judgment alone, but upon the opinion of a number of distinguished officers of all ranks, from Field Marshals, downwards, who were all agreed upon it. That noble veteran, Sir John Burgoyne, whose military experience had commenced before this century, himself a man of much literary culture as well as of notoriously eminent scientific and professional attainments, in the very last conversation he had with him, expressed his fear lest too exclusive importance should be attached to mere book learning as a qualification for officers, and his conviction that a certain hardihood and love of adventure, such as was generally found in men addicted to field sports and athletic exercises, was much to be desired in the profession. Another friend of his, distinguished for his efficiency in the command of his regiment, an enthusiast for competitive examinations, had told him, that, in his opinion at least one-third, if not more nearly one-half of the marks ought to be allotted to proficiency in martial and athletic exercises. But this view was not confined to officers; it commended itself to non-professional men of common sense also. A right rev. Prelate, eminently successful as Head Master of a great public school, told him he had once had the offer of a commission in the Army for anyone he chose to name from that school; that he then, reflecting that the boy most likely to win a University Scholarship would not necessarily be the fittest to carry the Queen's Colours, instituted a competitive examination, partly intellectual, partly athletic, among the boys desiring the commission; and that he felt satisfied he should send one who would do credit both to his school and to the Army, when, on adding up the marks, he ascertained that the successful candidate was the captain of the School Eleven. The Clerical Pedagogue, it seemed to him (Earl Fortescue), contrasted favourably in this instance as regarded common sense, with the eminent statesmen and distinguished officers, the Members of the Legislature and men of the world, who had devised the present system, not with standing the long-established recognition of a different principle in the examinations for commissions in the scientific branches of the Army. Surely, good riding, to which 354 the noble Viscount opposite had so justly attached importance, was less essential to the Engineer than to the Cavalry Officer, whose duties obliged him to be so much on horseback; and yet, strange to say, the candidate for a commission, if in the Engineers, got marks for it, but if in the Cavalry, got none. The only explanation was that the examinations for the Engineers and Artillery had been the result of experience of the requirements of the Service, while the present system of examinations for the nonscientific branches had been somewhat crudely and hastily adopted under the pressure of popular clamour. He protested, not against the principle of competitive examinations, but against this application of it as opposed alike to experience and to common sense, and begged to put the Question of which he had given Notice—namely, Whether the late Secretary for War did not appoint a Committee to inquire into the expediency of extending to the examinations for commissions in the non-scientific branches of the Army, the principle, long recognized to a certain extent as regarded those for the Engineers and Artillery, of giving a certain number of marks for proficiency in certain martial or athletic exercises; and, if so, whether that Committee had yet made any Report, and, if they had, whether the Government were considering the practicability of taking steps to modify the present system accordingly?

§ LORD HAMPTON
said, that as the Head of the Civil Service Commission, this subject had attracted his attention, and he had thought it his duty to give his attention to it. The examination of candidates for the Army was now intrusted to the Commission. He had been much struck how much these examinations turned upon educational and mental qualifications, and he arrived at the conclusion that the examinations for those candidates were of too exclusively an intellectual character. Having well considered the question, he thought it desirable, under a judicious arrangement, to supplement—not supersede—the present system by physical tests. He had communicated that opinion to the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, and His Royal Highness, without committing himself to any particular plan, expressed his strong approbation of the principle of such a test. He also called the attention of his 355 noble Friend (Viscount Cranbrook), who was then Secretary of State for War, and he also entirely concurred in these views. Eventually, it was thought advisable that there should be a conference between some representatives of the War Office and the Civil Service Commissioners on the subject. His noble Friend appointed a Committee of three Staff officers, who, with him, as representing the Civil Service Commission, had very attentively considered the subject. A unanimous Report, in which a test of physical efficiency was recommended, had been agreed to. He hoped to hear from his noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for War, that the Government would lay that Report on the Table.

§ VISCOUNT BURY
need hardly say there was an almost universal consensus of opinion, among military men and non-military men, that it was desirable there should be some sort of physical test for candidates seeking commissions in the Army. The first duty of the authorities in these matters was, of course, to see that their young officers were educated men; but, that object secured, if a physical test could be added, it would be of advantage. Until the Report of the Committee referred to by his noble Friend had been sufficiently considered by the illustrious Duke at the head of the Army, and by his right hon. and gallant Friend the Secretary of State for War, it was regarded as a confidential document, which might be altered in its details, and, therefore, it would not be convenient to produce it now; but when His Royal Highness and his right hon. and gallant Friend had had an opportunity of perusing and considering the Report, whether favourable or unfavourable, it would be laid on the Table, when no doubt it would receive the attention it demanded as an expression of opinion of the noble Lord, whose experience so well entitled his views to consideration.

THE MARQUESS OF LANDSDOWNE
said, he did not think that the proposal of a physical test for candidates seeking commissions could, with advantage, be discussed by their Lordships till the Report of the Committee was in the hands of their Lordships. He rose to point out an error into which the noble Earl (Earl Fortescue) had fallen, when he described the competitive examinations as having been hastily and crudely introduced 356 in answer to popular clamour. That was altogether a mistake. They were introduced with the utmost deliberation and in compliance with the Report of a Royal Commission, appointed by the noble Lord who had just spoken, and who was at the time Secretary of State for War. His noble Friend behind him had acted upon the Report of that Commission, which had unanimously recommended a system of competitive examinations, directed not to test the ability of the candidates in military subjects, but their proficiency in those subjects, which were usually to be learned at our great public schools. He did not say anything against a physical test, if it were possible to introduce it—the experiment would be watched with interest on both sides. He could not, however, but feel that whatever amount of caution might be used, they would have still to encounter the same class of difficulties as that which had to be contended with at present. He believed it to be beyond the reach of ingenuity to devise a perfect system of examination. There must be cases of bad luck, and chance must come in, whatever the system of examination might be. He did not like to make a gloomy anticipation, but the application of the physical test might result in the exclusion of young men who, here after, might have proved very valuable officers. There were many young men of 19 and 20 who never had had an opportunity of acquiring the art of equitation or of learning to swim. He would only add, that it would have been an advantage if noble Lords, who had inveighed so often against the present examinations, had told them not only whether the existing system of examinations was likely to act unfairly with respect to candidates, but whether it actually had done so. That proposition, however, was one which he had never heard distinctly advanced during the time this question had been discussed.