PREFACE.

IN the following pages I have endeavoured to furnish information respecting the Indian Civil Service - its qualifications, salaries, &c.—on the plan adopted by me in my Guide to the English Civil Service. Considering the attention which the Indian Civil Service is now attracting at home, it seems strange that, until the issue of this work, no Guide to the Civil Service of India should have appeared. The reason is, however, soon explained. The Indian Civil Service, unlike the Home Service, offers no detailed account of its expenditure, so that the scale of Indian official salaries is at present almost unknown in England. The standards of qualification for the different examinations, the mode of examination, and the examination papers, are published annually by the Civil Service Commissioners in their Reports, and can be consulted by all. The rules as regards furlough and the appointments of Chaplains appear in the Indian Civil Service List, and are open to every inquirer. But the Scale of Salaries, which I consider the most important portion of my Guide, has never before appeared in any Report, List, or Almanack in the connected form under which I now present it. And for the possession of this information I am indebted to Mr. Frank Thompson, of the

India Office, who kindly placed at my service various quasi-official authorities preserved in the India Office, and I beg here to tender him my most grateful thanks.

"The Guide to the Indian Civil Service" is the only work on the subject which embraces in one volume the standard of qualifications, and scales of salaries of the different appointments in the various Presidencies, together with other information useful to the Indian Civil Service student; and as it has cost me no little labour to compile and arrange, I trust it will satisfy a great public want.

6, Sunderland Terrace, Westbourne Park,

February, 1870.

GUIDE TO THE INDIAN CIVIL

SERVICE.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

Indian Appointments open to Public Competition-Age of Admission-Further Examinations-Tables showing Number of Candidates Examined and Selected between 1858 and 1868Advantages of the Indian Civil Service-Subjects of Examination-Mode of Examination-Instructions to Selected Candidates by the Civil Service Commissioners List of Works Recommended for Study-Pensions-Regulations for Admission of Chaplains-Indian Medical Service-Civil Furlough Regulations-List of Examiners.

IN consequence of a report drawn up in 1854 by a committee appointed for the purpose, the important and lucrative appointments in the Civil Service of India, which had been previously at the disposal of the directors of the East India Company, were thrown open to public competition among all natural born subjects of Her Majesty within certain limits of age. The first examination on this system took place in 1855, and was held under the direction of the Commissioners for the affairs of India; as were also the examinations of 1856 and 1857. In 1858 Lord Ellenborough, being then President of the Board, requested the Civil Service Commissioners to undertake the management of the annual competition, a request to which the Commissioners willingly acceded.

The maximum age of admission to the open competition was originally fixed at twenty-three, with the view of including Bachelors of Arts of Oxford and Cambridge. In

the Regulations for the year 1859 it was lowered to twentytwo, on the ground that candidates selected at any later age, if they were kept in England for even one year of special study, would then be too old to commence life in India, and in the belief that the reduced limit somewhat exceeded the average age at which the B.A. degree is taken. In 1866 it was further lowered to twenty-one, in consequence of the introduction, at the instance of the Government of India, of a system whereby the successful candidates were to pass a probation of two years in this country; and the minimum limit, which had hitherto been eighteen, was reduced at the same time to seventeen.

It was always intended that the candidates selected by open competition should undergo some special training, and be submitted to some further test before proceeding to India, and rules were framed for this purpose in 1855; but, in consequence of the great want of public servants at that time existing in India, it was found necessary to dispense with these rules for a time; and the successful competitors of 1855, 1856, and 1857 went out without having passed any further examination.

In 1858 a partial return was made to the scheme as originally designed; a brief period of probation being prescribed, to be followed by an examination in a limited range of subjects. In the next year the term of probation was lengthened to one year, the range of the final examination being considerably extended, so as to include, with other subjects, a knowledge of at least one Oriental language, and the Theory and Practice of Law; and an allowance of £100 was made to each selected candidate to assist him in the prosecution of these studies.

A still more important change took place in the year 1864, when, in compliance with a proposal made by the Indian Government, the Secretary of State decided that the examinations hitherto held at the Presidency towns should be abolished, and that the preliminary training of the young civilians, even in the vernacular languages, should be completed in this country; it being understood that the same degree of proficiency in these languages, which had previously been required in the examinations