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rather hesitating in their approval of this scheme of physical competition. His noble Friend (Earl Fortescue) had read a part of Paragraph 14 of the Report; but he did not allow sufficient weight to the first line, which said

"We have already intimated our opinion that nothing should be done to interfere with the reward due to superior intellectual merit."

If they were to give marks for physical competition, how was it possible not to interfere with the purely intellectual competition-the literary competition? Sir John Adye said

"I do not recommend the present proposal for the following reasons:-The number of marks proposed to be given are considerable, and will therefore really influence the general

rule."

around him, consulted with them whether it would be advisable to introduce such a change; and the result he had arrived at was that it would not be advisable and would be almost impracticable. He (Viscount Bury) had now shown why it would be inexpedient and unnecessary to make any change at the present moment. He would now show that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to carry out such a change. First of all, when and how were they to introduce these physical examinations? Seven or eight hundred young men now came up to London for examination twice a year; they were quartered at various lodgings in town-as the noble Earl no doubt knew-somewhat to the embarrassment of their fathers and guardians; they had to remain knocking about LonThe opinion of the Governor of the don during the whole time of these Royal Military College was that the examinations. It was very inconphysical competition which it was pro- venient that they should be detained posed to introduce would not be com- longer in town than was absolutely patible, and would certainly interfere necessary. When were they to introduce with the purely literary competition these physical examinations, and where now existing. If the system of in- were they to introduce them? About tellectual examination had not been three-fifths of the young men who came proved to be insufficient, and as it up were, to use their own phrase, “spun was not even alleged that they did not in the preliminary;" in other words, were get now properly qualified young men found wanting in the first stage of the to present themselves for examina- examination. Those young men were at tion, then, was it worth while, in face of once, or as soon as possible, sent back such evidence, to change the present sys- to their homes, and dismissed with the tem? The noble Earl had quoted Dr. usual information that they were not to Carver, the Head Master of Dulwich go in for further examination. So large College, who said that high moral energy a proportion of young men being dismight exist in connection with a sickly missed, it would be obviously not worth and feeble frame. That was quite true; while to examine the whole 800 or but had they any allegation that they had 900 young men in physical competinow among their young officers men of tion before the intellectual competifeeble and sickly frames? Quite the con- tion commenced. If they only passed trary. Dr. Carver himself admitted that he on for physical examination those who had generally found those young men who had already proved themselves to a cerwere most distinguished in physical com-tain extent intellectually qualified, they petitions in the school were also those found most generally at the top of the literary examinations. It was in evidence from other quarters that it was a general rule that when physical fitness and development were found in the young men who were of the age that those young men were who came up for examination, that mental fitness generally existed as well. Therefore, there was no need for changing the present system. Under these circumstances, the Under Secrerary of State for War, calling to his assistance some of the military authorities whom he had constantly

would introduce that antagonism between physical and intellectual qualifications which it was the object of the Committee themselves entirely to keep out of consideration. Supposing they did adopt that course, were they to examine them all before they went in for their final literary examination, or were they to examine only those who finally passed for commissions? These were practical considerations to consider before a change was made. It was only fair to the noble Earl who brought forward this subject that he should go into details on this point. If they were to examine

all the young men, they must either give of very great authorities, and the Commarks for their physical acquirements, mittee of which he was himself a Memor they must make them undergo a ber-were unanimous in their opinion pass examination in physical qualifica- as to what ought to be done. The tions. He would suppose the case of a Committee examined the subject with gentleman whose son had been educated very remarkable care, and had entered for the Army for some years, and had into every detail; and in justice to passed his preliminary and final literary them he felt bound to say that they did examination, but who was rejected be- not leave out of view any consideration cause he could not run a certain number in reference to those physical difficulties of miles an hour or leap a bar 4 feet 2 which had been mentioned by his noble inches in height. That gentleman would, Friend the Under Secretary of State for he thought, have every right to complain War, and had arrived conclusively at the of such a system, and he appealed to the opinion that there was nothing in those common sense of the House whether they difficulties which ought to be considered would be able to keep it up for a single year. as being insuperable. His noble Friend If they were to give marks for physical ex- opposite (Earl Fortescue) had referred cellence, then they would have to decide to the Appendix to the Report. In it how far these should displace the marks their Lordships would find set forth the for intellectual ability. Should it be opinions of three distinguished Military found that physically qualified men Officers and of 18 Head Masters of their ceased to come forward to compete for great Public Schools in favour of the admission to the Army, then it would be Report, and they were men who were time enough to make a change. It must eminently calculated to pronounce an be borne in mind that at present all the opinion upon such a subject as this. It candidates were subjected to medical ex- was true that Sir Joseph Hawley was amination—and, as he thought, to too not in favour of the scheme; but Sir many such examinations-they were Archibald Alison and General Napier had examined every time they presented expressed strong opinions the other way, themselves for a fresh literary com- and the chief educational authorities in petition. They had therefore, at the the country had supported their views. present moment, every guarantee that He believed that an almost unanimous neither the feeble nor cripples were ad- welcome had been accorded to it-out-ofmitted into the Army-that none, in fact, doors no one hardly ever heard a difwould be admitted into the Service but ferent opinion. Wherever he went he those who were sound in life and limb. heard it stated that the training of young The noble Earl had quoted Hansard to men as officers for the Army should not prove that his right hon. and gallant be so exclusively literary, but that they Friend the Secretary of State for War had should have a sound physical training. out of Office approved of these physical He must acknowledge that the difficulty examinations. It was true that his right had been met in a fair and courteous hon. and gallant Friend the Secretary of and conciliatory spirit by the authorities State for War was at first disposed to and the War Office. His own conviction carry out the recommendation of the was that the adoption of the plan recomCommittee; but, on considering it and mended by the Committee would have taking the opinion of military authorities, brought about a very great practical imhe found that difficulties of an insur-provement upon the present system of mountable nature presented themselves training those young men ; and therefore against giving effect to it, and, therefore, he deeply regretted that the authorities he would not advise the Government or at the War Office should have deemed Parliament to endeavour to carry it out. the difficulties insuperable. LORD HAMPTON said, he could not THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE said, agree with what had fallen from his that it might be expected that he should noble Friend the Under Secretary of say a few words on this interesting subState for War, that the difficulties re-ject. He would say that he felt strongly ferred to were insurmountable; and he must express his regret at the decision which the War Office authorities had come to. This proposal of the Committee had been supported by the weight

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with the noble Lords who had addressed the House; but he must honestly confess that when he came to the question of bringing the proposed system into practice, he found that it would be

vice.

VISCOUNT HARDINGE said, he must decline to believe, until more evidence to the contrary was shown, that the proposal of the Committee could not be carried out. It might be difficult but was not impossible; and he held emphatically in this matter that if there was a will there would be a way. Colonel Stanley, the Secretary of State for War, speaking in the House of Commons on this subject, said that the onus probandi rested on those who advocated the change of showing that the supply of young men for the Army with proper physical qualifications was insufficient; and the illustrious Duke the Commander-in-Chief was highly satisfied with the appearance of the young officers turned out under the present system; but it was really quite impossible to judge of a man's powers of endurance by his looks; it required the physical fatigues and dangers of a campaign to show what was in him. As to riding, he had been told on high authority that officers in India rode infamously, and as they came from Sandhurst the inference was that riding there was not, to say the least of it, what it should be. This, he understood, was the opinion of the illustrious Duke himself.

utterly impossible to do so-he did not well qualified young men in the Serhimself see how it could be done; and two distinguished officers who signed the Report, being present when the question was further discussed, could not give any plan as to how their own recommendation could be carried out. If the recommendation should be adopted, it would change the whole present system of education, and changing the whole system was an extremely grave matter. How could they bring in marks for physical examination without its telling against the literary examination? They could not add to or diminish the marks without upsetting the system that now prevailed. There might be very good grounds for doing this; and possibly there might be found a system for combining the two things; but he and his noble Friend at the War Office, having given every consideration to the matter, he did not see how it was possible to combine the two things. There was one reason why they need be in no great hurry, and that was that there was not the slightest complaint to make with the existing state of things. The other day his representative, General Lysons, the Quartermaster General, went down to Sandhurst, and he said that he never saw a finer or a better set of young men than he saw there; young men better physically qualified or worthier to become officers in the Army had not presented themselves for some years. He himself also had been struck with the qualifications of the young men; and, therefore, he did not think that there was any necessity for making a change-unless, indeed, they could in some way combine the two systems of literary and physical competition. There were, however, already physical exercises at Sandhurst as well as at other places; so that the young officers had this advantage already. He himself thought it better that these advantages should be given at the large Schools and Colleges after the students entered those places. Before they entered them they might largely depend upon the means of their parents or guardians. He trusted that it would be understood that he did not in the least go against the Committee in their sentiments and desires to introduce into the Army efficient and physically competent young men; but he must say that he had no reason to doubt that they were now in the position of having very

VOL. CCXLIII. [THIRD SERIES.]

THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE said, he was not aware of having expressed any opinion of the kind. What he had said on the subject was that he should have liked to see more time devoted to riding than was the case; but he had found no fault with what at present existed. It was desirable, of course, that men should ride as well as possible.

VISCOUNT HARDINGE said, he had misunderstood the illustrious Duke. He certainly thought that the course of study at Sandhurst was not sufficient to enable a man to learn to ride well. If, however, a man had not had the opportunity of riding as a boy, there were other athletic exercises, such as walking or swimming, in which he might excel -so that it could not be said that the poor student would occupy a less favourable position than the rich. It was said that the advocates of this change wished secretly to undermine the principle of competitive examination; but the Committee in their Report studiously guarded themselves against that imputation. The intellectual boy, as they explained, would

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always be at the top; but when, coming | had arrived. It had been held that they down the list, they reached a low level now got the best officers. Sir John Ayde of mediocrity, intellectual might, as said so, and their Lordships had been they very reasonably suggested, be sup- told so by some of the best of the other plemented by physical acquirements. As witnesses whose testimony was given in to the medical examination, it was not the Appendix to the Report of the Comby any means so strict as it might be. mittee. He recommended the whole of The candidates, he understood, only had this evidence to the same careful contheir chests tapped and their legs exa- sideration of their Lordships as it had mined for varicose veins; and some received at the hands of the illustrious greater security than at present existed Duke and the authorities at the War as to the physical capabilities of officers Office; and he thought the more time certainly seemed to him to be required. they spent in investigating the subject the more they would arrive at the same conclusion which he was happy to hear Her Majesty's Government had come to.

VISCOUNT CARDWELL said, his noble Friend opposite (Viscount Hardinge) had done something to infuse a fresh vitality into a discussion which, after the crushing speech of the illustrious Duke, had appeared to have been extinguished. He first told their Lordships that if this method was not adopted the medical examination must be made more strict, and according to the noble Viscount's knowledge it was not strict enough. Then let them make it more strict if that were necessary, and they would entirely accomplish the object the Committee had in view. The noble Viscount had furnished them with another important fact, and had told them that it was impossible to know what the physical condition of an officer was until he had gone through an arduous campaign. Where was this arduous campaign to be held? Was it to be held at Aldershot or at Sandhurst? Surely he could not have it before the Committee, for they would eschew what was called by one of the principal advocates of the scheme the vulgarity of a public exhibition, and they would work it by some plan of a private competition, on some different and various methods which they had laid down. Then it was absolutely impossible to accomplish the object in the manner suggested by his noble Friend. That was exactly the thing which the illustrious Duke held out to their Lordships during the late Session. He said he would be delighted if there were such qualifications added; but he said it was a serious question on which he was not prepared to give an offhand opinion. The Secretary of State for War expressed very much the same opinion in the House of Commons. He (Viscount Cardwell) was not at all surprised at the opinion so decidedly expressed to-night by the illustrious Duke, or at the conclusion at which the War Office

LORD TRURO said, that upon the introduction of competitive examinations, not only in the War Department, but in the Civil Service Departments, they were somewhat overdone, and the same thing had happened in the Medical Service. For instance, in the Prerogative Court, a long correspondence took place when a man was wanted who could bring up a coal-scuttle. What was required in men was moral force of character, and the power of discrimination, so that they might be able to read the characters of others, and that alone would qualify men for command. While, on the one hand, it was most important that attention should be paid to the physical powers and bodily strength of these young men, yet it was by no means desirable to introduce competitive examinations for the purpose of obtaining the best men of that sort, and to abandon the system of mental and educational competition which now existed; but far more than all for consideration were the moral requirements of these young officers.

EARL FORTESCUE, in reply, said, that the proposal of the Committee was not that this competition should be compulsory, but that it should be voluntary. It would, therefore, only apply to a limited number of the candidates. There was no wish to interfere with the reward for superior intellectual merit. The object which he held should be sought and attained by the Government, and which was recommended by the Committee, was to give facilities for the selection of the best men "all round" among the intellectual mediocrities examined at the competitions for commissions. Far from denying the frequent concurrence in the same individual of

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

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THAMES RIVER (PREVENTION OF
FLOODS) BILL (by Order.)

SECOND READING.

Order for Second Reading read.

bodily strength and activity with great intellectual power and application, he had himself called their Lordships' particular attention to the fact last year, and had then mentioned as a proof of it the habitual superiority at cricket and football of the Engineers, the most scientific of the scientific branches of the Army. He remained unsatisfied, as he was happy to find the noble Lord the Chairman of the Committee (Lord SIR JAMES M'GAREL-HOGG, in Hampton) was, of the absolute imprac- rising to move that the Bill be now read ticability of the scheme, though he had a second time, said, he hoped he should no doubt of the difficulty of organizing be allowed to allude to a few of the cirit. He (Earl Fortescue) confessed, cumstances which had induced the Metrohowever, that he did not despair, con- politan Board of Works to undertake to sidering the weight of authority which deal with this very important subject. the Committee had elicited, and the He thought it would be in the rememgeneral feeling in its favour out-of-brance of most hon. Members of that doors, and above all its accordance with common sense, that sooner or later, like other improvements denounced in the first instance as impracticable and unnecessary, the scheme would in the course of a few years be adopted, and be found to work easily and satisfactorily.

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House that in the year 1874, in the months of March and April, and again in the year 1875, some very disastrous floods occurred in the Metropolis which did a vast amount of damage, and more especially to the poorer classes of the community. The Metropolitan Board being aware of this, and fearing that a like calamity might occur again, considered it incumbent upon them to try and do their best in order to provide some adequate remedy for the evil. Although they were in themselves the local authority, they had not in their own hands the power of inducing or making either the vestries, or district boards, or individuals raise the height of the river walls, or banks, or premises abutting upon the River Thames. They carefully considered the whole matter, and in the end took what they conceived to be the most proper course. Acting under Section 69 of the Metropolis Local Management Act, they

addressed themselves to the various vestries and district boards, calling their attention to the disastrous effect of previous floods, and asking them, as far as was possible, to do everything in their power to aid the Metropolitan Board in their efforts to find a remedy. Some of the persons written to intimated that they would be ready to assist the Board; but others, in the replies which they sent to the Board, stated that although Section 69 of the Act of 1855 conferred certain powers upon them, still, in consequence of their not possessing the power of entry, they could do nothing more than write, as they had no power of enforcing the execution of any work.

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