ABSTRACT
The records show that the Commission had developed an advanced recruitment procedure that was a credit to it and also compares well with anything comparable in more modern times. The formal authority of the Commissioners came from the Orders in Council but their powers were essentially dependent on the requirement for their certificates, which were issued not to individuals but to the employing departments. The Commissioners wrote to the departments in June 1855 to ask for details of the subjects which they wished to prescribe for examinations. The important lesson emerges that the Commission kept in mind the philosophy embodied in its basic documents but at the same time was sensitive and astute in developing assessment procedures in consultation with departments. The Commissioners were, however, not simply applying rigid rules to individual cases without taking their discretionary powers seriously. The report by Barton provides ample evidence of the difficulties of ensuring equal opportunities for candidates taking examinations at different provincial centres.
