COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS.

JAMES M. BUGBEE, Chairman, .

CHARLES THEODORE RUSSELL, JR.,

BOSTON.

. CAMBRIDGE. NEW BEDFORD.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

OFFICE OF CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS,

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, Jan. 9, 1885.

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled:

In compliance with the requirements of sect. 2, chap. 320 of the Acts of 1884, the Civil Service Commissioners have the honor to submit the following as their first annual report.

The Commissioners were appointed on the 31st of. July, and took the oath of office and organized on the 5th of August. Warren P. Dudley was subsequently employed as permanent secretary, and Henry Sherwin of Boston was appointed chief examiner.

Hon. Robert R. Bishop, the senior Commissioner, resigned in November on account of sickness, and the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Charles W. Clifford of New Bedford, who took the oath and entered upon his duties the 21st of November.

On the 28th of August a circular letter was addressed to the heads of the several executive departments of the Commonwealth, and to the mayors of the several cities, defining

At a meeting of the Commissioners, held November 21, the following resolution was adopted :

"Hon. Robert R. Bishop having resigned his membership on the Board of Civil Service Commissioners, on account of sickness, his associates desire to express their appreciation of the value of his services as a member of the Commission, their sincere regret in losing the benefit of his intimate knowledge of State affairs, and their hope that he will soon be fully restored to health."

the offices and positions to which, by the terms of the Civil Service Act, the Commissioners were authorized to apply rules, and requesting such information in relation to them as would furnish a basis for the classification of the offices and employments to be filled. To secure uniformity in the returns blanks were furnished to all appointing officers and boards.

There was a good deal of delay in procuring the desired information, due in part to the novelty of the request and partly to an erroneous construction of the provisions of the act under which the request was made.

As soon as the returns were received and tabulated, rules were prepared, and, on the 10th of December, submitted to the Governor and Council for approval. On the 17th of December they were approved in the form appended. They were duly published in one or more newspapers in each city, and notice given that they would go into operation on the 30th day of March next; and that "thereafter all appointments to office, and selections for employment, shall be made according to said rules in cases to which said rules apply."

The Commissioners have not considered it expedient, in the beginning, to apply rules to all the offices and positions covered by the law. Only those branches of the service in which a considerable number of persons are employed, requiring qualifications which can be ascertained by simple and uniform tests, have been included in the present classification. They embrace the clerical service of the Commonwealth and the several cities, about four hundred and forty offices in all; the police and prison service of the Commonwealth and the several cities, about sixteen hundred and four offices; the fire service of the city of Boston, about six hundred and fifty-eight positions; and the labor service of certain departments of the city of Boston, in which the average number of persons employed is about fifteen hundred. Whenever it shall appear that the public service can be improved by applying the rules to other positions or employments, in which professional or technical qualifications are necessary, a further classification will be made.