Admission to Diplomatic Service and Foreign Office.

1. Admission to the Diplomatic Service and the Foreign Office is by open competition. The examination is the same as that for Class I of the (general) Civil Service, with special arrangements to ensure a thorough knowledge of French and German and some other modern language. Candidates desiring to be appointed to the combined Service will first be required to appear before a Board of Selection, appointed by the Secretary of State, which will decide whether they possess suitable qualifications for entry into the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service. No assurance as to the possession of private means will be required of candidates. All members of the combined Service will be liable for service abroad.

Period of Service of Third Secretaries.

2. Commissions will be granted to Third Secretaries in the Diplomatic Service or Foreign Office on the receipt of the certificate granted by the Civil Service Commissioners, and their services will be considered as probationary for two years from the date of the Commission, during which period they must have been employed in the Foreign Office, or have actually resided at one of His Majesty's Embassies or Missions abroad, for such a time as in the aggregate will make up the requisite period, exclusive of any leave of absence. The time, however, necessarily employed in journeys to and from their posts will be allowed to count towards the completion of the required term. If these conditions as to employment and residence have not been fulfilled at the expiration of two years from the date of the certificate of the Civil Service Commissioners, the probationary period will be prolonged until they have been fulfilled.

At the conclusion of the probationary period the services of a Third Secretary will not be retained unless his official superiors certify that he is suitable for permanent employment.

All Third Secretaries, after completing five years' service in that rank, including the probationary period, will, if recommended by their official superiors, be eligible for Commissions as Second Secretaries wherever they may be employed. This promotion will give them no claim to outfit allowances, or to any special rate of remuneration.

Promotion to the rank of First Secretary will depend on the occurrence of vacancies in the authorised numbers in that grade, and on the suitability for promotion of the officer concerned.

Promotion to the rank of Counsellor will, in addition to the above consideration, also depend on the suitability of the officer for the particular Counsellors' posts which may be vacant.

Interchange of Employment between Secretaries at Home and Abroad.

3. Members of the staff at the Foreign Office other than Second and Third Secretaries will, on transfer

abroad, enter the scale of their grade abroad at their substantive salaries or at the minimum of the scale, whichever is greater, but the substantive salaries of Second and Third Secretaries will be increased by £100 a year on appointment abroad. Members of the staff abroad will, on transfer to the Foreign Office, retain their own substantive salaries, plus such an amount in lieu of bonus as will place their salaries on a level with the emoluments of officers of the same seniority serving in the Foreign Office, excluding any special allowances drawn by the latter. In those cases in which the substantive salary is more than the combined salary and bonus of an officer of the same seniority serving in the Foreign Office, the officer transferred will continue to receive his substantive salary only.

On attaining promotion to the rank of First Secretary, members of the combined Service will be allocated to separate lists, according to their suitability for home or foreign employment, but members of the Service may be called upon at any stage in their career to exchange home for foreign employment, or vice versa.

Officers serving at home receive at present, in addition, a bonus varying with the cost of living on the same basis as other officers in the home Civil Service, and those serving abroad receive non. pensionable Foreign Allowances, to include entertainment and representation allowance, varying in amount according to the necessities of individual posts.

They are also provided with adequate houses or apartments, or with rent allowances sufficient in the opinion of the Heads of the Missions in which they are serving and of the Secretary of State to provide suitable accommodation. Rent allowances must be actually expended and are not pensionable.

5. (a) Heads of Missions will, on retirement from the service, or on transfer from one post to another, receive during the period of leave of absence due to them in this country their personal salary in full.

(b) On the expiration of this period of earned leave of absence Heads of Missions may receive, unless they are due for retirement, in which case they will receive the diplomatic pension for which they may be eligible, an allowance of one-half of their personal salary until such time as they are appointed to another post, subject to a maximum limit of six months, after which th position will be reviewed.

(c) Successors to Heads of Missions will continue to receive their existing personal salary for so long as their predecessors continue to draw full pay, after which date they will be paid the salary of the post, e.g., a Counsellor promoted to the rank of Minister will not draw Minister's salary until the date of expiry of the retiring Minister's earned leave of absence.

Payments to leads of Missions while on Leave and Allowances to Chargé d'Affaires.

6. Provided that the expenses of the upkeep of the Mission are defrayed by Heads of Missions during their absence on public service or on regulation leave, including the time occupied on the journeys from and to their posts in connection with such leave, no deduction will be made from their emoluments and no allowance will be made to the Chargé d'Affaires during this period. In the case of Heads of Missions who are transferred to other posts, or whose Missions have terminated, the allowance for "frais de représentation" ceases on their departure from their posts. On the expiry of their regulation leave Heads of Missions will be placed on half salary for a period not exceeding six months, and a deduction will be made from their allowances for "frais de représentation' sufficient to provide an allowance for the Chargé d'Affaires calculated on the basis shown in the schedule appended hereto. It will rest with the Secretary of State to decide in each individual case whether, and, if so, to what extent, the expenses which continue to fall on the Head of the Mission justify the continuance of the allowance for "frais de représentation" without further deduction:

Japan

Russia

Spain

Turkey.. United States

£ a day.

5

China

5

Colombia..

Special Allowance of £100 a Year for Languages. 7. Any Counsellor, or Secretary, who shall be reported by the Head of the Mission in which he is employed to have passed an examination in and to possess a competent knowledge, colloquial or otherwise, for ordinary purposes, of the Russian, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Amharic, Polish, Czech, Finnish, Serb, Roumanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, or Modern Greek language, while serving in any country where such language is vernacular, shall receive a special allowance of £100 a year, on the conditions laid down in Foreign Office Circular of the 17th Sep. tember, 1921.

Leave of Absence.

8. All members of the Diplomatic Service serving abroad are eligible for sixty days' ordinary leave in each year. This leave may be taken either consecutively or at intervals in the course of one year beginning on the 1st January and ending on the 31st December. Those who remain uninterruptedly at their posts during the year preceding that in which leave is applied for may accumulate their leave up to 120 days. Officers serving in Central and South America, the Far East and Persia who remain at their posts during the two years preceding that in which leave is applied for may accumulate their leave up to 180 days, subject to the approval of the Secretary of State. The time required for the journey both ways will not in either case be reckoned as leave, provided that the direct route be chosen and due expedition used. The

grant of leave is in all cases subject to the exigencies of the public service.

Heads of Missions should understand that leave of absence will, as a rule, only be granted to them when the Counsellor of Embassy, or where there is no Counsellor, the Senior Secretary, is at his post, or, if absent, is prepared to return and assume the position of Chargé d'Affaires. In applying for leave Heads of Missions should state whom they propose to leave in charge during their absence.

In the case of sick leave, medically certified to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State, officers below the rank of Head of Mission may receive, for a period not exceeding six months, their substantive salaries plus an allowance sufficient to bring their emoluments up to the total received by an officer of the same seniority serving in the Foreign Office, excluding any special allowances drawn by the latter. On the expiry of six months, officers may receive one-half of these emoluments for a further period not exceeding six months. Their foreign allowances will cease during these periods. Periods spent on sick leave will not count for additional ordinary leave.

On transfer Ambassadors and Ministers will receive a further allowance of £100 on this account. An allowance of £100 for uniform will be made on appointment to Heads of Missions who have received no previous allowance for this purpose in a lower rank.

An additional allowance not exceeding £40 will be granted to Ministers, Counsellors, and Secretaries on first appointment to posts where abnormal climatic conditions prevail.

Motor Cars for Heads of Missions.

10. The initial cost of motor cars for the use of Heads of Missions abroad will in future be borne by public funds, all subsequent expenditure on maintenance and repair being borne by the Head of Mission concerned. The motor cars must be standard cars of moderate horse-power, and the purchase in each case must be approved by the Foreign Office beforehand. Such cars will remain the property of His Majesty's Government, and in the case of a change of Head of Mission the car will be taken over by the incoming Ambassador or Minister.

One-half of the cost of the insurance premium on Government-owned cars will be paid from public funds, subject to a maximum annual charge to public funds of £12.

Travelling Expenses.

11. Heads of Missions, Counsellors, and First, Second, and Third Secretaries will, on their first appointment, or on any subsequent removal for promotion or other public reason, be allowed their travelling expenses in accordance with the conditions laid down in the regulations dated the 1st April, 1922.

No allowance will be made to members of the Diplomatic Service in respect of journeys undertaken in pursuance of leave of absence or for any other private reason

Period of Service in the same Embassy or Mission.

12. Secretaries as a general rule will not be employed for more than three years in the same Embassy or Mission, exclusive of the periods during which they may have been absent on leave. But the Secretary of State reserves to himself ful! power to extend the term in every case in which he judges that there are special public reasons for so doing.

Officers who are placed" en disponibilité."

13. Members of the Diplomatic Service may be placed en disponibilité for a period not exceeding one year on the production of a medical certificate to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State, or for such reason as the Secretary of State may consider sufficient. This period may be extended for a further term of one year, at the expiry of which the officer concerned will have to return to duty provided there is a vacancy available for the - purpose. In cases of ill-health a medical certificate will be required which shall satisfy the Secretary of State that the member of the Service is fit to resume his duties without the prospect of their further interruption. If he is unable to produce such a certificate, he will have to retire from the Service.

Members of the Diplomatic Service to go to any Posts to which they may be Appointed.

14. It must be distinctly understood that all the members of the Diplomatic Service are expected to take their turn in whatever part of the world their services may be required, and that every Counsellor or Secretary, whether married or unmarried, must be prepared to go to the post at which the requirements of the Public Service demand his presence, and to which he may be appointed.

Carriage of Despatches.

15. In the case of any journey of which the expense is to be allowed, all Counsellors and Secretaries will be bound to take charge of despatches, if required; and in that case they will be expected to perform the journey without interruption on the road.

Promotion and Appointments to High Diplomatic Posts.

16. The Secretary of State reserves to himself the power to recommend to the King the name of any person, even though not in the Diplomatic Service, for the higher and more responsible posts in it; and generally, in regard to all promotions whatever in the Diplomatic Service, the Secretary of State will not be restricted by claims founded on seniority, or membership of the profession, from making any such selection as on his own responsibility he may deem right.

Duration of Appointments of Heads of Missions.

17. The duration of the appointments of Heads of Missions at foreign Courts, exclusive of regulation leave or absence on public service, shall not exceed, though it may be less than five years. At the expiration of five years, the question of an extension of the appointment for a specified term, not exceeding five years, of transfer to another Mission, or of retirement, will be considered by the Secretary of State. An appointment may be renewed more than once, if this appears to the Secretary of State to be desirable on public grounds. Heads of Missions on attaining the age of seventy years, shall be retired on the pension for which their services may qualify them.

Rules as to Pensions below the Third Class.

18. In virtue of His Majesty's Commissions, the service of Counsellors or Secretaries will count for their pensions under the Act of 32 and 33 Vict., cap. 43, from the date of the issue of their first Commission; but the amount of pension to be assigned to them will be calculated, so long as they remain Counsellors or Secretaries, for each year of actual service that has elapsed since the date of their first Commission, at one-thirtieth part of the last salary of which they were in receipt at the time of the pension being granted, subject to a maximum of £700 per annum, provided that no pension shall continue to be issued to a person not incapacitated by ill-health, medically certified to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State, who may decline active service before he has reached the sixtieth year of his age, after which age no person shall be required to serve as Counsellor or Secretary.

Allowances during War or Interruption of Relations.

19. Should an Ambassador, Minister, Counsellor, or Secretary, of whatever class, by reason of war or other interruption of diplomatic relations, be withdrawn from active service before his services shall have qualified him for a diplomatic pension of the class under which he would otherwise come, the Secretary of State will, as he may see fit, recommend that a temporary allowance should be assigned to any such person who cannot otherwise be immediately employed, calculated on the rate of pension which he would have earned if he had continued to reside in such capacity, regard being had to the length and general character of his services; such allowance, however, to be strictly subject to the condition in regard to employ.

ment specified in the XIth Section of the Act of 32nd and 33rd Vict., cap. 43, and to cease from the date of the ratification of a treaty of peace or the renewal of diplomatic relations.

Obligation of Secrecy.

20. Members of the Diplomatic Service must not, without the express permission of the Secretary of State, publish observations on, or accounts of, their experiences in the countries in which they are, or have been, officially employed, nor any information obtained by them in their official capacity. The obligation of secrecy in regard to official experiences and information continues equally after their retirement from active service, and in the event of its being disregarded the Secretary of State will consider himself justified in bringing the circumstances to the notice of Parliament when the estimate providing for the officer's pension is before the House of Commons. The disclosure of information acquired in an official capacity, when such disclosure is contrary to the public interest, is, moreover, punishable under The Official Secrets Act, 1911," by fine and imprisonment.

Addresses of Members of the Diplomatic Service. 21. All applications for leave of absence should be accompanied by an address at which letters will reach the applicant while on leave. Any change of address during the period of leave should be notified in writing to the Under-Secretary of State. Members of the Diplomatic Service, if spending their leave in England, should similarly give notice of the time of their intended departure for their posts. The addresses and other records will be kept by the Registrar.

Candidates for Seats in House of Commons to resign Office. 22. Any officer seeking a seat in the House of Commons shall resign his office so soon as he issues his address to the electors, or in any other manner publicly announces himself as a candidate.

Management of Societies, Companies, &c,

23. No Officer shall be allowed to accept any part in the management of any society, or any trading, commercial, industrial or financial firm or company except by the special permission of the Secretary of State.

Foreign Office, July 1, 1924.