Regimental Commissions Act (1916)
The Regimental Commissions Act of 1916 was a Themiclesian law that instituted written and verbal examinations prior to taking military commissions.
Background
According to the Regiment Act of 1850, the power to commission junior officers (ranked ensign, lieutenant, captain, and major) in infantry and cavalry regiments was reserved to the Crown and exercised de facto by the incumbent War Secretary. Only graduates of the Army Academy were eligible to hold commissions under the terms of the Act. The Act provided that commissions issued by the Crown were to be priced according to a standard formula, but thereafter they could be bought and sold openly for whatever price the parties negotiate. The government price was fixed below market value, but in practice new commissions are rare, and most new officers bought existing commissions; new commissions were usually given to the Government's supporters as patronage, but they are expected to sell their commissions quickly for profit. Graduation at the Academy was compulsory as a safeguard against rich but incompetent officers, but its high fees and mandatory endowments were a stern barrier to any aspirant with less than a middle-class income. Additionally, low salaries and normative lifestyles practically required officers to have performing assets to provide them with meaningful income.
As soon as this legislation went into force, reverberations appeared. While it had been unlikely for an enlisted soldier or petty officer to take a commission for exceptional performance or talent, at the recommendation and voucher of an existing commission-holder, this was all but banned by the new law. In 1870, the Government allowed all university graduates to serve as officers in the so-called Hundred Companies, provided that they have passed a competency test. The competency test included verbal and written segments, and questions were drawn up by the War Office. As the Academy started to graduate graduates in disciplines unrelated to military knowledge, the competency test was extended to Academy graduates in 1875. Written questions were often divulged beforehand to candidates the War Secretary favoured, though this by no means guaranteed passage. The verbal segment was more difficult to prepare for, and examiners considered social background as part of the assessment. After the cadidates passed the same, he was still required to purchase a commission unless joining his university or trade guild's rifle company. All in all, the field of candidates was restricted, rather than expanded, by the examination system.
Despite the prevalence of the sale of commission in infantry, cavalry, and artillery, so-called "graduate" departments like medicine, veterinary, convalescence, accounting, civil engineering, cartography, religion, music, and law did not participate in the same. Rather, they utilized a system of interviews, written examinations, and recommendations to distributed commissions, which were not necessarily welcome by the recipient, many of whom understood service as an impediment to private practice. It is possible that the quality of an graduate officer's work reflected on his professional reputation, compared to other officers' work that was rarely appraised effectively. Professional departments usually had middle-class pretensions in the 19th century. In contrast, bakers, cooks, copyists, plumbers, smiths, electricians, etc. were considered less-educated labourers and unable to take commissions. Notably, while musicians (樂師) in general were considered graduates, trumpeters and drummers (鼓吹) were not; this is probably because the latter were most often employed as servants, while other musicians were more appreciated as artists.