 In government, a civil service, replacing patronage with examination, similar to the Chinese system, was advocated a number of times over the next several decades.William Ewart Gladstone, in 1850, an opposition member, sought a more efficient system based on expertise rather than favouritism.The East India Company provided a model for Stafford Northcote, private Secretary to Gladstone who, with Charles Trevelyan, drafted the key report in 1854.