the spot having personal knowledge of the facts
required to be established. The production, how-
ever, of such proofs will not of necessity be deemed
sufficient. Each case must be decided on its own
merits; and if the sufficiency of the proofs given
appears to be at all doubtful, the point must be
referred to the Marine Department.

9. Should any doubt exist as to the age of a
   Candidate, he will be required to produce a Certi-
   ficate of Birth or Baptism.

10. Foreigners must prove to the satisfaction of
    the Examiners that they can speak and write the
    English language sufficiently well to perform the
    duties required of them on board a British vessel.

11. Statements of services in ships over eighty
    tons, of which the agreements with the crews have
    been entered into in New Zealand, can be verified
    by the Superintendents of Mercantile Marine Offices,
    and may be obtained on application at such offices
    upon payment of a small fee, the amount of which
    will be regulated by the amount of service required
    to be verified. Delay, inconvenience, and disap-
    pointment will be avoided by candidates getting this
    verification beforehand.

12. Services which cannot be verified by proper
    entries in the Articles of the Ships in which the
    Candidates have served cannot be counted.

13. In addition to the required workshop time,
    service on a lake or river, in a steamer in which
    the aggregate piston area of the propelling engines
    proper amounts to at least 2,000 (two thousand)
    circular inches will be accepted towards qualifying
    a candidate to be examined for a certificate of com-
    petency as follows:—

Two months of river or lake service, in a capacity
not lower than that of Third Engineer, may be
deemed equivalent to one month of sea service, pro-
vided that—

For a Second Class Certificate, not less than three
months of the qualifying service must be actual sea
service, and that—

For a First Class Certificate, at least six months
of the qualifying service must have been at sea in a
grade not below that of Third Engineer, where an
engineer of a lower grade is carried. During the
last eighteen months of this service the candidate
must have been in possession of a Second Class Engi-
neer’s certificate of competency.

14. Service performed on board auxiliary screw
    whalers and other vessels with auxiliary steam-
    power in the capacity of engineer may be allowed
    to count towards qualifying candidates for examina-
    tion for Second Class Engineers’ Certificates of
    Competency to the extent of one-half the time the
    vessel is actually at sea, unless the candidate is able
    to prove a larger amount of time under steam, in
    which case he will be allowed to count the whole of
    such extended time.

15. Service entered upon a Ship’s Articles as
    having been performed in the capacity of Assistant
    Engineer must be supported by proof of the Candi-
    date having acted as Second, Third, or Fourth
    Engineer, as the case may be.

16. The service required by the Regulations to
    qualify a Candidate for examination is to be regarded
    as referring to service in the Foreign Trade only.
    Service in the Home or Coasting Trade must amount
    to at least half as much again as that required by
    the Regulations, to make up for the time spent in
    port, e.g., for every twelve months’ service under
    the Regulations, eighteen months’ service in the
    Home or Coasting Trade will be required. In all
    cases the length of service is deemed to commence
    on the date of signing of the articles of agreement,
    and to end on the date of discharge.

17. Service in the engine-room (afterwards re-
    ferred to) for qualifying a Candidate to be examined
    for a Second Class Engineer’s Certificate must be
    only in those capacities which afford opportunities
    of obtaining practical experience as an engineer;
    and service in the capacity of fireman, stoker,
    donkeyman, greaser, winchman, labourer, engi-
    neer’s steward, or any other capacity than that of
    engineer taking watch on engines and boilers for
    propelling will not be accepted.

18. Service as Third and Fourth Engineer in
    Foreign-going Steamers, where more than three or
    four engineers, as the case may be, are carried, their
    names being all entered on the Articles in their
    respective ratings, may be accepted equally with
    service as Second Engineer, to qualify a Candidate
    for examination for a First-class Engineer’s Certifi-
    cate, provided he has during the whole of such
    service been in possession of a Second-class
    Engineer’s Certificate (Imperial, or under Order in
    Council), and provided also that he was regularly
    in charge of a watch. In the case of Fourth
    Engineers, however, eighteen months of such
    service must be proved for every twelve months
    required by the Regulations.

19. Service in a capacity below that of Fourth
    Engineer cannot be accepted as qualifying for any
    class of certificate unless the testimonials of the
    candidate explicitly certify that during such service
    he has been taking regular watch in the engine-
    room, and that the Chief Engineer or Superintend-
    ing Engineer considers him properly qualified by
    that experience to act as Chief Engineer of a
    Foreign-going Steamer of 99 horse-power nominal.
    In any case the applicant must prove that he has
    had the responsible charge of the engines or boilers
    on regular watch for at least twelve months of
    sea service, of which for not less than six months he
    must have been in charge of the propelling engines
    and rated on the articles not lower than Fourth
    Engineer.

20. Having “responsible charge” will be under-
    stood to imply, in regard to the engines, that the
    applicant, for the time specified was, on regular
    watch, the person responsible for carrying out the
    orders of the engine-room telegraph, and, in re-
    gard to the boilers, that he was, similarly for the
    period specified, the person responsible for regula-
    ting the feeds.

21. When the workshop service has been per-
    formed in a place where steam-engines are not made,
    and the class of work done is similar to that re-
    quired in engine-making, the service may be ac-
    cepted with an additional year in the engine-room;
    that is, three years’ workshop service and two
    years in the engine-room, of which one year must
    have been at sea. The approval of the Marine
    Department must be obtained in every such case
    before the authority to receive a certificate is
    issued by the Examiner.

22. When the workshop service has been per-
    formed in a place where engines are made, and the
    department in which the applicant has been princi-
    pally engaged is not “fitting” or “erecting,” if the
    nature of the service be such as is useful training
    for an Engineer, the Marine Department may, on
    proper representation of the circumstances, see fit
    to accept the service as qualifying along with sub-
    sequent experience, but in every such case the
    applicant must prove additional engine-room ser-
    vice as required above. The approval of the
    Marine Department must likewise be obtained.

23. If a Candidate has served in the engine-room
    with a Second-class Certificate in the capacity of a
    Second Engineer in Foreign-going Steamships