May 21.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 795

Amended Regulations for the Entry of Engineer Students in Her Majesty’s Navy, etc.

Defence Office,
Wellington, 19th May, 1896.

THE following amended regulations for the entry of engineer students in Her Majesty’s navy, and for the entry of students in naval construction, received from the Admiralty, are republished for general information.

R. J. SEDDON.

Admiralty, 1st February, 1896.

REGULATIONS FOR THE ENTRY OF ENGINEER STUDENTS IN HER MAJESTY’S NAVY, AND FOR THE ENTRY OF STUDENTS IN NAVAL CONSTRUCTION, with a View to their being trained in Her Majesty’s Dockyard at Devonport.

[The engineer students to be trained for service afloat as engineer officers. The students in naval construction to be trained with a view to their joining the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors.]

1. VACANCIES for appointments as engineer students in Her Majesty’s navy will be filled principally by means of competitive examinations open to all sons of British subjects, being of the prescribed age and of good moral character, but their Lordships will reserve to themselves the right to nominate a few candidates at each entry who will be appointed on passing the examination specified in paragraph 11.

The candidates to be nominated will be selected by the Board of Admiralty from sons of officers of the navy, army, or Royal marines who have been killed in action or who have been lost at sea on active service, or killed on duty, or who have died of wounds received in action, or injuries received on duty within six months from the date of such action or injury, or sons of officers of the navy or Royal marines who have performed long and meritorious service. The number to be so nominated will not exceed one-fifth of the total number of engineer students to be entered. Except as provided in paragraph 11, the candidates will be subject to the same regulations as the candidates for appointment by open competition.*

Three engineer studentships will be given annually to sons of gentlemen in the colonies on the recommendation of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, provided they pass the required examination. These candidates will be subject to precisely the same regulations as herein laid down for nominated service candidates.†

2. The number of appointments to be made in each year will be fixed by their Lordships.

3. The list of candidates for the appointments by open competition will be kept at the office of the Civil Service Commissioners. All applications for the forms to be filled up by persons who wish to compete must be sent to the Secretary, Civil Service Commission, London, S.W., on or after the 1st January in each year, and care must be taken that the forms when filled up reach the Civil Service Commissioners on or before the 15th March following, as no notice will be taken of forms received after that date. The list of nominated candidates will be kept at the Admiralty.

4. Candidates must not be less than fourteen nor more than seventeen years of age on the 1st day of May in the year in which they are examined.

5. Evidence of age and character will not be required before the examination, but candidates successful in it will not be eligible for appointment unless they satisfy the Civil Service Commissioners on these points.

6. The medical examination of the successful candidates will be held under the authority of their Lordships, as soon as possible after the result of the educational examination is made known. No candidate will be entered as an engineer student unless he is pronounced to be physically fit. Candidates in or near London will be medically examined by the Medical Director-General of the Navy at the Admiralty. Those residing near one of Her Majesty’s Dockyards, or one of the first reserve-ships, or drill-ships of the Royal Naval Reserve, or the flag-ship at Queenstown, will be examined by the medical officers attached thereto. The medical examinations will be conducted in all respects in strict accordance with the instructions for the examination of persons for admission into the naval service. The colonial candidates who reside abroad will be medically examined at the naval station nearest to where they reside. All candidates at the time of their medical examination must produce certificates to the satisfaction of the examining officers that they have been revaccinated, or they must be revaccinated before they can be considered eligible for entry as engineer students in Her Majesty’s navy.

7. The educational examination will be held by the Civil Service Commissioners in London, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Devonport, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Edinburgh, Dublin, and as can be most suitably arranged for the colonial candidates who reside abroad, and will take place in the month of April of each year. The exact date may be ascertained by application to the Secretary, Civil Service Commission, on or after the 1st January in each year. The examination of the colonial candidates who reside abroad will be conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners and under the superintendence of the Commander-in-Chief of the nearest naval station. Suitable arrangements will be made for the candidates to receive the examination-papers, and the worked papers of the candidates will be sent to London as soon as possible to enable the marks to be assigned by the Civil Service Commissioners.

8. The following will be the subjects of the competitive examination, and the maximum number of marks for each subject:*—

Arithmetic . . . . 300
English—
Handwriting . . . .
Accuracy and intelligence in writing from } 200
dictation . . . .
Composition . . . .
Grammar . . . . 150
——
350
French or German or Italian—
Translation into English . . . . 150
Latin—
Translation into English . . . . 150
Very elementary physics and chemistry† . . 100
Geography (including physical geography). . 200
Algebra (up to and including quadratic equations) . . . . 300
Euclid’s elements (Books I. to IV. and Book VI., and the definitions of Book V.) . . . . 300
Freehand drawing . . . . 100
——
1,950

All candidates will be tested as to their ability to read aloud with clearness, distinctness, and accuracy, and without hesitation. Stammering or any imperfection of utterance will be regarded as a disqualification.

9. A fee of £1 will be required from every candidate attending an examination.

10. Candidates in the competitive examination who fail to pass either in arithmetic, or in handwriting, dictation, and composition combined, also those who fail to pass in reading aloud, will be disqualified, and their other papers will not be examined. Successful candidates will be entered as engineer students in Her Majesty’s navy, according to the number of appointments which it may be decided to make each year; they will be taken according to their position on the examination list. Candidates who obtain less than 880 marks in the aggregate will not be placed upon the list.

11. The candidates who are nominated by their Lordships, and by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, will be required to pass the same test examination in the first four subjects and in reading aloud as the candidates who enter for the competitive examination. They will also be examined in the other subjects to ascertain the extent of their knowledge and to determine their order of merit, and no nominated candidate will be appointed as an engineer student who obtains less than 880 marks in the aggregate.

12. Candidates will be informed by letter from the Civil Service Commission of the result of their examination as soon as it has been ascertained; except in the case of the colonial candidates residing abroad, who will be informed by telegram from the Admiralty, to enable them to join the training-school as soon as possible after they have been found medically fit.

13. The successful candidates will be entered as engineer students in Her Majesty’s navy on the 1st July in each year, and will be borne on the books of the dépôt ship at Devonport for disciplinary purposes. The period of training at Her Majesty’s dockyard at Devonport will be for five years, but it will be reduced to four years in the case of engineer students who pass the examination described in paragraph 31, clause 1, pass very creditably in practical workmanship, professional subjects, and knowledge of engine-room duties referred to in paragraph 34, and whose conduct and character are satisfactory. (See paragraph 25.)

• Reprints of some of the papers which have been set at previous examinations, together with tables of the marks assigned, may be purchased, either directly or through any bookseller, from the following agents: Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, Fetter Lane, London, E.C.; Messrs. John Menzies and Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow; and Messrs. Hodges, Figgis, and Co., 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. Price, 6d.

† The examination in physics and chemistry will be easy questions in—Chemistry: Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, the nature of combustion. Physics: Mechanics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, electricity, and magnetism.