APRIL 7.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 583

7. Should any doubt exist as to the age of a candidate, he will be required to produce a certificate of birth.

8. It is provided by section 32 of “The Shipping and Seamen’s Act, 1877,” that any person who makes, assists in making, or procures to be made, any false representation for the purpose of procuring, either for himself or for any other person, a certificate of competency, shall in respect of each offence be guilty of a misdemeanour.

9. Testimonials to character, including sobriety, and to experience and ability, on board ship for at least the twelve months of service immediately preceding the date of application to be examined, will be required of all candidates, and without producing them no person will be examined.

10. Candidates who have neglected to join their vessels after having signed articles, or who have deserted their vessels after having joined, or who have been found guilty of gross misconduct on board, will be required to produce satisfactory proofs of two years’ subsequent service and good conduct at sea, unless the Marine Department, after having investigated the matter, should see fit to reduce the time.

11. All candidates must pass the sight-tests before they can be examined for any certificate. The regulations relating to these tests are as follows:—

(i.) The sight-tests are open to all persons serving or intending to serve in the mercantile marine, and all such persons are recommended to take the earliest opportunity of ascertaining by means of these tests whether their vision is such as to qualify them for service in that profession.

(ii.) The examination consists of three parts—(a) form-vision test (see Appendix A); (b) colour-vision test (see Appendix A); (c) colour-ignorance test (see Appendix A).

No candidate will be examined in the colour-vision test until he has passed the form-vision test, or in the colour-ignorance test until he has passed the colour-vision test.

(iii.) Any person serving or intending to serve in the mercantile marine, if desirous of undergoing the form-vision, colour-vision, and colour-ignorance tests only, must make application to the Superintendent of a Mercantile Marine Office on the Form Exn. 2B, and must pay a fee of 2s. 6d.

This fee will be payable on each occasion upon which a candidate is examined in form-vision and colours only.

(iv.) Every candidate for a certificate of competency who is not already in possession of such a certificate will be required to pass the three tests mentioned in Rule ii. above before he can proceed to the examination in navigation and seamanship for the certificate which he desires to obtain, even though he may have passed the tests on some previous occasion.

(v.) Every candidate who is already in possession of a certificate of competency, and who desires to obtain a certificate of a higher grade, will be required to pass the three tests mentioned in Rule ii. above before he can proceed to the examination in navigation and seamanship for the certificate of a higher grade.

That is to say, no candidate will be permitted to proceed with the examination in navigation and seamanship for a higher certificate if he fails to pass the three tests.

(vi.) If a candidate fails to pass any of the three tests, a note of the fact of his having done so will be written across the face of the certificate which he already possesses before it is returned to him.

(vii.) If a candidate who undergoes the form-vision, colour-vision, and colour-ignorance tests only (see Rule iii.) is in possession of a certificate of competency, he must hand in his certificate before the examination commences, and if he fails to pass any of the three tests, a statement of his failure will be written on the certificate before it is returned to him.

(viii.) Candidates who fail to pass the form-vision test or colour-ignorance test can be re-examined at intervals of three months; but candidates who fail to pass the colour-vision test cannot be re-examined. It is open, however, to any candidate who has failed to pass that test to appeal to the Marine Department, who may, if they think fit, remit the case to a special examiner, or body of examiners, for final decision.

(ix.) The expenses of candidates who are examined by the special examiners, and are reported by them to have passed the three tests, will, under certain circumstances, be paid by the Marine Department, at a rate which will be notified to the candidate, but no payment whatever will be made towards the expenses of candidates who upon their own application are examined by the special examiners, and are reported by them to have failed. The special examinations will be held in Wellington only.

(x.) When a candidate fails to pass the colour-test the Examiner will point out to him the conditions under which he can appeal. Appeals are to be made through the Examiner, and forwarded to the Marine Department, with the Examiner’s remarks.

(xi.) The holder of a certificate which bears on it a statement of failure in the first test (form-vision) or in the third test (colour-ignorance) can have the statement removed by passing, after the prescribed interval, the test to which it refers; but the instruction in the last paragraph of Rule ii. above must be followed.

(xii.) The fee paid for examination for a certificate of competency includes the fee of 2s. 6d. for examination in form-vision, colour-vision, and colour-ignorance; and if the candidate fails to pass those tests, this fee will, with the exception of 2s. 6d., be returned to him.

(xiii.) Only Examiners who have themselves passed the colour-test are to undertake these examinations.

12. 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. (See par. 20.)

13. If the candidate passes he will receive a form (Form Exn. 16) authorising the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office to whom it is addressed to issue the certificate. The candidate’s testimonials and other papers will be returned to him with the certificate. It is therefore important that the port at which the certificate is to be issued should be the same on both the Form Exn. 16 and the Form Exn. 2. If circumstances should make any alteration necessary, the examiner should see that it is made in both forms, otherwise delay in the issue of the certificate may be caused.

14. If after a candidate has passed the examination it is discovered on further investigation that his services are insufficient to entitle him to receive a certificate of the grade for which he has passed, the certificate will not be granted to him; but if the Marine Department is satisfied that the error in the calculation of the candidate’s services did not occur through any fault or wilful misrepresentation on his part, he may either have the fee returned to him, or have it placed to his credit. Should his services entitle him to a certificate of a lower grade it may be granted to him, and the difference, if any, between the fee paid by him for the superior certificate and the fee payable for the inferior certificate will be returned to him or placed to his credit. The superior certificate will not be granted until the candidate has performed the amount of service in which he was deficient, and has been re-examined in all the subjects, unless the Marine Department see fit to dispense with the re-examination.

15. In all cases of failure the candidate must be examined anew. If a candidate fails in seamanship he will not be re-examined until after a lapse of six months. Whether the whole or part of this period must be served at sea must depend upon the subjects in seamanship in which the candidate failed, but the amount of further sea-service to be required will be left to the discretion of the Examiner.

16. The Examiner, in making his report on the Form Exn. 14, should state what amount, if any, of further sea-service the candidate must perform, and he should also insert this information in the Form Exn. 2.

17. If a candidate fails three times in navigation within three months, he will not be re-examined until after a lapse of three months from the date of the last failure.

18. Candidates for extra certificates will not be allowed to present themselves for examination more than three times within a period of twelve months.

19. If a candidate has failed in his examination, but the subjects in which he has failed are not included in the subjects required for a certificate of a lower grade, he may, if he desires it, receive a certificate of this lower grade.

20. If a candidate fails for bad spelling or writing, he will not be re-examined until after a lapse of at least three months. If he fails for ignorance of the English language, he will not be re-examined until after a lapse of six months.

21. If a candidate fails in seamanship so far as regards the management of square-rigged sailing-vessels, in his examination for an ordinary certificate, he may, if qualified as to service, without further formal application or further payment of fee, proceed with the examination for a certificate of competency for foreign-going steamships or for fore-and-aft-rigged vessels. And, if a candidate fails in the same manner in his examination for an extra master’s certificate,