596
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 24

under his eye. This gives those looking on confidence and assurance, till their turn comes, when they appear as uncertain as before they were confident. There is something attractive in the process, stimulating the interest, and not without benefit.

From this we see that our judgment of a person’s colour-sense is made not only by the material result of the examination—the character of the wools selected—but often also by the way the examined acts during the test. We should mention a very common manner of persons on trial, which in many cases is of great value in diagnosis. Often, in searching for the right colour, they suddenly seize a skein to lay it with the sample, but then notice it does not correspond, and put it back in the heap. This is very characteristic; and if an Examiner has often seen it, he can readily recognise and be assured that it is an expression of difficulty in distinguishing the difference in the colours. We frequently see this in the first test, with shades of greenish-blue and bluish-green. Here it means nothing important; but it is quite the reverse, however, when it concerns the grey, or one of the confusion-colours (1–5). Uncertainty and hesitation as to these colours, which the colour-blind do not distinguish from the test-colour, even when directly comparing them, is positive proof of mistake, implying defective chromatic vision of the complete colour-blind type. No doubt the form of chromatic effect which we have called incomplete colour-blindness exists in several kinds and degrees. This is not the place to further discuss our experience on this point, and for the practical purpose we have in view it is not necessary. As we have explained, there are, among this class, forms of colour-blindness gradually approaching normal colour-sense. How they are distinguished has been described. We designated them as possessing feeble colour-sense.

It is, perhaps, not easy to detect these special forms by any other method, or even by our own; we therefore give the following as a means of so doing. The only way of getting at it is by determining at what distance the candidate can distinguish a small coloured surface. We have to deal, in fact, with a feeble colour-sense, which does not prevent the colours from being distinguished, but only renders it difficult. We may suppose, in comparison to the normal, that the feeble colour-sense is due either to a weaker response to the stimulation of the colour-perceptive organs of the retina, or else to a stimulation of a relatively smaller number of these organs. In either case this method would give us the same result, judging from our experience in testing the eccentric portions of the field of vision with the perimeter.

The method we here speak of shows us also the effect of habit and practice on the colour-perception, and it is worth while to dwell on this point. It not unfrequently happens that persons who by Test No. I. have been noted “incompletely colour-blind,” after they know of their mistake, and have practised themselves in distinguishing colours, will so comport themselves at a second trial that we have to simply mark them as of “feeble colour-sense.” The same will sometimes happen with Test No. II., and it is explainable by what we have said—namely, that between the complete lack of some one colour-sense and the incomplete there is a series of gradations; and that in such cases practice would affect the result of examinations.

All the examples given prove that many seeming trifles and plans are of value in making the examination—amongst others, the keeping the sample a little way off from the heap of worsteds, as also the removal of everything which can cause the examined doubt and uncertainty. We must not, therefore, let them do what many want to do—namely, hold a number of the worsteds in the hand at once. We must make the person being examined place each skein, as he takes it up, either with the sample or else back on the heap. Many who are not clear whether the skein is like the sample or not instinctively put the shades most resembling the test-sample at the side of the heap towards it, and thus gradually form a little bridge, but which for correctness they will not vouch for. No such half-measures must, however, be allowed.

3.—COLOUR-IGNORANCE TEST.

(1.) The object of this test is simply to ascertain whether the candidate knows the names of the three colours, red, green, and white, which it is important for every seaman to be acquainted with; and the test is to be confined to naming those colours.

(2.) One or two of the purest red and green skeins should be selected from the set of wools, and the candidate should be required to name their colours. He should also be required to name the colour of any white object, such as a piece of white paper.

(3.) If he answers correctly he should be considered to have passed the test. If he makes any mistake he should be tried with the lantern which was formerly used for colour-tests, the plain glass and the standard red and green glasses being employed for the purpose. If he does not name these glasses correctly he should be reported as having failed to pass the test.

(4.) The result of every test should be reported to the Marine Department on the Form Exn. 2, and on Form Exn. 14 when the candidate is up for examination for a certificate of competency, and on Form Exn. 2b when the candidate is up for examination in colours only.

All cases of failure should be reported to the Marine Department on Form Exn. 17b.

APPENDIX B.

EXAMINATION DAYS, SIGHT-TESTS.

Auckland: Saturday morning, from 10 to 12, by the Examiners of Masters and Mates.

Wellington: Any day not a holiday, by the Examiners of Masters and Mates.

Lyttelton: On ordinary examination days, by the Examiner of Masters and Mates.

Port Chalmers: Saturday morning, from 10 to 12, by the Examiner of Masters and Mates.

EXAMINATION DAYS, MASTERS’ AND MATES’ CERTIFICATES.

Auckland: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in each week.

Wellington: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in each week.

Lyttelton: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in each week.

Port Chalmers: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in each week.

Officiating Ministers for 1898.—Notice No. 10.

Registrar-General’s Office,
Wellington, 6th April, 1898.

PURSUANT to the provisions of an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand passed in the forty-fourth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and intituled “The Marriage Act, 1880,” the following name of an Officiating Minister within the meaning of the said Act is published for general information:—

Church of the Province of New Zealand, commonly called the Church of England.

The Reverend John Knox Barclay, B.A.

E. J. VON DADELSZEN,
Registrar-General.

“The Stamp Act, 1882.”—New Issue of Stamps.

Head Office, Stamp Department,
Wellington, 2nd April, 1898.

IT is hereby notified that on the 5th instant new postage and revenue stamps, of the values of ½d., 1d., 2d., 2½d., 3d., 4d., 5d., 6d., 8d., 9d., 1s., 2s., and 5s. respectively, will be issued.

The following are the designs and colours of the stamps of the new issue:—

One Halfpenny (Lilac-brown).—View of Mount Cook, in oval frame on shaded background, surmounted by curved inscription in white letters, “Postage and Revenue,” and at top, by label with ornamental border containing “New Zealand” in coloured letters on white ground. Central design is flanked by sprays of ranunculus and celmisia, below which on each side are small oval labels surrounded by scrolls, and bearing figures of value on white ground, the value in words being in straight label at foot.

One Penny (Light-brown, with Blue Centre).—View of Lake Taupo, with Ruapehu in background, and cabbage-palm in left foreground, surrounded by semicircular labels containing “New Zealand” in white letters on colour above, and “Postage and Revenue” in coloured letters below. Value in words in straight label at foot, broken at each lower corner by square containing figure of value. Ornamented spandrels.

Twopence (Wine-red or Claret).—View of Pembroke Peak, Milford Sound, surrounded by oval band with inscription in white, “New Zealand Postage and Revenue.” Figure of value at base of design, with ornaments on each side. Value in words at foot, in straight label, full width of stamp. Sides and top of stamp are enclosed by dotted border of Greek design, and ornamented spandrels.

Twopence-halfpenny (Antwerp Blue).—Oblong (horizontal). View of Mount Earnslaw and head of Lake Wakatipu, with Phormium tenax, toitoi, and cabbage-palms in foreground. Inscription, “New Zealand” in white, “Postage and Revenue” in colour, at top of stamp. Value in figures only, enclosed in scroll ornament springing from lower right-hand corner, and bearing name of locality (misspelt “Wakitipu”). Name “Mt. Earnslaw” in left-hand lower corner.