Mar. 19.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 809

2. The number of candidates to be selected annually varies according to the requirements of the Forest Service in India; the figures as regards each particular year will be advertised from time to time. In 1903 there will be seven appointments offered for competition.

3. Candidates for the Indian Forest Department are selected under the following arrangements:—

(1.) An applicant must be a natural-born British subject, and must be above seventeen and under twenty years of age on the 1st June of the year in which he competes for an appointment. He must be unmarried, and if he marries before reaching India he will forfeit his appointment.

The limit of age prescribed for candidates for admission to the Indian Police and Forest Services by competitive examination in this country is extended in the case of those who have performed military service in South Africa by the period of such service, not exceeding eighteen months.

Candidates who become eligible under this concession must furnish an official certificate of the length and nature of their service.

(2.) An applicant must send* to the Judicial and Public Department of the India Office, on or before the 1st day of May of the year in which he proposes to compete,—

(a.) His name, parentage, and home address, a certificate or other satisfactory evidence of the date of his birth, and the written consent of parent or guardian that his name should be recorded as a candidate.

(b.) If his parent or guardian resides abroad, he must furnish an undertaking, signed by a representative of such parent or guardian in this country, who, in the event of the candidate’s admission to the Royal Indian Engineering College, will be responsible that the college bills and fees are punctually paid, will receive and act on all reports sent from the College, and will see that the health certificates are duly forwarded to the College at the end of each vacation.

(c.) A statement of the places of education at which he may have been, accompanied by testimonials of good conduct, during the last four years.

(3.) Applicants will have to appear before a Medical Board† at the India Office, particular stress being laid upon good vision‡ and hearing. A physical test will also be imposed, so as to insure the selection of persons of active habits and powers of endurance.

(4.) Applicants who have passed the medical examination and the physical test will be permitted to undergo an examination before the Civil Service Commissioners in the following subjects§ (Classes I. and II.), marks being assigned as follows:—

Class I.*

Marks.

Mathematics I. (including arithmetic) .. 3,000
German† (300 for colloquial) .. 2,000
Botany .. 2,000
Chemistry and heat .. 2,000
English composition .. 1,000
Geometrical drawing .. 500
Freehand drawing .. 500
Geography .. 500

Class II.

Marks.

Mathematics II. .. 2,000
Latin .. 2,000
French .. 2,000
Greek .. 2,000
English history .. 2,000
Physics .. 2,000
Physiography and geology .. 2,000

Candidates must obtain such an aggregate of marks in the examination as a whole as may indicate in the judgment of the Civil Service Commissioners a competent amount of general proficiency.

(5.) The Secretary of State will nominate as probationers such competitors as attain the highest aggregate of marks (provided they obtain the aggregate referred to above, and satisfy the requisite conditions in other respects). These probationers will then enter the College, where they will be further trained for the Forest Service of India.

(6.) If the full number of competent probationers required in any year cannot be obtained from the persons so examined, the Secretary of State reserves a discretion to fill up the deficiency by selecting any other person or persons whom, after consulting the authorities of the College, he may consider properly qualified to become probationers for the Forest Service.

4. The course of study for candidates for the India Forest Service extends over about three years. For six terms the candidates will prosecute their studies at the College, and during the period of foreign study, which will occupy the remainder of the course, they will visit, under suitable supervision, such continental forests as may be selected for the purpose. Excursions may also be made for purposes of instruction, both during term-time and during part of the vacations.

5. Each annual session begins in September, and is divided into three terms, with vacations of about four weeks at Christmas, two weeks at Easter,‡ and eight weeks in the summer.

6. A charge of £61 is made for each of the six terms spent at the College; for the period of foreign study the charge is £70 for each of the three terms: the amounts must be paid terminally in advance to the Bank of England. Receivable orders, with full directions as to the mode of payment, will be forwarded from the India Office to the parents or guardians shortly before the fees fall due. A student will not be allowed to come into residence or to start for or continue his study of foreign forests until his fee for the term has been paid.

7. A deposit of £5 is required to be paid by each student on admission to the College as caution-money, to cover charges incurred by him for damage to books, instruments, &c., or any College bills outstanding on leaving the College. Any balance over and above such charges will be repaid. This deposit is to be paid with the fee for the first term, making the total payment on that occasion £66.

8. The foregoing payments cover all charges for tuition, board according to the College tariff, lodging, with washing up to a cost of 2s. a week, and ordinary medical attendance while in residence at the College. When students are on tour, and during the course of practical instruction, whether in Great Britain or on the Continent, the Secretary of State will defray the expenses of (1) board, lodging, and washing (the aggregate maximum expenditure under these heads being 10s. per diem), (2) travelling-expenses, and (3) fees to local forest officers, &c.

Students are required to provide their own class-books and drawing-instruments. Drawing-paper, drawing-boards, and surveying-instruments are provided by the College.

9. The prescribed course of study comprises the following subjects:—I. Auxiliary subjects: (1) geometrical drawing, (2) freehand drawing, (3) surveying, (4) forest engineering, (5) accounts, (6) German, (7) physics, (8) chemistry, (9) geology and mineralogy, (10) entomology, (11) botany, (12) drill and gymnastics. II. Forestry, theoretical and practical, in all its branches.

• There is no form of application; the documents specified in para. 3, (2), clauses (a) and (b), should be enclosed in a covering letter addressed to the Secretary, Judicial and Public Department, India Office, London.

† It is suggested that a candidate, before commencing any special course of study, should undergo a thorough medical examination. By such an examination any serious physical disqualification would probably be revealed, and the candidate might thus be spared the expense and waste of time involved in a course of preparation for a service for which he is physically unfit.

Candidates for the Forest Service may, if they wish it, undergo a preliminary examination by the Medical Board at the India Office, not more than two years before they are qualified to compete, under the following conditions:—

(a.) Applications must be addressed to the Under-Secretary of State, India Office, Whitehall, London, accompanied by a fee of two guineas and by a statement of the candidate’s age.

(b.) Candidates must pay their travelling-expenses.

(c.) Candidates considered to be unfit by the Medical Board at this preliminary examination are not bound to accept its opinion, but may, at their own risk, continue their studies, with the knowledge that they will have to submit themselves for a final medical examination by the Medical Board shortly before the literary examination at which they wish to compete.

(d.) On the other hand, it must be distinctly understood that the preliminary examination by the Medical Board is held solely for the candidate’s information, and that, if after that examination he is reported to be apparently fit, he has not on that account any claim to be accepted as physically fit when he presents himself for the final medical examination, upon which alone his acceptance or rejection will depend. Candidates may be considered fit for the Service at the preliminary examination, but may be found at the final examination to be unfit, either on account of some physical defect which did not exist or passed undetected at the preliminary examination, or for other reasons.

‡ On the subject of the standard of eyesight required for the Indian services, a pamphlet can be obtained on application to the Secretary, Judicial and Public Department, India Office.

§ Reprints of the papers set at previous examinations, together with tables of the marks assigned to the candidates, are published by the Civil Service Commissioners, and can be obtained through any bookseller from the following agents: Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, London, E.C.; Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh; and E. Ponsonby, 116, Grafton Street, Dublin. The price is one shilling.

• All the subjects of Class I. may be taken up. Only two of the subjects of Class II. may be taken up.

† Candidates must qualify in German.

‡ While in actual residence at the College. During the third year, spent in study on the Continent, only one week is allowed at Easter.

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