Sept. 15.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2215

The regulations published in the New Zealand Gazettes No. 67, of the 11th July, 1901, and No. 85, of the 23rd October, 1902, are therefore cancelled.

R. J. SEDDON,
Minister of Defence.

NEW SCHEME OF ENTRY OF NAVAL CADETS WHO ARE CANDIDATES FOR COMMISSIONS AS EXECUTIVE AND ENGINEER OFFICERS OF THE NAVY AND OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL MARINES.

(Applicable at the Examination in July, 1904, and succeeding Examinations.)

For the Information of Candidates.

1. ALL Officers for the Executive and Engineer Branches of the Royal Navy or for the Royal Marines will enter the Service in future as Naval Cadets under identical conditions, and will be educated and trained together until passing as Sub-Lieutenants.

2. Appointments to Naval Cadetships will be made by nomination, subject to the nominees passing a qualifying examination. Candidates who fail to pass will not be allowed a second trial.

No nomination will be given to boys whose parents or guardians do not declare for them that they are prepared to enter any one of the three branches of the Service at the termination of their probationary period of service afloat.

As far as possible each officer will be allowed to choose which branch or service he will join; but this must be subject to the proviso that all alike are satisfactorily filled.

Candidates must be of pure European descent, and the sons either of natural-born British subjects or of parents naturalised in the United Kingdom. If any doubt arises upon this question, the burden of clear proof that he is qualified will rest upon the Candidate.

3. All nominations of Candidates for Naval Cadetships are made by the First Lord,* with the exception of a limited number which are at the disposal of individual members of the Board, and of the Secretaries to the Board of Admiralty.

4. Every Candidate desirous of receiving a nomination from the First Lord of the Admiralty will be required to present himself before a Committee which will sit at the Admiralty for the purpose of interviewing Candidates shortly before the Qualifying Examination takes place. The fact, however, of a Candidate being invited to appear before this Committee is not to be understood as in any degree implying that he will necessarily receive a nomination.

5. The nominations will be made three times a year, a few weeks before the date fixed for the examination of Candidates.

6. Candidates will be examined only once, but parents may choose whether they will send up their sons at the earlier or later of the two occasions upon which they will be eligible for nomination, on the distinct understanding that if nominated they are entered for the Qualifying Examination immediately succeeding the interview.

In the case of boys who have received nominations being prevented by illness from taking the Qualifying Examination, their nominations may be postponed till the next examination, if their age permits.†

Should they not be able to present themselves for examination within the limits so prescribed, they will be finally excluded from entering the Naval College.

7. The Qualifying Examinations will be held in March, July, and December, and the appointments will date from the 15th May, 15th September, 15th January following respectively.

8. Candidates for examination in—
   March must be not less than twelve years and four months nor more than thirteen years of age on the following—15th May;
   July must be not less than twelve years and four months nor more than thirteen years of age on the following—15th September;
   December must be not less than twelve years and four months nor more than thirteen years of age on the following—15th January.

9. Every candidate must be in good health, and free from any physical defect of body, impediment of speech, defect of sight or hearing, and also from any predisposition to constitutional or hereditary disease or weakness of any kind, and in all respects well developed and active in proportion to his age. Before undergoing the literary examination he will be required to pass the medical examination according to the prescribed regulations, and must be found physically fit for the Navy.

10. The Qualifying Examination will be in the following subjects* :—
    (1.) English (including writing from dictation, simple composition and reproduction of the gist of a short passage twice read aloud to the Candidates).
    (2.) History and Geography, with special reference to the British Empire.
    (3.) Arithmetic and Algebra (to Simple Equations). N.B.—Two-thirds of this paper will be in Arithmetic.
    (4.) Geometry (to include the subject-matter of the First Book of Euclid, or its equivalent, with simple Mensuration; the use of instruments is allowed).
    (5.) French or German, with an oral examination, to which importance will be attached.
    (6.) Latin (easy passages for translation from Latin into English and from English into Latin, and simple grammatical questions).

The list of successful Candidates will be published in alphabetical order.

11. For all Cadets entered under these regulations the payment will be at the rate of £75 per annum for the period under training, to be paid every term in advance to the Cashier of the Bank of England on receipt of claim from the Accountant-General of the Navy. But the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty reserve the power of selecting from among the Cadets entered at each Examination a limited number, being sons of officers of the Navy, Army, or Marines, or of Civil Officers under the Board of Admiralty, with respect to whom the annual payment will be £40 only. In this selection their Lordships will have regard solely to the pecuniary circumstances of the Cadet.

Applications for the Reduced Scale must be received at the Admiralty not later than the 1st January, 1st May, and 1st September.

Parents or guardians are further required to make a private allowance of £50 per annum to Cadets from the expiration of their period of training until they reach the rank of Acting Sub-Lieutenant.

12. In addition to the annual payments mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, the parent or guardian will be charged with the personal expenses incurred by the Cadet for washing, repairing boots and clothes, pocket-money, &c.

13. The period of training in the training establishments will be four years. There will be three terms in each year. The first term of each year will be approximately from 15th January to 15th April, the second from 7th May to 7th August, and the third from 15th September to 15th December.

The vacations will be four weeks at Christmas, three weeks at Easter, and six weeks at midsummer.

14. It is to be distinctly understood that the period of training is a time of probation, and the parent or guardian of every Cadet will be required to sign a declaration, on the admission of the Cadet, to the effect that he shall be immediately withdrawn on the receipt of an official request for his withdrawal. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty reserve to themselves full discretion to request the withdrawal of any Cadet from the Royal Naval College, if after a sufficient trial he is in their opinion for any reason unsuitable for the Naval Service. This discretion will, as a rule, be exercised at the end of the first year; but the proficiency and progress of the Cadets will be periodically determined, and they may be required, if necessary, to withdraw at a later stage.

15. (a.) Reports of progress and conduct will be made to the Admiralty at the end of each year of the Cadet’s study.
    (b.) In all subjects of instruction the principle will be followed of giving merit marks for current work. At the end of each year of training the Cadet’s proficiency and progress will be determined, partly by examination, and partly by the marks gained for current work during the year.
    (c.) Cadets who fail to attain a certain standard, or who, for any reason, are considered unsuitable for the Naval Service, may be required to withdraw at any time.

This rule will apply to those who do not show an aptitude for naval life, as well as to those who make insufficient progress, or whose constitution is weak, although no disease may have developed.

16. Cadets whose conduct is unsatisfactory may at any time be required to withdraw.

17. Cadets will, on passing out of the training establishments, rank according to the amount of sea-time they obtain at their final examination, taken in conjunction with

• Applications for nominations should be addressed to the Assistant Private Secretary to the First Lord, and should not be made until the Candidate has reached eleven years of age.

† Should any case occur where a Candidate’s age prevents his nomination being deferred, the Admiralty will consider whether special arrangements can be made for him to be examined by the Headmaster of the Royal Naval College, Osborne, at the beginning of the ensuing term, if then well enough.

• This revised Schedule comes into force at the Examination in July, 1904.