1460
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 43

104. These questions, with the candidate’s answers, should be sent to the Marine Department, with the reports, after each examination.

105. If a candidate refers to any book, or paper, or memorandum, or obtains information from another candidate, during the examination, he will be treated as having failed, will forfeit his fee, and will not be allowed to be re-examined for a period of three months.

106. The Examiners will report, in the case of failure, the nature of the question or questions that decided the failure, or the point in the management of the engine in which the candidate was deficient.

107. There is nothing in the regulations requiring that applicants for the voluntary examination shall have served on board steamships; all that is required is that they shall have practical knowledge of the use and working of the steam-engine. Examiners will not fail to appreciate the fact that practical knowledge is best gained in the engine-room; and the examination of an officer who does not produce official evidence of service in steamships and of experience of engines must necessarily be more searching than in the case of one who produces evidence of such service and experience.

RULES FOR ESTIMATING SEA-SERVICE.

108. In these regulations sea-service is reckoned from the commencement to the termination of the voyage. The certificates of discharge will generally be accepted as proof of sea-service. Superintendents and Examiners will be careful to see that these discharges have not been in any way tampered with, and will report any suspicious cases to the Marine Department.

109. For foreign-going certificates the term “sea-service” means, unless otherwise stated, service performed in foreign-going vessels.

110. For home-trade certificates service in the home or coasting trade or in extended river limits is regarded as equivalent to service in the foreign trade; but for foreign-going certificates it is regarded as only equivalent to two-thirds of the time served in the foreign trade.

111. By the word “certificate” is meant a certificate of competency granted by the Board of Trade under the Merchant Shipping Act or by the Government of a British possession under an Order in Council issued in pursuance of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and “The Shipping and Seamen Act, 1903.”

A list of the colonial certificates referred to will be found in Appendix S. They are of the same force as the corresponding certificates granted by the Board of Trade.

112. Where a foreign-going certificate is required in order to qualify a candidate for examination, the certificate may be either an ordinary certificate, or a certificate for fore-and-aft-rigged vessels, or a certificate for foreign-going steamships.

113. The term “pilot” in these regulations (see pars. 32 and 60) means a pilot who is employed in general pilotage, and holds a first-class pilot’s certificate from some competent authority authorising him to pilot vessels outside harbour and partially smooth-water limits.

114. Officers’ services, to be recognised as qualifying for purposes of examination, must be performed with the requisite certificate, as specified in Appendix O. The officers’ service performed by men who have been duly promoted during the course of a voyage (see par. 118), or who, in consequence of serving in vessels plying between ports abroad, have been unable to obtain the necessary certificates, may, however, be recognised, provided that it is in other respects satisfactory.

115. Foreign officers who wish to apply for a British certificate of competency must in all cases have performed their qualifying officer’s service with the requisite British certificate. The service may have been performed in foreign vessels if the candidate can produce satisfactory testimonials to conduct and character, and is able to prove that the service has been in the required capacities, and that during the period of service he has held a British certificate of competency of the rank required by the regulations.

116. When service in charge of a watch in either the foreign or home trade is specified in the regulations the candidate will have to prove that during the whole of the time claimed he had the regular charge of a watch or watches, which, if in the foreign trade, must amount to not less than eight hours of each twenty-four of service. It must be distinctly understood that occasional service in charge of a watch will not be accepted as mate’s service under the regulations. Great care must be exercised by the Examiners and others in regard to such service, and, unless the candidate produces a clear and satisfactory certificate, specially setting forth the above facts, from the master or owner of the vessel in which the service was performed, it must not be accepted.

117. Service as additional or auxiliary first or second mate in large foreign-going vessels, when in both cases third and fourth mates are also carried, will count as first mate’s or second mate’s service, as the case may be, provided that the candidate was entered on the articles in one of these capacities, and that he produces the necessary certificate (see par. 116) showing that he was in charge of a watch or watches during the whole time claimed.

118. Whenever a man has, from any cause, been regularly promoted on the occurrence of a vacancy in the course of the voyage from the rank in which he first shipped, and such promotion, with the ground on which it has been made, is properly entered in the articles and in the official log-book, he will receive credit for his service in the higher grade for the period subsequent to his promotion.

119. Service in a lower grade than first or only mate in the home or coasting trade will not be recognised as officers’ service towards qualifying a candidate for examination for a foreign-trade certificate.

120. The testimonials of service of foreigners and of British officers and seamen serving in foreign vessels, which cannot be verified by the Marine Department, must be confirmed either by the Consul of the country to which the ship in which the candidate served belonged, or by some other recognised official authority of that country, or by the testimony of some credible person on the spot having personal knowledge of the facts required to be established. The production, however, of such proofs will not of necessity be deemed sufficient. Each case will be decided on its own merits, and if the sufficiency of the proofs given appears to be at all doubtful it must be referred to the Marine Department.

121. Service in auxiliary screw whaling-ships, and in vessels with auxiliary power, which use their screws only in calms or during light winds, is considered as service performed in sailing-vessels.

122. In the case of excursion-steamers, only such service as can be proved to have been performed at sea will be accepted for foreign-going certificates, and