will be made unless the head of the office at which the officer is stationed certifies that the officer has passed the required examinations and has earned promotion.

70. An officer of the Eighth Class shall have been in receipt of the maximum salary of that class for one year before being entitled to be promoted to the Seventh Class. Such promotion shall be subject to a report from the head of his office certifying that his conduct is satisfactory in all respects, that he has passed the required examinations, and has earned promotion; and if the report is not satisfactory the promotion will be deferred.

EXAMINATIONS.

71. Before being promoted out of the Eighth Class, officers shall pass one or more of the following examinations as indicated:—

For postal officers: (1.) The sorting test, being the assortment of five hundred letters, or articles resembling letters in shape and in the mode of the addresses thereon inscribed, for their proper distribution by means of the post throughout New Zealand. The assortment shall be made in a maximum time of twenty minutes, and with a maximum of mistakes of 3 per cent. (2.) An examination in rules and regulations as contained in the book of Rules and Regulations for the Guidance of Officers (General and Postal), edition 1911, or any amendment thereof; in money-order, postal-note, British postal-order, and savings-bank rules; in the Post and Telegraph Guide of the current issue; in the provisions of the Post and Telegraph Act (the whole Act); and in discipline.

For telegraph officers: (1.) An examination in rules and regulations as contained in the book of Rules and Regulations for the Guidance of Officers (Telegraph Branch), edition 1904, or any amendment thereof, and in the Post and Telegraph Guide of the current issue; in money-order and savings-bank rules as applied to telegrams; in telegraph accounts; in the provisions of the Post and Telegraph Act (the whole Act); and in discipline. (2.) An examination in sending and receiving on the Morse telegraph instrument at a minimum rate per minute of twenty-five words sent and twenty-three words received, ten minutes each way, with a maximum of 1 per cent. of mistakes. (3.) A technical examination in the simpler uses of electricity as applied to telegraphy, and in the use and management of telegraphic apparatus.

72. Junior Counter Clerks and Junior Despatch Clerks, before being promoted from the Eighth Class, must pass an examination in the rules and regulations affecting their duties.

73. Officers in the Seventh or the Eighth Class who may pass the Senior Examination (excluding the Matriculation Examination) shall be granted a double increment; provided that the conduct of such officers has been satisfactory, and they are otherwise favourably reported upon for promotion.

74. Officers in the Eighth Class passing a satisfactory examination in shorthand-writing at the rate of 100 words per minute, and typewriting at the rate of 40 words per minute, shall be granted six months’ seniority.

75. After the 1st June, 1912, officers who fail to pass one of the examinations required by Rule 71 hereof within two years from the date on which they would otherwise by lapse of time become qualified to be paid the maximum salary of the Eighth Class shall be promoted to the Seventh Class from the date only on which they pass the final examination of their class.