APRIL 3.]

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

76. Officers in the Seventh Class will be required to pass
    tests of efficiency (to be called the First Examination) before they
    may receive increments beyond £165 per annum. The scope of
    such examination shall be as follows :—

For postal officers : (1.) Examination in postal rules and regulations.
Officers continuously employed for five years prior to
the examination in postal duties will be examined principally in
postal work, but will be required to show reasonable knowledge
of the work of other branches. (2.) The efficiency tests in this
examination will consist principally of practical work.

For telegraph officers : (1.) Examination in operating, sending and receiving, fifteen minutes each, at the rate of thirty words a minute. Not more than 1 per cent. of errors will be allowed. Excellence in receiving will be regarded as compensating for slight failure to attain the required speed in sending. (2.) In telegraph rules and regulations, in which officers will be required to show some practical knowledge of coding and charging telegrams. Telegraph counter clerks, despatch clerks, and telephone-exchange clerks will be required to pass an examination on the rules and regulations relating to their respective branches.

For all officers : An examination in the provisions of the Post and Telegraph Act.

77. All such officers, before receiving increments beyond £200 per annum, will be required to pass an oral test of efficiency to the satisfaction of their immediate controlling officers in the work usually performed by them.

78. Before receiving promotion to a class higher than the Seventh Class officers will be required to pass an examination (to be called the Second Examination), as under :—

For postal officers : (1.) A test similar to that for the First Examination, but of a more extensive character. Officers employed principally in mail-work must show themselves competent in all the sorting and making-up of mails done at the office in which they are engaged, and in addition must show practical knowledge of handling registered letters and parcels. They must also pass an examination in postal geography. (2.) Money-order and savings-bank and counter officers, and those performing clerical work, must pass in the practical working of their branches. The tenor, and sometimes the text, of rules will form part of the examination, but literal mistakes in the text will not be taken into account.

For telegraph officers : An examination in magnetism and electricity as applied to telegraphy, theoretical and practical.

For counter clerks and despatch clerks : An examination similar to the First Examination, but of a more extensive character.

For telephone-exchange clerks : An examination in electricity as applied to telephony.

For all officers : An examination in the provisions of the Post and Telegraph Act.

79. Before officers are eligible for promotion beyond the Sixth Class they must have passed the Senior Examination as prescribed by the Classification Regulations, or be exempted as described therein.

80. Examinations must be taken in their proper order, beginning at the lowest. No officer will be allowed to omit an examination on the plea of having passed a higher. When an officer who has not passed the preceding examinations desires to sit for the Senior Technical (Check Clerk’s) Examination, he will be required to deposit £1. If he passes the examination the fee will be returned to him, and if he fails it will be retained by the Department. This examination may be taken irrespective of passing other examinations.