2448
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 58

5. The application for examination is to be made on form Exn. 3, which must be filled up and signed by the candidate. This form can be obtained at any Customhouse, Mercantile Marine Office, or office of an Inspector of Machinery. The form Exn. 3, properly filled in, together with the candidate’s indentures of apprenticeship (or certificate from an employer that the candidate has worked as an apprentice for five years), testimonials, discharges, and fee, must be forwarded to the Chief Examiner of Engineers, at the office of the Chief Inspector of Machinery, at Wellington, with an intimation of the place at which the candidate wishes to be examined. When the application is filled up at a place other than Wellington, and it is a matter of urgency that the candidate should be examined before the Chief Examiner can notify the local Examiner, the candidate must present his application and other papers to the local Examiner, who, if they are correct, shall at once forward them to the Chief Examiner, with the fee, and proceed with the examination of the candidate.

The Examiner should be particularly careful to ascertain that there are no gaps in the candidate’s service which are not properly accounted for, before he is allowed up for examination.

6. In cases where the services of a candidate require verification, or where he is in doubt whether his service complies with the regulations and wishes to submit his case for special consideration, all certificates, discharges, and testimonials, together with the form of application,* properly filled in, should be submitted to the local Examiner of Engineers. If necessary, the Examiner will, after seeing that all the required information is clearly stated in the papers, forward them with his observations to the Chief Examiner, who will deal with the case.

7. The candidate’s service, as shown on his discharges, should be reckoned by the calendar month—i.e., the time included between any given day in any month and the preceding day of the following month, both inclusive. The number of complete months from the commencement of the period, ascertained in this way, should be computed, after which the number of odd days should be counted. The day on which the agreement commences as well as that on which it terminates should both be included and all odd days should be added together and reckoned at thirty to the month.

8. All other inquiries regarding examinations should be made and dealt with in the same way. The point on which information is sought should be clearly stated, and certificates, discharges, testimonials, &c., should be forwarded when they are material to the inquiry.

9. Should any doubt exist as to the age of a candidate, he will be required to produce a certificate of birth.

10. It is provided by section 32 of the Shipping and Seamen Act, 1908, that any person who makes, assists in making, or procures to be made any false representation for the purpose of procuring, either for himself or for any other person, a certificate of competency shall in respect of each offence be guilty of a crime, the punishment for which is imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years, or a fine.

11. All candidates will be required to produce, in addition to the official discharge certificates, testimonials as to their workshop service and as to their service at sea. The testimonials as to workshop service must be signed by the employer, and must testify to the candidate’s conduct and ability, and state what kind of work he was engaged on (e.g., fitting, erecting, turning, machine-work, &c.), and for how long.

12. Testimonials as to service at sea must testify to the applicant’s sobriety, experience, ability, and general good conduct for at least the last twelve months’ service at sea preceding the date of application to be examined. They must be signed by the master and chief engineer (or in the case of testimonials to chief engineers, by the master and superintending engineer), and must clearly state whether the applicant was on regular watch, and in regular charge of a watch on the main engines or boilers. It is desirable that testimonials of candidates should be endorsed by the superintending engineer. No time spent in clerical work will be allowed to count.

13. In cases where a testimonial from the chief engineer or from the master is for any sufficient reason not obtainable, one may be submitted from the superintending engineer in place of that of the chief engineer, and from the marine superintendent in place of that of the master, or from the managing owner, or secretary, or chairman of a large company, in place of either; but in every such instance the testimonial must declare that the facts stated are in accordance with the reports made by the chief engineer or the master, as the case may be, or else that the facts are within the writer’s personal knowledge. Copies of testimonials referred to in this paragraph and in paragraphs 11 and 12 must accompany candidates’ applications, and will be retained by the Marine Department.

14. Penalty for Misconduct.—Candidates who have neglected to join their vessels after having signed articles, or who have deserted their vessels after having joined, or who have been found guilty of gross misconduct on board, will be required to produce satisfactory proofs of two years’ subsequent service and good conduct at sea, unless the Marine Department, after having investigated the matter, should see fit to reduce the time.

15. When a candidate is observed to be hard of hearing, or is labouring under any other obvious physical defect, the signatories of his testimonials are required to mention that defect specifically, and to state whether it in any way interfered with the efficiency of the candidate as an engineer on watch. When these modified testimonials are such as to completely satisfy the Examiner that the defect is not such as to interfere with the efficient discharge of the applicant’s duties as engineer, the examination is proceeded with; otherwise the case is referred to the Marine Department. Candidates afflicted with nervous impediment in speech may write their answers to viva voce questions.

16. The testimonials of service of foreign engineers, and of British engineers serving in foreign vessels, which cannot be verified by the Registrar of Seamen, must be confirmed either by the Consul of the country to which the ship in which the candidate served belonged, or by some other recognized 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 must be decided on its own merits; and, if the sufficiency of the proofs given appears to be at all doubtful, the point must be referred to the Marine Department.

17. Service which cannot be verified by proper entries in the articles of agreement of the ships in which the candidates have served cannot be counted.

• Form Exn. 3, which can be obtained at any Mercantile Marine Office, Customs Office, or Inspection of Machinery Office,