714
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 28

CALCULATION OF SERVICE.

11. Service as shown on discharge certificates and in testimonials should be reckoned by the calendar month—i.e., the period from a given day in any month to the preceding day of the following month, both inclusive.

The number of complete months of service should be thus computed, and all odd days added together and reckoned at thirty to the month. The day on which an agreement commenced and that on which it terminated should both be included.

GAPS IN SERVICE.

12. Before an applicant is allowed to sit for examination, the Examiner should be careful to ascertain that there are no gaps in his service during which his conduct is not properly accounted for.

TESTIMONIALS AS TO WORKSHOP SERVICE.

13. All applicants will be required to produce testimonials, signed by the employer, covering their workshop service. These must testify to the applicants’ conduct and ability, and should indicate the nature of the work performed by them (e.g., fitting, erecting, turning, machining, drawing-office work, &c.), and the time spent on work in each branch of the trade in which they were engaged. In addition to the original, a copy of each testimonial should be submitted.

TESTIMONIALS AS TO SEA SERVICE.

14. Every applicant for a certificate of competency is required to produce testimonials covering the qualifying period of his service, stating the nature of the duties performed by him, his rank on watch, and the number of engineers simultaneously on watch on the main propelling machinery. Such testimonials should be signed by the chief engineers under whom the applicant has served, and should testify to his ability, conduct, and sobriety. While it is desirable that the whole of the applicant’s sea service should be thus covered, testimonials will be required for at least the last eighteen months at sea preceding the date of his application to be examined. Where the period of qualifying service is less than eighteen months, the testimonials must cover such shorter period.

A copy of each testimonial should be furnished in addition to the original.

It is also desirable that testimonials signed by the Chief Engineer be endorsed by the Engineer Superintendent, but testimonials signed only by the Superintendent or other officials will not, as a rule, be regarded as sufficient.

An applicant who holds the position of Chief Engineer should produce testimonials signed by the Engineer Superintendent, the Managing Owner, or the Secretary of the Company.

SERVICE FOUND TO BE INSUFFICIENT AFTER EXAMINATION.

15. If, after a candidate has passed an examination for a certificate of competency, it is discovered that his qualifying workshop or sea service is not sufficient to warrant his receiving a certificate of the grade for which he has passed it will not be granted to him. Should, however, the Marine Department be satisfied that the error in the calculation of his services did not occur through any fault or wilful misrepresentation on his part, he may either have the examination fee returned to him or placed to his credit.

The certificate will not be granted until the candidate has fully complied with the requirements in respect of qualifying service and has been re-examined in all of the subjects, unless the Marine Department sees fit to dispense with the re-examination.

CERTIFICATES OF SERVICE.

16. An officer who has attained the rank of Engineer Lieutenant or Engineer Sub-Lieutenant in His Majesty’s Navy or the Royal Australian Navy, or in the Royal Indian Marine, is entitled without examination to a certificate of service as first-class engineer, if an engineer lieutenant, and, if an engineer sub-lieutenant, to a certificate of service as second-class engineer.

These officers may be examined for certificates of competency on the same conditions as engineers in the mercantile marine.