GENERAL RULES AS TO EXAMINATIONS AND FEES. 16. The candidates will be allowed to work out the various problems according to the method and the tables they have been accustomed to use, and will be allowed five hours to perform the work; at the expiration of which time, if they have not finished, they will be declared to have failed, unless the Local Marine Board see fit to extend the time.

17. The fee for examination must be paid to the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office (Shipping Master). If a candidate fail in his examination, half the fee he has paid will be returned to him by the Superintendent of Mercantile Marine Office, on his producing the Form Exn. 17, late HH., which will be given him by the Examiner. The fees are as follow:

N.B.-Any person having a Master's Certificate of Competency for Foreign-going Ships may go up for an extra examination without payment of any Fee, but if he fails in his first examination, half a Master's Fee will be charged for each subsequent examination.

18. If the applicant passes he will receive the Form Exn. 16, late GG., from the Examiner, which will entitle him to receive his Certificate of Competency from the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office, at the port to which he has directed it to be forwarded. If his testimonials have been sent to the Registrar to be verified, they will be returned with his Certificate.

19. If an applicant is examined for a higher rank, and fails, but passes an examination of a lower grade, he may receive a certificate accordingly, but no part of the fee will be returned.

20.

In every case the Examination, whether for Only Mate, First Mate, or Master, is to commence with the problems for Second Mate. 21. In all cases of failure the candidate must be re-examined de If a candidate fails in Seamanship he will not be re-examined until after a lapse of SIX MONTHS, to give him time to gain experience. If he fails three times in Navigation he will not be re-examined until after a lapse of THREE MONTHS.

novo.

22. As the examinations of Masters and Mates are made compulsory, the qualifications have been kept as low as possible; but it must be distinctly understood, that it is the intention of the Board of Trade to raise the standard from time to time, whenever, as will no doubt be the case, the general attainments of officers in the merchant service shall render it possible to do so without inconvenience; and officers are strongly urged to employ their leisure hours, when in port, in the acquirement of the knowledge necessary to enable them to pass their examinations; and Masters will do well to permit apprentices and junior officers to attend schools of instruction, and to afford them as much time for this purpose as possible.

EXAMINATION OF MASTERS AND MATES WITH REFER

ENCE TO THE COMMERCIAL CODE OF SIGNALS FOR
THE USE OF ALL NATIONS.-INSTRUCTIONS TO
EXAMINERS.

23. In transmitting the accompanying copy of the latest edition of the Commercial Code of Signals for the use of the Examiners, the Board of Trade desire to direct attention to the principal points connected with this Code as to which Candidates for Examination should be questioned.

24. At the same time, as the subject is probably new to some of the Examiners themselves, the Board recommend to them a perusal of the Report of the Signal Committee of 1855 (which will be found at the commencement of the Signal Book), and also the first few pages of the Book. The information therein given will be found sufficient to make the Examiners theoretically acquainted with the characteristics of the New Code, and the advantages it claims to possess over other Codes, and will enable them to appreciate and urge upon Candidates for Examination the facilities which the new System of Signalling affords for easy and rapid communication.

25. The "comprehensiveness" and "distinctness" of the Commercial Code are its chief recommendations.

26. The form of the Hoist generally indicates the nature of the

Signal made, so that an observer can at sight understand the character of the Signal he sees flying.

27. The Examinations should tend to elicit a knowledge of the distinctive features of the Code above alluded to.

With this object the Examiners should make the 2, 3, and 4 Flag Signals on the Frame board which is furnished for the purpose (always taking care first to show the Ensign and the Code Pennant at the Gaff),* questioning the Candidates as to the distinguishing Forms of the respective Hoists, which will be indicated according as a Burgee, or a Pennant, or a Square Flag, is uppermost.

28. The Candidate ought to know how to find in the Signal Book the communication or the inquiry he desires to make, and how to make the Signal. The Signal to be made should invariably be sought for by the Candidate in the Vocabulary and Index, Part II, and never in Part I.

The Candidate ought to know how to interpret a Signal.

The Examiner should place a Signal on the Frame board, and vary the Signal by showing a 2 or 3 Flag Signal, or a "Geographical" or a Vocabulary" Signal, or the name of a Merchant Ship or a Ship of

66

War.

The two latter Signals would not of course be found in the Signal Book. The candidate ought to point them out in the Code List of Ships.

30. A candidate ought to be able to read off a Signal at sight, so far as to name the Flags composing the Hoist.

31. He ought to know the use of the Code Pennant, and of the Pennants C and D, "Yes" and "No."

32. The candidate should be practised in the use of the Spelling Table, by being made to spell his own name, or some word not in the Vocabulary of the Code.

33. As Ships of War use a different set of Code Flags, the candidate ought to be aware of the fact, and should know that a plate of the Admiralty Flags is to be found in the Signal Book, as well as plates of the Code Flags which Foreign Ships of War will use in signalling to Merchant Vessels. He should also know that every official Log Book contains plates of these Code Flags.

34. A knowledge of the Distant Signals should be required of the Candidate, their object, and the mode of signalling by the Distant Code, which will be found at the end of the Signal Book.

*The object of this is, of course, to distinguish the Signals from those of another Code.

C

For this purpose two Blank Balls, two Black Square Flags, and two Black Pennants will be furnished with the Frame board, and the candidate should be required to make one or two Distant Signals, and to read off one or two made by the Examiners.

The Ball being the distinguishing symbol of the Distant Signal, any Pennants or Flags of the Code may be employed in conjunction with it, irrespective of colour. The Black Pennants and Flags are merely sent as showing best in the light background of the Frame board.

SEMAPHORES.

35. We have as yet no Semaphores on our coasts. The French, however, have upwards of 110 such stations established on their coasts, at which the Commercial Code of Signals only is used.

36. A plate at the end of the Signal Book explains the method by which the arms of the Semaphore are made to represent by their position (up, down, or horizontal), the three symbols used for distant signalling, viz., a Flag, a Ball, or a Pennant. Before making Signals with the Semaphores, the Black Disc, with the white rim, should be placed on the top of the Semaphore Mast, as it properly forms a part of the Mast itself.

37.

The Board of Trade think it of consequence to observe that as the Commercial Code has (in his integrity) been translated into French, and as copies of the Signal Book are furnished to all French Vessels of War and Semaphore stations, any Englishman can now by this Code make his wants known to them.

Other nations are now negotiating for the adoption of the Commercial Code, and from the favour with which Foreigners seem to have accepted the Code wherever it has been presented to their notice, there is every reason to believe that in a short time the Mercantile Marine of all nations will have the advantage of being able to communicate by an "Universal Language of Signals."

38. Her Majesty's Government have done all in their power to promote the use of the Commercial Code, and the Government of India and nearly all the Colonial Governments have adopted it, and a large number of Signal Books and Code Lists have already been circulated in the British Possessions abroad.

MASTERS AND MATES'

VOLUNTARY

EXAMINATIONS IN STEAM.

39. Arrangements have been made for giving to those Masters and First and Only Mates who are possessed of or entitled to certificates of competency, an opportunity of undergoing a voluntary examination as to their practical knowledge of the use and working of the steam engine. These examinations are conducted on the premises, and under the superintendence of the Local Marine Boards, at such times as they may appoint for the purpose; and the Examiners are selected by the Board of Trade from the Engineer Surveyors appointed under the fourth part of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854.'

40. Any Master or Mate desiring to be examined in Steam, must deliver to the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office, a statement in writing to that effect, upon the Form of Application (Exn. 2, late EE.); if the applicant has a Certificate of Competency, such certificate must be delivered to the Shipping Master along with his statement. If he is about to pass an examination for a Certificate of Competency at the same time, the applications should be sent in together.

41. A fee of one pound must be paid by the applicant for the examination in Steam, and the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office will thereupon inform him of the time and place at which he is to attend to be examined, and the examination will then and there proceed in the same manner as the other examinations. If the applicant fails, and has given in his certificate, it will be at once returned to him, but no part of the fee he has paid will be returned.

42. If he passes, the Report (Exn. 14, late FF) will be sent to the Board of Trade, and the Certificate of Competency with the Form (Exn. 2, late EE) to the Registrar-General of Seamen; the words, "Passed in Steam," with the date and place of examination, will then be entered on the certificate and its counterpart, and the certificate will be sent to the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office of the port named in the Application (Exn. 2, late EE), to be delivered to the applicant in the usual manner.

43. The examination is vivá voce, and extends to a general knowledge of the practical use and working of the steam-engine, and of the various valves, fittings, and pieces of machinery connected with it. Intricate theoretical questions on calculations of horse-power or areas of cylinders and valves, or any of the more difficult questions which