5

H.—B.

CIVIL SERVICE LITERARY PRIZE. No essays were sent in during 1881, in response to the offer of a prize of £10 for the best essay on the principles and practice of parliamentary government. The Board has, therefore, with the consent of the donor, added the unexpended amount to the amount given for the present year, and offers a prize of £15 for the best essay on " Freedom of Debate in Parliament," under the following conditions : (1.) Competition to bo open to all persons under the age of twenty-five years at this date who have passed either the Junior or Senior Civil Service Examination, and who are in the Service at the time of competition. (2.) The prize to be in books or money, at the option of the prize-taker. (3.) Essays to be legibly written, and on one side of the paper only. (4.) Essays to be delivei'ed to the Secretary of the Civil Service Examination Board, Wellington, by the 3lst December, 1882. (5.) No competitor to allow his name to appear on his essay, but to adopt a motto or cypher, which is also to be written on a sealed envelope containing the author's name, and attached to the essay. (G.) The prize will not be awarded unless there is an essay which, in the judgment of the examiners, is of sufficient merit to entitle the author to receive it. (7.) Competitors are advised to keep copies of their essays, as those sent to the Board will not be returned.

EXAMINATION PAPERS. I append copies of the examination papers set for the October, 1881, and April, 1882, examinations respectively. I have, &c, G. S. Cooper, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Chairman,

APPENDIX. Civil Service Examination Papers, April, 1882. JTJ_NTIO_B. ENGLISH. 1. Write the passage dictated to you. 2. Explain the terms " relative" and " antecedent," and the grammatical connection existing between them. Illustrate by an example. 3. Parse all the words in the last sentence of the passage you have written, commencing " But as usurers," &c. 4. State the principal rules concerning English genders. 5. Analyze— Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway, And fools, who came to scoff, remain'd to pray. 6. Take the above passage (Question 5) as your theme, and write an essay on it. Passage for Dictation. The physical organization of the native of Bengal is feeble even to effeminacy. He lives in a constant vapour-bath. His pursuits are sedentary, his limbs delicate, his movements languid, During many ages he has been trampled upon by men of bolder and more hardy breeds. Courage, independence, veracity, are qualities to which his constitution and his situation are equally unfavourable. His mind bears a singular analogy to his body. It is weak even to helplessness for purposes of manly resistance ; but its suppleness and its tact move the children of sterner climates to admiration not unmingled with contempt. All those arts which are the natural defence of the weak are familiar to this subtle race. Large promises, smooth excuses, elaborate tissues of circumstantial falsehood, equivocation, perjury, forgery, are the weapons, offensive and defensive, of the people of the Lower Ganges. All those millions did not furnish one sepoy to the armies of the Company. But as usurers, as money-changers, as sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings could bear a comparison with them. ARITHMETIC. 1. Add together fifty-five millions seven hundred thousand and five, seven hundred millions nine hundred and eight thousand two hundred and five, seventy-six millions fourteen thousand and fiftynine, eight hundred and seventy-seven millions nine hundred and two thousand and forty-seven", seven millions eight hundred and four thousand five hundred and twelve, five hundred and seventy-five millions eight hundred and one thousand and ninety-nine. 2. If the sum of the above were farthings, how many pounds, &c, would you have ? 3. How many inches are there in a. pole, an ell, a hand, & fathom, and a chain respectively? 7- 1- + It-?- 3*+ — 4. Find the value of c . , nl v- — Q ,, "__ ttt' Of + £>T_ o% + 14 so5. What decimal of £20 10s. 6d. is £649 2s. Ofd. ? 6. Make out an invoice for the following goods : —BO yards cloth, at 14s. lOd.; 348 yards linen, at 2s. 9d.; 420 yards cotton, at SJ-.; 480 yards flannel, at Is. lOd.; 750 yards cotton, at lOd.; 60 yards carpeting, at 2s. 9d. Deduct 10 per cent, for cash payment. 7. The Government Insurance Office distributed reversionary bonuses to persons insured. What is the cash value of a bonus of £63, that of £10 being £3 19s. lOd. ? What reduction of annual premium would be made if a reduction of 17s. lOd. were made for every £10 ?