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R. 92/2297. No. VII. Circular No. 92/31. NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT EAILWAYS. REGULATIONS OF THE NEW ZEALAND RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS AND ■ SCALE OF PAY FOE THE WORKING-RAILWAYS staff. THE New Zealand Railway Commissioners, in pursuance of the powers conferred by " The Government Eailways Act, 1887," section 63, do hereby make the following regulations for the Engagement, ■ Pay, and Promotion of Persons entering the Service of the New Zealand Eailway Commissioners as Platelayers, Labourers, Porters, Shunters, Cleaners, Apprentices, and Cadets, and for the Scale of Pay for the Working-Railways Staff:— EEGULATIONS FOB ENGAGEMENT AND PAY OF PEESONS ENTEEING THE EAILWAY SEEVICE. 1. Application must be made by the candidate in. his own handwriting, on the form to be obtained from the Eailway Commissioners, Wellington. Application must state the date of the candidate's birth, of which such proof must be given as the Commissioners require, and should be accompanied by certificates of educational attainment and of character. 2. When any candidate is selected by the Commissioners to fill any vacancy, he will be required, before being appointed, to furnish at his own cost a certificate by a duly-qualified medical practitioner that he is free from bodily and mental infirmity, and is physically able to perform the duties of the position he seeks. Candidates will be rejected if found physically or mentally unfit. 3. Applications must be addressed to the Eailway Commissioners, and will be recorded in the. Eailway Commissioners' offices. When vacancies occur, candidates will be selected from among those applicants who are then within the prescribed age. The candidate with the best qualifications will be selected for the vacancy, and, if the qualifications of any number of candidates appear to be equal, the Commissioners may require the candidates to undergo a competitive examination in such subjects as may be prescribed, and the Commissioners may select the candidates in order of merit. 4. Selected candidates taken into the. employment of the Commissioners will be taken on probation only (except apprentices) for the first three years of their service. They may be discharged at any time by a week's notice from any authorised officer of the Commissioners if they are found unsuitable. Upon completion of the three years' probation the Commissioners may discharge the candidate, or may appoint him permanently. 5. Increases in pay, and promotion, will in all cases depend upon good conduct and careful attention to duties, and are liable to be disallowed on account of insubordination, neglect, or' incompetence. 6. The candidate must find such guarantee of fidelity as the Commissioners may require. 7. No person will be eligible as a Labourer or Platelayer who has not an education equal to the Third Standard of the Government schools, nor as a Porter, Shunter, or Cleaner who has not an education equal to the Fourth Standard of the Government schools, nor as a Cadet who has not passed an examination equivalent to the Sixth Standard of the Government schools. 8. Apprentices entering the Government Bailway-shops must not be under fourteen years or exceeding seventeen years of age last birthday. The apprenticeship will not run after the apprentice is twenty-one years old. The apprentice shall be indentured to such railway officer as the Commissioners direct, and the indentures will be transferred to such other officer as the Commissioners direct if the Commissioners remove the master during the currency of such indentures. RATES OF PAY ON ENTRY. PLATELAYEES, LABOTJBEBS, POETEES, AND SHUNTEES. Age not to be under sixteen nor over nineteen years last birthday. Sixteen years (age last birthday) .. ... ... 3s. Od. per day. Seventeen years „ ... ... ... ... 3s. 6d. „ Eighteen years „ ... ... ... ... 4s. Od. „ Nineteen years „ ... ... ... 4s. 6d. „ Twenty years... „ ... ... ... ... ss. Od. „ Twenty-one years „ ... ... ... ... ss. 6d, „ Thereafter rising by annual increases of 6d. per day to the full rates,

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