Passed Mate, or Second Master, or any higher rank in the service of Her Majesty or of the late East India Company, to serve as Master of a British Merchant Ship, and may be had by application to the Registrar-General of Seamen, Adelaide Place, London Bridge, London, or to any Superintendent of a Mercantile Marine Office in the Outports, on the transmission and verification of the necessary certificates and testimonials.

LOCAL MARINE BOARD EXAMINATIONS-NOTICE TO CANDIDATES-OFFICIAL NOTICE.

1. Candidates are required to appear at the examination room punctually at the time appointed.

2.

Candidates are prohibited from bringing into the examination room books or papers of any kind whatever. The slightest infringement of this regulation will subject the offender to all the penalties of a failure.

3. In the event of any Candidate being detected in defacing, blotting, writing in, or otherwise injuring any book or books belonging to the Board, the papers of such Candidate will be detained until the book or books so defaced be replaced by him. He will not, however, be at liberty to remove the damaged book, which will still remain the property of the Board.

4. In the event of any Candidate being discovered copying from another, or affording any assistance or giving any information to another, or communicating in any way with another, during the time of examination, he will subject himself to a failure and its consequences.

5. No Candidate will be allowed to work out his problem on a slate or on waste paper. 6. No Candidate will be permitted to leave the room until he has given up the paper on which he is engaged.

7. Candidates will be allowed to work out the various problems by the method and tables they have been accustomed to use, and will be allowed five hours to perform the work. At the expiration of the five hours they will, if they have not finished, be declared to have failed, unless the Local Marine Board or Examiner see fit to lengthen the period in any special case. If however, the period is lengthened in any case, the special circumstances of that case, and the reasons for lengthening the period must be reported to the Board of Trade by the Examiners at the time they send in the report on Form FF.

8. Candidates will find it more convenient, both here and at sea, to correct the declination and other elements from the Nautical Almanac by the "hourly differences" which have been given in that work in order to facilitate such calculations; they will thereby render themselves independent of any proportional or logarithmic table for such purpose. 9. The corrections by inspection from tables given in many works on navigation will not be allowed (sce Tables IX, XI, and XXI, in Norie's Epitome; Tables 21 and 38 in Raper's Navigation; every correction must appear on the papers of the Candidates. The First-class and Extra Master are referred to page 519 of the Nautical Almanac, 1867, for further information on this subject.

10.

Candidates are expected to bring their answers to all problems within, or not to excced, a margin of one mile of position from a correct result.

II. In finding the longitude by chronometer the logarithms used in finding the hourangle should be taken out for seconds of arc.

12. In all other problems the logarithms to the nearest minute will be sufficiently correct for all grades, except Extra Master, from whom a degree of precision will be required, both in the work and in the results, beyond what is demanded from the inferior grades.

THOMAS GRAY, Assistant Secretary.

Board of Trade, Marine Department, January 1st, 1859.

INSTRUCTIONS TO EXAMINERS.

Service as Second Mate to be subject to certain conditions equivalent to service as First Mate for the purpose of qualifying for Examination for a Master's Certificate.

Board of Trade, Marine Department.

August, 1878.

On and after the 1st August, 1878, the following regulations shall be substituted for the regulations now in force relating to the amount and class of sea service required of a Candidate for an Ordinary Master's Certificate, viz. :

A Master must be twenty-one years of age, and have been either six years at sea, of which one year must have been as First or Only, and one year as Second Mate, or he must have been six and a half years at sea, of which two and a half years must have been as Second Mate, during the last twelve months of which he must have been in possession of a First Mate's Certificate. T. H. FARRER, Secretary.

THOMAS GRAY, Assistant Secretary.

EXAMINATION IN SUMNER'S METHOD BY
PROJECTION.

The Board of Trade have decided that on and after the 1st January, 1878, candidates for examination for the grades of First Mate and Master shall be examined in Sumner's Method by Projection.

This subject shall be considered as forming part of the Navigation Examination.

PARTICULARS OF EXAMINATION.

Candidates will be required to ascertain their longitude by chronometer worked with two assumed latitudes, one greater and one less than the latitude by dead reckoning.

They are to mark off the two positions so ascertained on the chart, and are then to connect them with a straight line, which will show the bearing of any land it may intersect, and draw a line at right-angles to this, in the direction of the sun, showing the sun's true bearing.

With reference to a second observation, the candidates will not be for the present obliged to perform the calculations. The longitudes corresponding to the two latitudes are to be furnished to them by the Examiner, together with the course and distance made good by the ship between the two observations. The candidates will then be required to correct the first line of equal altitude for the ship's change of station, in the interval between the two observations, to project the line of equal altitude corresponding to the second observation on the chart, showing by its intersection with the first line of equal altitude, as corrected for change of station, the position of the ship at the time of the second observation. Outline charts, extending from 46° to 49° and from 49° to 52° of latitude respectively, will be furnished by the Board of Trade to the different Examiners for this purpose.

NOTICE TO OFFICERS AND SEAMEN IN THE MERCANTILE MARINE.

COLOUR BLINDNESS.

The Board of Trade have decided that on and after the 15th March, 1880, the following arrangements shall be made in respect to the Examination of persons as to their ability to distinguish colours.

I.

Examinations in Colour shall be open to any person serving or about to serve in the Mercantile Marine.

2. Any person desirous of being examined must make application to a Superintendent of a Mercantile Marine Office on Form Exn. 2a, and pay a fee of One Shilling.

3. He must on the appointed day attend for examination at the Examiner's Office; and if he passes he will receive a Certificate to that effect.

4. In future the examination of a Candidate for a Master's or Mate's Certificate, who does not, at the time of making application, hold a Certificate of Competency of any grade, will commence with the Colour test, and if the Candidate fails in that test he will not be allowed to present himself for examination in Navigation and Seamanship. The fee he has paid for Examination for a Certificate of Competency will include the fee for the Colour test, and, with the exception of One Shilling, will be returned to him.

A Candidate who has obtained a Certificate before these regulations came into force, and who on presenting himself for Examination for a Certificate of a higher grade is unable to pass the Colour test, will notwithstanding be permitted to proceed in the Examination in Navigation and Seamanship for the Certificate of the higher grade; but

(1.) Should he pass this Examination, the following statement will be written on the face of the higher Certificate which may be granted

to him, viz.: "This Officer has failed to pass the Examination in Colours."

(2.) Should he fail to pass the Examination in Navigation and Seamanship, a like statement, relating to his being Colour blind, will be made on his inferior Certificate before it is returned to him.

Information as to places and hours of Examination may be obtained from a Superintendent of a Mercantile Marine Office.

Board of Trade, March, 1880.

THOMAS GRAY,

Assistant Secretary.

PORTS AT WHICH EXAMINATIONS IN COLOUR TAKE PLACE.

ABERDEEN.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Wednesday and Thursday in

each week.

BELFAST.-Examiner of Masters and Mates.

BRISTOL.-Examiner of Masters and Mates.

following Wednesday in each month.

Any day.

Second and fourth Tuesday and

CARDIFF.-Principal Officer of the Board of Trade. Any day.
CORK.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Any day.

DUBLIN.-Examiner of Masters and Mates.

DUNDEE.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. week.

Any day.

Thursday and Friday in each

GLASGOW.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Tuesdays and Wednesdays in examination weeks for Masters and Mates.

GREENOCK.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Tuesday and Wednesdays in examination weeks for Masters and Mates.

HULL.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Second and fourth Tuesday and following Wednesday in each month. Principal Officer of the Board of Trade. Any day.

LEITH.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Any day.

LIVERPOOL.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Wednesday and Saturday in each week.

LONDON.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Monday and Tuesday in each week.

NORTH SHIELDS.-Principal Officer of Board of Trade. Any day.
PLYMOUTH.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Any day.

SOUTHAMPTON.-Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office.

Any day.

SOUTH SHIELDS.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Thursdays and Fridays in examination weeks for Masters and Mates.

SUNDERLAND.-Examiner of Masters and Mates. Thursdays and Fridays in examination weeks for Masters and Mates.

SWANSEA.-Board of Trade Officer. Any day.

Tuesday in each week.

Second and fourth Tuesday in each month.

Tuesday in each week.

Every week-Monday and Tuesday Foreign Trade;" Thursday and Friday "Home Trade Passenger" and "Foreign Trade.”

The examination in Navigation commences every Monday,
and the examination in Seamanship takes place as soon as
the Navigation examination is finished. Master's voluntary
examination in Steam held on Friday in each week.

Thursday in each week alternately with Sunderland.
Nil.

Thursday in each week alternately with South Shields.
Tuesday in each week.

N.I.-The examination days are liable to occasional alteration, and Candidates are thereforo advised to ascertain the actual date of examination from the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office.

At thone places Masters' Extra Examinations are held.