BOY MESSENGERS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 83, 18 January 1928, Page 8

BOY MESSENGERS

HISTORY EXAMINATION

Messenger boys who now enter British Civil Seryiee employment wdl have to face a far more searching examination in history in a year's time than their more fortunate predecessors before they can be passed on to more advanced positions. . Instead of being concerned with Britain's early history, and lists of battles, kings and queens, and dates, the new syllabus issued by the Civil Seryiee Commissioners deals with British history from 1760 to the present day, and concentrates on outstanding movements, events, and personalities, as indicated in the following syllabus:— Industrial Changes.—" The Industrial Revolution" changes in manufacture, in transport and communication, in agriculture, and in distribution of population; subsequent developments. Political and Social Reform.—Reform of Parliament and of local government; development of trade unions and employers' associations; abolition of slavery; religious toleration; the criminal law, prisons, police; the poor law; national insurance; the factory laws, the corn laws, and the welfare, of the worker; the development of education; the life and health of the peonle, including the improvements due to the advances in science. The British Commonwealth of Nations. —The story of the relations between Britain and the peoples and Governments of other members of the Commonwealth, together with the relations with the American colonies and the United States of America. Britain and Modern Europe. —The French Revolution and its results; the unification of Italy and of Germany; the causes and effects of the Great World War; the League of Nations and its work.

On an average about 1000 messenger boys in the Post Office Department of the Civil Service present themselves for examination at both the May and November sittings, and they are supposed to pass this test between the ages of fourteen and sixteen.