G.— No. 30.

6

REPORT OF THE MARINE DEPARTMENT.

5. Examiners are appointed by the Governor in Council. 6. Two officers of this Department have been appointed Examiners in Seamanship and Navigation, namely, Mr. Robert Johnson, formerly a master in the Mercantile Marine, the number of whose certificate of competency ia 4002. and Kobert Atherton Edwin, a retired Commander of the Royal Nary. Should any additional Examiners be required, they would have to satisfy the present Examiners of their fitness for the office. 7. The Examiner of Engineers, Mr. Joseph. Nanearrow, holds also the office of Inspector of Steamers and Engineer Surveyor in this Department. When additional Examiners of Engineers are required, they will be selected in the same manner as such officers are selected by the Board of Trade. 8. Certificates will only be granted to persons who have been domiciled in New Zealand, or who have served in ships registered in the Colony, or in ships employed in the coasting trade for at least three years immediately preceding their application to be examined. Ever}' precaution will be taken to prevent persona who from want of necessary service, or from incompetency or misconduct, have failed in obtaining certificates in any other Colony or in the United Kingdom, from obtaining certificates in New Zealand. 9. The certificates to be issued have not yet been printed: they will have the name of the Colony prominently printed on the face and back, and they will be as nearly as possible similar in shape and form to the certificates issued by the Board of Trade. They will be numbered consecutively. Specimens of the.certificates, and the number of copies on paper required by the Board of Trade, will be sent as soon as they are printed. 10. The names of all persons who pass their examinations, with the number, description, and date of their certificates, and also the names of those who apply to be examined, and who fail to obtaia certificates, and the cause of failure, will be duly and promptly reported to the Board of Trade by this Department. 11. By " The Merchant Ships Officers Examination Act Amendment Act, 1871," certificates granted in New Zealand are subject to the provisions respecting cancellation and suspension contained. in sections 241 and 242 of the Imperial " Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," and in sections 11 and 23 of the Imperial " Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862." 12. Copies of the Merchant Ships Officers Examination Act of 1870, and of "The Merchant Ships Officers Examination Act Amendment Act, 1871," are transmitted herewith. 13. I trust that the arrangements reported herein will be considered satisfactory by the Board of Trade, and that it will be good enough to advise that Her Majesty's Order in Council under " The Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869," may take effect with respect to all certificates of competency that may be granted in New Zealand after the Ist of May next. I have, &c, William Seed, The Assistant Secretary, Marine Department, Secretary of Customs. Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens.