14".—14

affecting individuals and also groups of officers. To enable this latter work, which is of considerable volume, to be included requires that the list must be delayed beyond the period referred to. In future years it is proposed to omit particulars of any alterations in grading, and to deal with these matters in a similar manner to promotions or regradings occurring during the year. Appointments to Cadetships. The Regulations under the Public Service Act provide that before a lad can be appointed to a cadetship in the Public Service he must have passed the Entrance Examination, an examination the syllabus for which is based on a two years' course at a secondary school. By arrangement with the Education Department the Public Service Entrance Examination is conducted by that Department in conjunction with other public examinations. For some years past it has been the practice to hold two examinations in each year, the principal examination being held in November and a supplementary examination in June. The regulations further provide that lads who have matriculated take precedence over those who have passed only the Entrance Examination. In last year's report attention was drawn to the fact that, for the first time in several years, more candidates were available for appointment than were immediately required. As this position still obtained, it was decided not to hold the usual mid year Entrance Examination. A large number of matriculated lads has been offering for cadetships during the year. This has resulted in a smaller number of appointments being made from the Entrance Examination pass-list. It has been arranged with the Permanent Heads of the Post and Telegraph and New Zealand Government Railways Departments that, as far as practicable, appointments to cadetships (other than by way of regular promotion of their own officers who have qualified for such positions) in those Departments will in future be made in order of merit from the Public Service Commissioner's list of candidates available for appointment who have matriculated or who have passed the Public Service Entrance Examination. As mentioned in last year's report, the lads offering for appointment to cadetships in the Service are of a very fine type. There is keen competition for admission to the Service, and this fact evidences a clear indication that the Service is becoming better recognized as offering a sufficiently attractive career to a youth of ability and energy. Entrance Examinations. The usual annual Public Service Entrance Examination for admission to cadetships in the Public Service was held in November, 1926, when 2,096 candidates, including boys and girls, entered for the examination, as compared with 1,830 in the previous November. Of the number presented, 1,190 candidates passed the examination, 854 failed, and 52 absented themselves from the examination. The examination was conducted at sixty-four centres throughout New Zealand, and in two of the Pacific Islands —namely, Suva (Fiji) and Apia (Samoa). In addition, in November last Senior and Junior Entrance Examinations were held in twenty-three centres for shorthand-typists, for which there were 392 entries, an increase of 112 over the previous year : 282 of the candidates were successful in passing the examinations, and of the remainder 109 failed and 1 did not present herself. The Senior Examination consists of a speed test in shorthand at the rate of 110 words a minute, and in typewriting at the rate of forty words a minute ; and the Junior Examination is at the rate of eighty words a minute in shorthand and thirty words a minute in typewriting. Candidates are also required to pass a prescribed test in English.

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