MINUTE TO PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 349 



Service Examinations, should represent the minimum 

 entrance requirements, and passage from the lower 

 branch to the upper branch should be conditioned by 

 clear-cut examination qualifications. 



There should be no hardship in introducing this 

 barrier, since it need not be made retrospective for 

 existing officers, and every youth contemplating the 

 Service for the first time would clearly understand the 

 conditions of his promotion. 



The effect of such a " degree barrier " would be to 

 encourage higher education in the country, support the 

 Universities and Closed Corporations by defining a career 

 for some of their graduates, and ensure the entrance into 

 the Technical Service of a good stamp of man. 



Within this Upper Branch the system of grading should 

 be reduced to a minimum, and a "rank and file" scale 

 be established which would prove attractive to the class 

 of man drawn from the Universities. 



Scales op Salaries. 



This Society only proposes to concern itself with the 

 rank and file of scientific and technical workers, and to 

 leave aside what may be regarded as senior appointments. 



(a) Lower Branch. — Salaries should correspond with 

 those of the Clerical Division up to the point at which 

 clerical officers take over semi-administrative responsibi- 

 lities, and continuous promotion should therefore be as- 

 sured up to about £400 or £450 per annum^ irrespective, 

 of "Vacancies". 



A probationary period at a salary of £120-£160 might 

 be introduced for the sake of weeding out undesirables, 

 but it is felt that the moment the top of the probationary 

 scale is reached, and permanent appointment is offered 

 either as the result of a practical examination test or 

 on the recommendation of a senior officer, a continuous 

 scale of about £180-£450 should come into force. 



