102 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



telegraphy over two years. Each annual session begins in Sep- 

 tember, and contains three terms, with vacations of four weeks 

 at Christmas, two weeks at Easter, and eight in the summer. 



An annual charge of 180 is made for each student, which 

 must be paid in advance to the Bank of England, in three 

 sums of 60 per term. A deposit of 5 is required to be paid 

 - by each student on admission to the College, as caution money, 

 to cover charges incurred by him for damage to books, instru- 

 ments, etc., or any College bills outstanding on leaving the 

 College, when the balance standing at his credit will be repaid. 

 This deposit is to bo paid with the fee for the first term, 

 making the total payment on that occasion 65. 



The subjects of study are : Pure and applied mathematics ; 

 applied mechanics ; exercises in design ; chemistry (theoretical 

 and practical); physics (mathematical and practical) ; mineralogy 

 and geology ; descriptive engineering ; geometrical drawing ; 

 freehand drawing ; architecture ; surveying ; estimating ; ac- 

 counts ; French ; German ; mechanical laboratory ; workshop 

 practice ; telegraphy, and telegraph construction. 



A final examination is held during the last year of the 

 student's course, with the assistance of special examiners not 

 connected with the College. This final examination, in addition 

 to paper work and vivA voce questioning, embraces exercises in 

 surveying, drawing, designing, and estimating, which occupy 

 . some weeks in execution. 



Appointments in the Indian Public Works Department are 

 available yearly for the passed students of the College, to 

 the extent of the vacancies in that branch of the service. The 

 minimum number of the appointments to be so given is notified 

 in each case, if possible, three years beforehand, at the time of 

 the admission to the College of the students concerned. The 

 passed students, being British subjects, of sound constitution, 

 and free from any serious physical defects which would, rendei 

 . them unfit for employment in the Public Works Department of 

 India, are eligible for these appointments in their order of 

 standing at the final examination. 



The passed students thus selected are appointed Assistant 

 Engineers, second grade, from the date of their passing out of the 

 College. Every Assistant Engineer may be required to go through 

 a course of practical engineering (at Government expense) under 

 a civil or mechanical engineer, before proceeding to India. 

 While so employed he will receive pay at the rate of 150 a 

 year, to commence from the date of entering on the practical 

 course, and in addition will be eligible to receive a premium of 

 from 10 to 25 in each half-year during the course, according 

 to the degree of proficiency and diligence shown. The practical 

 course will commonly last for a year, at the expiration of which 

 the Assistant Engineer, if reported qualified, will bo provided 

 with a free passage to India, and will be entitled to receive his 

 salary at the Indian rate of Us. 4,200 per annum from the date 

 of embarkation, unless from any cause he fails to arrive in 

 India within two months from the date appointed for his em- 

 barkation, in which case his salary at Indian rates will begin 

 from the date of his arrival in India. 



If the practical course in England is dispensed with, the 

 young Engineers proceed direct to India, and their salaries, at 

 Indian rates, commence from the date of embarkation, unless 

 from any cause they fail to arrive in India within two months 

 from the date appointed for their embarkation, in which case 

 their salary commences from the date of their landing in India. 



COLONIAL APPOINTMENTS. 



Cadetships at Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements, and 

 writerships in Ceylon, are open to competition, and young 

 men of good constitutions, desirous of an experience of Eastern 

 life, may find an attractive career opened to them by these 

 appointments. Every candidate must have a competent know- 

 ledge of arithmetic, including vulgar and decimal fractions. 

 Latin, and one of the following languages: Greek, French, 

 German, Italian. English Composition, including Precis Writ- 

 ing. Two of the following optional subjects for examination 

 may be selected : Pure and Mixed Mathematics, Ancient or 

 Modern History and Geography. The Elements of Constitu- 

 tional and International Law, and Political Economy. Geology, 

 Civil Engineering, and Surveying. 



Appointments worth 500 a year may be reached, and every 

 selected cadet will receive a salary of ,200 r>er annum, half 

 salary to commence from the day of leaving England, and full 



salary from the date of his arrival in the place to which he 

 is appointed. He may rise to an appointment of JJ500 a 

 year. 



A bond must be entered into by the cadet and his friends at 

 home with the Agents-General for Crown Colonies, to secure 

 the repayment of the cost of the passage out, in the event of 

 his dismissal, and of its being decided by the Governor and 

 Executive Council that such repayment should be enforced ; 

 and also in the event of the cadet, within four years from the 

 date of his arrival in the place at which he is appointed, either 

 quitting without leave or relinquishing his appointment 

 (except for ill health), together with a further sum of .50 for 

 each year, to repay the colony the cost of his teaching up to 

 his leaving. 



The selected candidates for Ceylon writerships are not 

 appointed at once, but have to wait till a vacancy occurs. 

 While thus waiting, they may employ the interval either in 

 attending at the Colonial Office, to learn the details of public 

 business, or in prosecuting their studies at the bar or else- 

 where. In the latter case they will occupy their time at their 

 own charge, but must submit the proposed plan of their em- 

 ployment for the approval of the Secretary of State. In the 

 former they will receive an allowance, at the rate of ^100 a 

 year, from colonial funds. 



Notice of examinations of candidates is given from time to 

 time by public advertisement. 



WRITEKS. 



New regulations have in recent years been issued respecting 

 men and boy writers. Men writers are paid at the rate of 

 tenpence an hour, or three halfpence for every hundred words 

 well and correctly copied ; boy writers have fourpence an 

 hour, and an additional halfpenny an hour after each year of 

 approved service. The Commissioners, however, reserve the 

 right of making other arrangements in special cases, subject to 

 the approval of the Treasury. Holidays, with pay, are allowed 

 at the rate of one day for twenty-four days of approved service 

 previously rendered ; but only twelve days in the year are 

 allowed. In case of sickness, duly certified on medical autho- 

 rity, three-fourths of the ordinary day's pay will be given ; but 

 holidays and sick leave together, must not amount to more 

 than twenty-eight days in the year ; and to be entitled to sick 

 leave and pay, the writer must have been on the register for a 

 year. If, therefore, the illness extend beyond four days, the 

 holidays are set against the leave granted. And it may be 

 added, that now the writers will be paid for Christmas Day, 

 Good Friday, the Queen's birthday, and other public holidays, 

 instead of, as heretofore, losing a day's pay on such occasions. 



Notices of vacancies and of examinations under the Open 

 j Competition system are advertised in the principal London and 

 provincial newspapers ; and all particulars can be obtained at 

 the Office of the Civil Service Commissioners, in Cannon Row, 

 I Westminster. 



Having now given a general outline of the Civil Service, and 

 of the modes of entering it, it may be well to supply one or 

 two pieces of information which are of general application. 

 First, in reckoning the pay of the Civil Service, it should not 

 be forgotten that superannuation allowances, or pensions, form 

 part of the consideration for work given ; and though, of 

 course, these cannot be of advantage to the man who dies in 

 harness, they are yet to be reckoned in estimating the general 

 emoluments ; and they are so provided for that they may come 

 into the practical calculations of all men who do not attain to 

 the allotted threescore years and ten before proposing to 

 retire. 



Superannuation allowances are regulated by Acts of Parlia- 

 ment, of which that passed in the year 1859 is the most im- 

 portant to the present generation. Formerly the principle 

 obtained of making the civil servants of the State contribute 

 to, or rather provide, the money with which to cay their 

 pensions. A tax of five per cent, on all salaries of 100 and 

 upwards, and of two and a-half per cent, on all of less amount, 

 was charged upon the pay of the service ; the result being that 

 a sum far exceeding the wants of the superannuated list was 



