422 History of Inland Transport 



these classes was then in course of preparation, and that it 

 would include the following clause, setting out an important 

 amendment of the scheme : 



" In order to maintain the value of the certificates awarded 

 and the standard of efficiency of certificate holders, each 

 holder will in future be invited to sit for re-examination before 

 the expiry of five years from the date of his certificate. En- 

 dorsement certificates will be awarded to candidates who 

 successfully pass the second and subsequent examinations. 

 This step is felt to be desirable having regard to changing 

 conditions and developments in connection with modern 

 railway working. The date of the last certificate will be taken 

 into account in connection with appointments, promotions, 

 etc." 



Other classes at Paddington, controlled by the chief goods 

 manager, afford instruction in railway accounts, and enable 

 the clerical staff to gain a better insight into matters con- 

 nected with the receipt, transport and delivery of goods, and, 

 also, the preparation of accounts and statistics both for the 

 Railway Clearing House and for the company's audit office. 

 Shorthand classes are also held. 



Annual examinations take place in connection with all 

 these various classes, and the students passing them receive 

 certificates which are naturally taken into account when 

 questions as to advancement arise. On the occasion of the 

 distribution of certificates on January 14, 1910, the chief goods 

 manager, Mr T. H. Rendell, said that facilities for gaining 

 information on railway subjects were far more numerous to-day 

 than they were forty years ago, when he joined the service. 

 " Continuation classes of any kind," he proceeded, " were 

 then conspicuous by their absence, and practically the only 

 classes of this kind were those held at the Birkbeck Institute, 

 which he attended, though he had to pay a substantial fee 

 in respect to each subject taken. Formerly there was no 

 organised method of acquiring knowledge of railway working, 

 and they learnt to do right chiefly by being blamed for doing 

 wrong." 



The London and North- Western Railway Company 

 established block telegraph signalling classes in 1910, the 

 instruction given being facilitated by a complete working 

 model of a double-line junction, fitted with signals and inter- 



