424 History of Inland Transport 



tion, the successful candidates in each year being promoted 

 to an advanced scale of pay, and taking a " higher grade 

 course of training," which, it is thought, should fit them to 

 hold positions of responsibility in the future. 



This higher grade course consists of periods of work, varying 

 from three to twelve months, in eight of the principal de- 

 partments, viz. the engineering, locomotive-running, goods, 

 traffic, rolling stock, stores, marine and general manager's 

 departments. The entire course covers a period of four years. 

 During his stay in each of these departments the student is 

 required to pursue a course of reading in the theory of the 

 work in which he is engaged in that particular section ; he is 

 given an opportunity to acquire practical knowledge of the work; 

 he must report at the end of every month to the head of the 

 department on the progress he has made, and, on leaving any 

 one section, he is to send an essay to the general manager, 

 showing the knowledge he has gained. Heads of departments 

 or sections are also required to submit confidential reports to 

 the general manager on the ability displayed by the student 

 while under their supervision. 



The North-Eastern Railway Company have an elaborate 

 educational system which resolves itself into (i) preliminary 

 tests ; (2) Part I., and (3) Part II., of a secondary examination. 

 The subjects for examination in Part I. of the secondary 

 examination are (i) Regulations for train signalling by 

 block telegraph and general rules and regulations ; (ii) goods 

 station accounts ; (iii) passenger station accounts ; (iv) 

 shorthand and typewriting or practical telegraphy. Those 

 in Part II. are Railway subjects : (i) Railway operating ; 

 (ii) railway economics (general) ; (iii) railway and commercial 

 geography of the United Kingdom ; (iv) law relating to the 

 conveyance of goods and ..passengers by railway. Other sub- 

 jects : (v) Mathematics ; (vi) commercial arithmetic and 

 book-keeping ; (vii) methods employed in import and ex- 

 port trade of Great Britain ; (viii) French ; (ix) German. In- 

 stead of examining candidates in Nos. v, vi, vii, viii and ix 

 the company will, as a general rule, accept certificates of 

 proficiency in these subjects of recent date obtained at various 

 specified examinations elsewhere. Each candidate's required 

 to pass in railway operating and three other subjects, one of 

 which must be (ii), (iii) or (iv) of the railway subjects. 



