May 21 an examination for the position of matron and superintendent of nurses was held to fill the combined position at the Ray Brook Hospital. New Examinations. Other new or unusual examinations held during the year were for barber examiner, superintendent of the state reservation at Niagara, photographic assistant at the pathological institute, librarian of the court of appeals law library in Syracuse, inspector for the state board of pharmacy, assistant state geologist, assistant in biology and histology, heating engineer in the state architect's office, assistant secretary in the office of the commissioner of elections for Erie county, resident physician and organist and guide at the state industrial school, and preparator in the office of the state paleontologist. Clerks. On the occasion of the recent examination for clerks a further development of the scheme of graded examinations was made by allowing candidates for positions of junior clerk and clerk to enter the same examination and have their names entered upon both eligible lists, if desired, but limiting certification for positions at salaries of $480 or less to the junior clerk list. The preparation of the eligible list is considerably simplified in this way and persons over twenty-one years of age are made eligible for minor positions if they care to accept them. Under the former arrangements the junior clerk list was strictly limited to persons under twenty-one. By the new arrangements persons under twenty-one are eligible for junior clerk only, persons over twentyone who are willing to accept salaries of $480 or less may have their names placed upon the eligible lists, and those who will not accept the small salaries have their names placed upon the clerk list only and are saved the annoyance of repeated certification and inquiry concerning positions at low salaries. Methods. In developing the methods of examination we have given more attention to the rating of experience, including education, personal history and special qualifications and we are inclined to give more and more weight to this element in examin. ations. Experience should be given a relatively high weight in those cases where direct experience in the work to be done for the state can be gained in outside employment. Where no such direct connection exists between the work done commercially and that to be done for the state, experience is not so valuable a criterion of qualification and the rating in the examination must depend more upon a test of general ability along the lines of knowledge required for the duties of the position. For example, there is no way that a person can learn the routine of duties of a prison guard outside of the public service and therefore few candidates have any experience directly in line for the work to be done. The same is true of many other positions. The duties of a steam or electrical engineer, however, are substantially the same in the state service as out and experience is therefore specially valuable as a criterion of the merit and fitness of the candidate. In fact, for many positions involving a knowledge of established mechanical trades or professional attainments in recog nized professions, practically the whole rating in the examination can safely be made to depend upon the experience, education and special training of the applicant. This plan has been pursued by the federal commission to a great extent, especially in connection with positions in mechanical trades and in the custodian service in public buildings situated throughout the country. For all this class of positions they rate the candidates only upon their experience, age and physical condition, and I believe that the further development of this plan of examination will open the way for competitive tests for many positions which have heretofore been. placed in the non-competitive class because they were not highly compensated and because the personal element was paramount in determining the fitness for appointment, including especially large classes of positions which are easily filled by persons of very limited general education and fitness for which depends almost entirely upon physique, temperament, experience and knowledge of certain mechanical trades or employments. With the facilities at our disposal for conducting this kind of examination, I think the Commission may well consider whether competitive tests cannot be successfully carried out for many positions of a minor grade which have heretofore been deemed below the competitive class and placed in the non-competitive class, mainly on account of their limited compensation. Non-Residents. Under the provisions of Rule IX, Section 2, and Regulation X, non-residents and non-citizens have been admitted to examinations for the higher civil engineering, scientific and trade positions in cases where the previous experience of the Commission or the special nature of the examination indicated that there was uncertainty of securing sufficient qualified candidates who were residents and citizens of the state. I think it is a wise provision which allows the Chief Examiner discretion in this matter and the present regulation avoids the possibility of abuse by giving preference to those who are residents and citizens. of the state whenever there are three or more such persons eligible. Repeated Examinations. On account of the lack of qualified applicants who would accept appointment, due in most cases to the low compensation offered, it has been necessary to repeat examinations within the year in many cases, including the following: Guard, Elmira Reformatory, 2 examinations; pupil nurse, Erie County Hospital, 6; apothecary, 6; assistant electrical engineer, 2; assistant steam engineer, 3; physician, fourth grade, regular school, 5; physician, fourth grade, Homeopathic school, 2; physician, sixth grade, regular school, 3; physician, sixth grade, Homeopathic school, 3; teacher, 2; woman officer, 4; assistant civil engineer, 2; bridge designer, 3; bridge draughtsman. 4; stenographer, state hospitals and institutions, 3; library assistant, 2; male officer, 2; architectural draughtsman, 3; physical instructor, 2. Promotion examinations There is a steady increase in the demands upon the Commission for competitive promotion examinations, as appointing officers recognize the propriety of filling higher positions by promotion of those whom they have already in their employment and whose personal qualifications are therefore well known to them. There have been twenty-one such examinations, involving sixty-two candidates during the year. In most cases, of course, the competition for these places is small as the subdivision of the state service into a great many small departments limits the number who are eligible for any particular promotion. In the proposed revision of the promotion rule it might be well to consider whether some general system can be devised for opening promotions more frequently to persons who are in the same line of work, but in other departments or institutions. Among the important positions so filled are those of kitchen keeper, yard keeper and storekeeper in State prisons; first assistant physician in State hospitals; chief of law division, education department; steward, Rome State Custodial Asylum; medical superintendent, Dannemora State Hospital; administration clerk and first assistant administration clerk, Surrogate's office, New York County. Provisional examinations Such A total of 55 persons have been examined and appointed provisionally in the absence of an eligible list under the provisions of Rule VIII, Section 4. It is impossible to foresee the needs of the service so as to provide eligible lists in advance for new positions created and it frequently occurs that an eligible list apparently ample for some time is suddenly exhausted by the declination of all or nearly all the eligibles to accept a position when offered. In such cases every effort is made to establish an eligible list within the two months allowed by the law and such effort would be successful in nearly all cases if the examination division were apprised of the necessity for provisional employments as soon as it is known to the appointing officer. notice is frequently delayed from two to four weeks after the beginning of provisional employment, and it has not always been possible to provide the lists within the time limit. In such cases there would seem to be no practicable course for the Commission to pursue other than to allow the provisional employment to continue until an eligible list can be prepared. The difficulty in most cases arises under a ruling of the Commission adopted in 1900 and printed on page 250 of the report for that year allowing certification of payrolls from the date of the nomination for provisional appointment. If this ruling were modified so as to provide for certification from the date of receipt of the nomination by the Commission most of the difficulty referred to would be avoided. Non-competitive examinations The non-competitive examinations held during 1904 include 2,624 persons examined by the local boards of examiners in the |