Optional Subjects.

Expert penmanship, English composition or letter writing, bookkeeping, short-hand writing, type-writing, foreign languages, special qualifications for the department specified by the applicant.

INSTRUCTIONS TO EXAMINERS.

In order that the proceedings at all places may be uniform, the following instructions are given for the guidance of those selected by the Commission as examiners to conduct the competitive examinations for the State service:

1. All the necessary arrangements for the examination room and its proper furniture should be completed several days prior to the date of examination. Reference is made to the last clause of section 3 of the Civil Service Act, wherein permission is granted to use certain public buildings. The desks should be arranged so that competitors cannot communicate with each other or copy each other's papers without observation. There should be at least twenty-five square feet of table for use of the examiners, and this should be so placed that supervision may be had of every desk. On the evening prior to the examination each desk should be provided with a stand supplied with ink, two pen-holders with pens and a blotting pad. It will be of great advantage to secure the services of a competent and trustworthy person to receive the candidates at the door of the examination room, and who might also assist the examiners during the entire day particularly in distributing the papers to candidates. The attention of all concerned is respectfully invited to the fifth section of the Civil Service Act which makes penal certain offenses.

2. The blank questions in sealed envelopes will be sent by mail or express from the office of the Commission so as to reach each place of examination at least twenty-four hours before the date of examination, and should be deposited with seals intact, in some secure place. An accompanying package will contain the stationery and envelopes, each inclosing a desk card.

3. On the day of examination the chosen assistant should attend early at the door of the examination room with the package of envelopes containing desk cards. It will be convenient to have a stand or small table on which to place these cards. Each notified applicant must present to the attendant as a warrant for his appearance the official notification signed by the secretary of the Commission, and no one should be admitted who does not present such notification. The attendant will give the applicant one of the envelopes, from which the applicant will take the card inclosed, and, indorsing upon his notification the number on the card, will put the notification in the envelope, seal it and return it to the attendant. The applicant, retaining the card, will then be admitted to the

examination room as an accepted candidate. No applicant presenting himself after ten o'clock, A. M., should be admitted, since no matter what may be the cause of delay, his admission after that hour would derange the proceedings.

4. At 10.45, A. M., the examiners should announce the beginning of proceedings, and should request the candidates to separate themselves into three groups: One to contain all candidates for positions of office messenger and prison guards; the second to contain all candidates for first and second grade clerkships; and the third to contain all candidates for the third grade clerkships. For convenience, each group should then be seated by itself, as the examination for each is distinct.

5. All being properly seated and order restored, one of the examiners should ask if all the candidates have carefully read the regulations for examination sent to them with their notification or application, and also if all are provided with ink and pens. In the meantime the other examiners should break the seals and open the package of examination papers which will be found in four parcels, one containing questions, etc., for third grade clerkships, printed on white paper; one for first and second grade clerkships, on blue paper; and one for messengers and prison guards, etc., on yellow paper; and the fourth, marked " optional," containing questions on optional subjects, and which parcel should not then be opened. The papers from the several parcels should be kept distinct on the table, and each color will be found to contain several sets of questions, numbered from one upward, in each series.

6. The first paper from each series, viz.: "Writing from dictation," will be distributed to each candidate in the respective groups. In the white parcel, on a large card, will be found printed the matter to be dictated (which is to be read to and written down by all the candidates). After notice, one of the examiners will begin to read the matter to be dictated, slowly, and one phrase at a time, so that it may be fairly copied, and to avoid, if possible, a repetition which is apt to confuse the writers. Great care should be taken to read deliberately, with distinct utterance, until the whole has been read. Then, for review and proper punctuation, the whole should again be read, with ordinary rapidity.

7. The exercise in dictation is the only one in which all the groups join in unison, and after its completion all the papers should be taken up. The second paper in each series should then be given out to the candidates in the respective groups, and thence forward the successive papers in numerical order, but only one at a time. In the package of yellow papers, on a large card, will be found printed a "verbal order," which, after securing their attention, is to be read slowly and distinctly and once only, to the candidates for positions of messenger, and prison guard. This is the second paper in the series for that group. The reading of this "order" should take

place immediately after the exercise in dictation, so that the other groups may not be disturbed in their work. Each candidate, when he completes a paper, is to be furnished with the next one, without regard to the progress of others in the group. The completed papers are to be taken up before the next ones are given out. In distributing the second paper, viz.: "Copying from manuscript," to the two groups of candidates for clerkships, one of the lithographed drafts of letters will be given as the matter to be copied.

8. Only general explanation should be given to candidates, and these should be limited to methods of procedure. No information or aid in solving questions should be permitted from any source, and vigilance should be exercised to prevent the use of any book or manuscript for such purpose, or copying from the papers of another candidate. No candidate should be allowed to leave the room while engaged upon a paper., One examiner should always be present in the examining-room.

9. The examiners will preserve order and decorum, and no conversation or unusual noise by the candidates should be permitted. They should not allow any visitors admitted by them to distract the attention of the candidates. No such visitors should be admitted, except by invitation of the examiners, and not more than two at any one time. The natural nervousness of candidates under examination is apt to be increased by the consciousness that they are observed, or their work scrutinized by those not officially in charge, and great discretion should be exercised in the admission of visitors, who should not be permitted to inspect the answers in the presence of the candidates. Special care must be taken that nothing regarding the work of the candidates is procured for publication. The examiners hold all the papers in trust for the Commission.

10. It a candidate declines to complete all the papers and withdraws from the examination, he must deliver to the examiners his desk-card, on which the time of his withdrawal should be marked. Also as each candidate completes all the papers he will deliver his desk-card, on which the time of completion should be marked. these desk-cards will be retained by the examiners.

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11. Each candidate on leaving will inform the examiners what optional subjects, if any, he desires to be examined in, and they will name a time and place for him to appear for such purpose.

12. The time occupied in the examination on obligatory subjects must not exceed seven hours. If this space be reckoned from the distribution of the first paper (10.10 a. M.), with an allowance of twenty minutes for luncheon, the close of the examination would be at 5.30 P. M. Should there occur an accidental delay in opening proceedings, or their suspension through any unforeseen cause, the examiners, in accordance with the twenty-second General Regulation, will see that the full period of seven hours is allowed, but in

no case should such allowance of seven hours be exceeded. Ten minutes before the time for closing the examination, notice of such closing should be given to the candidates, and at the close all papers, finished and unfinished, will be taken up.

OPTIONAL SUBJECTS.

13. While it is presumed that only a small number of candidates will desire to be examined on optional subjects, the interest of the public service will be subserved by giving full opportunity to all who desire such privilege. The examination on these subjects being comparatively brief, it may be held on the evening of the day of general examination, or the next day, and in a smaller room.

A special package of papers, for examination on such of the optional subjects as could be prepared in advance, will accompany the other papers. These are for "Elements of Bookkeeping, Bookkeeping," "Foreign Languages" and "Stenography," and full directions are given at the head of each paper.

For the other subjects the following plans will be pursued :

Expert penmanship This is an accomplishment of prime importance in some positions and of great value in all of them. The candidate will copy the paper for "Stenography," and may also exhibit his skill in pen-writing and other styles useful or ornamental in engrossing, copying, recording, preparing tabular statements, etc. The time occupied will be denoted on the paper by the examiners.

Type-writing-It is presumed that a type-writing machine is accessible at each place of examination. The candidate will be given a copy of these instructions and directed to copy from the first page the paragraphs marked 1 and 2 (that is from "all the necessary," etc., to "desk-card"). Only one trial is to be allowed, and the time occupied in the type-writing will be written at the foot of the page, and signed by one of the examiners.

English composition or letter-writing- The examiners will select a subject for an essay or letter, writing the subject at the head of the sheet of foolscap paper. The candidate will then in their presence write the essay or letter, which should not exceed two pages in length. The time occupied should be recorded, and certified at the foot of the paper.

Special qualification for any department of the public service. The candidate will give in writing the details of the special experience or training which he claims would be valuable in the service. If such proficiency is capable of a practical test, such as a facility of adding correctly and rapidly long columns of figures, or in casting interest, or in making general averages, the representatives may test such qualifications and certify their estimate of the same to the Commission.

Care must be taken that all such papers are, for the purpose of identification, marked with the candidate's desk number, as on the papers for obligatory subjects.

MARKING AND GRADING.

In addition to the instructions given in General Regulations 26 to 32, special directions as to marking and grading will be given to examiners when deemed necessary by the Commission.

At the conclusion of the examination, the examiners (other than the General Board at Albany) will carefully pack all the papers and forward them by express to "The New York Civil Service Commission, Albany, N. Y."

SPECIAL REGULATIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS.

As provided by Civil Service Rule 9, the following special regulations are issued for the guidance of applicants who may appear as candidates in the competitive examinations for the State service:

1. Applicants must present themselves punctually at the times and places specified in their official notifications. No one will be admitted except upon the production of such notification signed by the secretary of the Commission. Under no circumstances can any applicant be admitted after ten o'clock, a. m.

2. Before entering the examination room each applicant will be presented with an envelope, from which he will take a card inscribed with a number, and he will retain this card and indorse plainly the same number on his notification and place the notification in the envelope, seal it and return it to the person in attendance, and will then be admitted as an accepted candidate. The number on the card is known as the "desk number," and such number and the name of the city where the examination is held must be put at the top of every paper used by the candidate in the examination. This number is necessary as a means of indentifying the papers with the name of the candidate when the envelope is opened. The name of the candidate must not appear on any examination paper. The desk number is so important that the attention of each applicant is particularly directed to the necessity of a correct and plain indorsement of the number on the notification before it is put in the envelope and sealed.

3. The examination will be in charge of the examiners appointed by the Civil Service Commission, who will decide all matters and preserve order. They must be obeyed in all respects, and are authorized to expel any one guilty of unseemly or disrespectful conduct.

4. The proceedings will begin by the separation of the candidates into three groups one of applicants for positions of messengers