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APPENDIX A.

CHIEF EXAMINER'S REPORT.

The Hon. JOHN JAY,

OFFICE OF CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
ALBANY, January 1, 1887.

President New York Civil Service Commission:

SIR.I have the honor to submit a report of the examinations held under the State civil service laws and rules, during the past year, and of the work of the Chief Examiner, as prescribed by the first of the general regulations of the New York Civil Service Commission.

I entered fully upon the duties of this office, by appointment of the Commission, April 7, 1886, having acted as Chief Examiner for twenty days previous thereto. At this time I learned that open competitive examinations had been ordered by the Commission, to obtain eligible lists from which appointments might be made of assistant engineers, levelers and rodmen in the departments of the State Engineer and the Superintendent of Public Works, interpreters of courts and janitors in New York city and guards at the Elmira State Reformatory. These examinations were held on the twentieth of May.

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS.

For Engineering Positions.

The papers were prepared, the examination conducted and the markings certified by the board of examiners designated by the Commission for that purpose, consisting of John Bogart, Esq., the Deputy State Engineer; Prof. Cady Staley, of Schenectady, and Prof. David M. Green, of the Troy Polytechnic Institute. The examination was held at the office of the Commission in Albany. Twenty-four candidates appeared, twenty-one completed the examination and eighteen were found qualified. The following table will show the general results of the examination:

TABLE SHOWING GENERAL RESULTS OF EXAMINATION HELD MAY 20, 1886, FOR ASSISTANT ENGINEERS, LEVELERS AND RODMEN.

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For Guards, Elmira Reformatory.

An examination for guards at the Elmira State Reformatory was conducted, the same day, under the supervision of the local board of examiners, Hon. Seymour Dexter, Dr. William C. Wey and Francis Hall, Esq. The papers were returned to this office and of eight applicants six were found eligible under the rules. The general results are tabulated as follows:

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For Interpreters of Courts and Janitors.

The same day, assisted by the board of examiners designated for the New York City and County Courts, Hon. William H. Arnoux, Hon. Jacob F. Miller, Charles A. Davidson, Esq., George Walton Green, Esq., and Delos McCurdy, Esq., I conducted an examination of candidates for interpreters of courts and for positions as janitors, at the rooms of the New York city Civil Service board in the City Hall, which were kindly offered for our use. The scheme of examination for interpreters was that provided in the regulations of the Commission. The peculiar character of the service required in those courts of New York city in which intrepreters are regular employes under the statute, and the results of this examination induced me to

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recommend to the Commission a change of the scheme of requirements, which met the approval of the examining board, by which, while familiar knowledge of two foreign languages should still be demanded, the rule should designate German as one of these languages. A fair acquaintance with the needs of the local courts and the relative numbers of the foreign-born population of New York city will, I think, justify the discrimination at the present day. Later in the year I found the amended scheme productive of the good anticipated. The general results of the May examination for interpreters are as follows:

RESULTS

-EXAMINATION-MAY 20, 1886, COURT INTERPRETERS.

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and German to a secona
foreign language

Oral exercises

Arithmetic

Geography, history and civil

government.

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Remarks.

Highest general average, 82.49.

Lowest general average of proficient candidate, 70.69.

Of the eight candidates at this examination, two were unable to compete in more than one foreign language; one of these failed in German; the other passed creditably in Italian, and, although under the rule his name could not be placed on the eligible list as the result of the competition, his record was reported for the consideration of the Commission, in case the services of an Italian interpreter may be required in the courts. Two candidates retired before the examination was completed.

But three applicants appeared for positions as janitors, two of whom passed the minimum in the very simple tests applied.

For Physician at Auburn Prison.

On the nomination of the Superintendent of State Prisons, three candidates were examined at this office July 8, 1886, for appointment to the position of physician at the Auburn prison. All passed the minimum of seventy, and the one graded highest was appointed. The professional tests were in the subjects of general and preventative medicine, nervous diseases, hospital practice and sanitation.

For Assistant Examiners- Regents of the University. The Regents of the University, finding it necessary to employ additional assistants in the examination of the papers returned from the regents' classes in the various academies and academical departments of union free schools of the State, whose services were necessarily required at an early day, a competitive examination was held at this office November 10, 1886, to fill the places temporarily. The candidates, in addition to certain clerical tests, were examined in the several subjects in which they would be called upon to do the work of examining. From the circumstances of the case the competition was necessarily limited. Six candidates presented themselves; three were found eligible; two of these were immediately chosen by the regents, and subsequently the third was appointed. To these three, certificates of qualification were issued, provisional in character, enabling them to serve until an open competitive examination could be properly advertised and arranged. This will be held on the fifteenth instant.

GENERAL COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS.

The general competitive examinations of the year were held November eleventh, thirteenth and eighteenth. The examinations of November eleventh were for positions of first, second and third grade clerks, stenographers, book-keepers, law clerks, assistant engineers, levelers and rodmen, inspectors of masonry in the department of public works, guards at the Elmira reformatory and office messengers.

For Clerical Positions.

For the reasons assigned in former reports, the examinations for general clerical positions were held simultaneously at New York, Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo, Elmira and Watertown. As in previous years, the Commission was favored by the assistance, as its representatives in arranging for and supervising the examinations at these several cities, of gentlemen, most of whom had already served on former occasions most acceptably in the same capacity. The following is a list of these representatives, whose kindly assistance has been fittingly recognized by the Commission :

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Dr. William C. Wey.
Francis Hall, Esq.
Levi L. Pratt, Esq.

Frederic Seymour, Esq.

Elmira.

Elmira.

Watertown.

Watertown.

It may be well here to repeat the explanation of the process of examination in the clear statement made by my predecessor, Mr. Jenkins, in his report last year: "In this connection, and in view of the limited knowledge of Civil Service methods so generally prevalent, even among intelligent people, and especially in view of the unfounded suspicion of partiality by examiners, it may be proper to restate the safe-guards which the methods adopted by the Commission for the conduct of examinations provide to insure exact justice to candidates in general, and to prevent partiality to any one individual. It may be added that these safe-guards are irrespective of the personal probity of those selected by the Commission as examiners, whose names are known to the public through its printed reports, and against whose character, as honorable and fair-minded men, no one has thus far ventured to bring an

accusation.

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Every applicant of record receives a notification signed by the secretary of the Commission, of the time and place of examination. This notification must be presented to the examiners or representatives before he can be admitted to an examination, and he is then given an envelope enclosing a card on which is printed a 'desk number.' This number he is required to indorse upon his notification which he then places in the envelope, sealing the latter, and retaining the 'desk number' until he shall have completed his examination, when it is surrendered to the representatives.

"This desk number' he is directed to place upon every paper given him, his name nowhere appearing. The sealed envelopes containing the notifications are immediately transmitted to the Commission, remain in its custody, and are not opened until all the papers have been marked and the competitors graded. When this has been done, the envelopes containing the notifications are opened and the names corresponding to the desk numbers are put upon the graded lists. It is difficult to see what further precautions could be taken, or indeed are necessary, to insure absolute impartiality on the part of the examiners, and fair play to the applicant.".

At the close of the competition, the papers of the candidates, properly sealed and accompanied by a certificate of the representatives, relative to the attendance, were at once forwarded from the several places of examination to this office, where the work of reading, marking and grading was performed by the General Board of Examiners, consisting of Hon. Hiram Sickles, Superintendent Charles W. Cole, of the Albany High School, Mr. Willis E. Merriman, of the Comptroller's office, Mr. Richard G. Milks, of the State Treasurer's office, and Mr. Charles V. Hooper, of the office of the Secretary of State, who was designated as a member of the

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