Evening star., 1898-10-22
one-third ts666.G6) of the first years salary
from the office.
hecps the Service I'm Incertntnty

one-third G666G0 of the first years salary
from the office.
heeps the Service i'm Uncertainty
The necessity for temporary appoint
uents twice out of three times. when va
cancies occur in the inspection service. for
reasons heretofore stated. keeps the ser
vice in constant state of unrest ana un-
certainty necessitatiHg, it does three
dlsunct appointments before an officer is
sure of permanent appointment.
This. in the case of local inspectors who
have to give bonds creates a grea. har4-
snip. particularly when appointed tempo
rarliy for a term of three months. or so
much thereof to enable the commission
to furnish a list Of eligibles
Another evil incident to making tenn
porary appointments for three months is
the difficulty of getting good men to take
them, because of the uncertainty of their
being made permanent, even though they
are successful in passing the civil service
examination afterward, for the reason that
such examinations are competitive and
Snouid the incumbent have three compctir-
orS. each passing but a fraction of a mark
higher than he, his name. under the rules of
the commission, could not be certified though
tne thfee months experience gained by
hlm IN office would practically be worth
more to the inspection service than vould
the additional marks of his competitors
Again, though the nominating officer may
i''iNO dbSolutt personal knowledge that 10
temporary lncumbent'S character for iudg-
ment and discretion Qualities impossihle of
CONSIDERATION in a written examination, is
superior TO that OF either of his competit-
oIs, yet ne uEder the methods of the civil
service commission, is deprived of the ex-
ercise of this knowledge and of the discre-
'ioh conferred upon him by the Presidents
commission which he holds
lie Importance of these requirements
u at can only be determined by personal
knowledge, may be inferred from the fact
tnat 1t Is within the power of an indiscreet
ollicef IN the steamboa Tins pection service
TO cause untold annoyance to the steam
poat interests of the country, without any
corresponding benefit TO the government ~.
the general public.
Delay in Rating Candidates.
In conclusion of this branch of the SUBJ
Ject, attention is called to the civil service
commissions published statement (sec IL,
p :. Manual of 1889 that they are unable
TO rate examinations held by them in less
than from two to four months This, in
the case of examinations for the positions
OF local inspectors of steam als, officers
whose duties are wholly statutory, and
which cannot be postponed without injury
to both public and private interests, seems
OF ltseif suflcient evidence of the necessity
OF change of method in filling vacancies
IN the inspection service, if its present
standing is to be maintained.
A case in point is that referred to in the
copy OF letter preceding. On February -
and IT, 1898, several candidates were ex-
amined TO fill the vacancy referred to
therein. Five days later, namely on Feb
rGi-ry y, call was made for a list Of eliGi-
bles. Nearly two weeks thereafter, namely
on March 4, the commission authorized a
temporary appointment the examination
papers not having been rated and il was
nearly three weeks after the examination
of February ID and 16 before the civil SER
wee commission began the work of rating
the examination papers, though such rating
would not occupy more than three days
time OF competent person familiar with
the duty II the work had been promptly
given out, as it should have been, in a
case of such urgency. One of the persons
who was known to have taken the exami-
nation was duly appointed, but declined
taking such an appointment, with the re-
suit tnat another appointee had to be
sought.
The temporary appointment was not
completed until March %, a period of one
month and eight days having elapsed from
the time OF the call for eligibles till the
temporary appointment was made: this
Notwithstanding the fact that at no time
during the year could a vacancy in the
office referred to be so inopportune as the
heaviest work of the season was in prog
reSS."
Vessels Inspected, Lives Lost.
The total number of vessels inspected
and passed during the fiscal year was
S,4iS. Of which number 3l6 were foreign.
The total number of accidents was 81 and
the total number of lives lost. 2s3 an in
crease over the previous year of 100.
or the number of lives lost as above re-
ported, 81 were passengers and 199 be-
longed to the crews of the vessels
Several of the cases of accidental GROWN
ing were known to be suicidal and others
are suspected of being so.
The estimated number of passengers car
ried on vessels inspected by this service
during the year is $50, 100000.