CO129-561-9 Vacancies in Public Works Department 8-7-1937 - 9-7-1938 — Page 30

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28.

-:5:-

That, in the current General Order 11, the words "on

"the basis of official qualifications, experience and merit"

29.

have been substituted for the words "in order of their seniority,

"but the selection will be mainly decided by regard to official

"qualifications" which appeared in the former General Order 11.

That, the system of promotion, which has seniority as

one of its main considerations, may not be detrimental in some

branches of the Civil Service such, for instance, as the

Administrative branch, where the training of officers, to fit

them for undertaking the duties of Heads of Departments and of

Colonial Secretaries and Governors, may require such officers

to serve for a period in several or most sections of their

branch of the Service.

30.

That, such a system of promotion in the Engineering

Service would appear to be unsound on economic and practical

grounds when responsibilities, demanding expert technical know-

ledge, mainly, are involved and in support of this the following

points are submitted:-

(a) the rapid advance of scientific knowledge in

recent years has so extended the scope of Civil

Engineering that it has been necessary to divide

the profession into sections which are becoming

more and more specialised,

(b) the modern training of the Engineer includes a

grounding in the principles of Civil Engineering

common to all branches of that profession,

(e) after his preliminary training the Engineer

generally specializes in one of the branches,

(d) the Engineer, on appointment to the Public Works

Department, is attached to one of the seven Sub-

departments and, except on rare occasions, remails

in that office,

(e) these Sub-departments, except for the Waterwork

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