Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/460

 examination; and he is required to carefully note for the good of the service all changes in the buoys, channel, lights, etc., which may have been made since the date of his last survey, and report upon any matters which may appear to him desirable in the interests of navigation. Nor do his duties here end, for it is required of him "to attend promptly to the complaints of shipowners, shipmasters, or other interested persons, in reference to pilots or pilotage, and generally to do all that lies in his power to maintain and increase the discipline and efficiency of the pilot service:" this service, therefore, though exclusive, is no doubt on all occasions most effectively performed.

No candidate for the pilotage service is admitted for examination if he is under fifteen or over eighteen years of age, or unless he is able to read and write well, and possesses a fair knowledge of arithmetic. He must also present a medical certificate of sound health, and be physically competent for the labour he has to undergo. When these requirements are met to the satisfaction of the Board, he is, after a month's probation, apprenticed for seven years, the Board reserving to itself the power of cancelling his indentures should he fail to give satisfaction or prove incompetent for his duties. At the expiration of his third year of apprenticeship he becomes eligible for examination for a third-class licence; at the end of five years he may be promoted to the second class; and after a third examination he may be admitted, at the expiration of his apprenticeship, to a full licence.