3rd. For promotions in office or positions on the basis of ascertained merit and seniority in service, and examination as may seem desirable.

4th. For a period of probation before an appointment or employment is made permanent.

All rules made as provided in this act and all changes therein shall forthwith be printed for distribution by said Board.

SEC. 4. From and after the adoption of such rules, all appointments to subordinate offices, positions and employments in the several departments of the service of such city which are subject to such rules, shall be made by the respective heads of such departments under and in conformity with the provisions of such rules, and such heads of departments shall respectively have power to remove or discharge at pleasure any person holding any subordinate office, position or employment in their respective departments.

SEC. 5. All applicants for offices, places or employments in the civil service of such city, except those mentioned in Section 6, shall be subject to examination under and in accordance with the rules so made by said Commissioners. Such examinations shall be practical in their character and shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties ́ of the particular service to which they seek to be appointed, and shall include tests of physical qualifications and health, and, when appropriate, of manual skill. No question in any examination shall relate to political or religious opinions or affiliations, and no appointment or selection to an office or for employment within the scope of the rules established as aforesaid shall be in any manner affected or influenced by such opinions or affiliations.

SEC. 6. Officers who are elected by the people, or who by statute are required to be elected by the city council, inspectors and clerks of election, members of any board of education, the superintendents and teachers of schools, heads of any principal department of the city, all members of the law, fire and police departments, officers and clerks for the faithful discharge of whose duties a superior officer is required to give bond, one private secretary of the mayor, and any other officers, clerks or employes in the service of the city whose positions, in the judgment of the said City Service Commissioners, can not, for the time being, be subjected, with advantage to the public service, to the general

rules prepared under this act, shall not be affected as to their election, selection or appointment, by such rules made by said Commissioners.

SEC. 7. Every application, in order to entitle the applicant to appear for examination, or to be examined, must state the facts under oath on the following subjects: (1) full name, residence and postoffice address; (2) citizenship; (3) age; (4) place of birth; (5) health and physical capacity for the public service; (6) previous employment in the public service; (7) business or employment and residence for the previous five years; (8) education. Such other information shall be furnished by the applicant as may reasonably be required by the Board touching the applicant's fitness for the public service.

SEC. 8. [As amended by Sec. 2, Chapter 218 of 1897.] The said board shall appoint a chief examiner, whose duty it shall be, under its direction, to superintend any examinations held in such city under this act and who shall perform such other duties as the board shall prescribe. Such chief examiner shall be ex-officio secretary of the board, and under the direction of such board he, as such secretary, shall keep and record minutes of its proceedings, preserve all reports made to it, keep a record of all examinations held under its direction, and perform such other duties as the board may from time to time prescribe. Such chief examiner shall receive a salary to be fixed by said board at a sum not exceeding the rate of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, which shall be paid monthly by the city treasurer on the certificate of the president of said board countersigned by the city comptroller. He shall be subject to removal at any time by said board. The said board may also incur such expenses for clerk hire, printing, stationery and other incidental matters as it shall deem necessary; provided, however, that the total amount of all expenditures by it incurred during any year, including the compensation of the chief examiner, clerks and other employes, shall not exceed the amount of the special fund herein provided and known as the "the city civil service fund."

[Additional provisions are contained in the following Section of said Chapter 218 of the Laws of 1897, to-wit:]

SEC. 3. From and after the passage and publication of this act, the common council shall levy and collect annually, upon all taxable property of the said city, at the same time and in the same manner

as other city taxes are levied and collected by law, a special tax not exceeding one thirty-fifth of a mill upon each dollar of the assessed value of said taxable property, the amount of which shall be determined Ly said board of city service commissioners and certified by it to the common council and to the city comptroller within ten days after the passage and publication of this act, and thereafter before the twentieth day of January in each year, and the entire amount of such special tax shall constitute a separate and distinct fund to be known as the "city civil service fund," and shall not be used or appropriated, directly or indirectly, for any other purpose than paying the salaries of the chief examiner, clerks and employes of said board and the other necessary expenses of carrying out the purposes of this act. All disbursements on account of such city civil service fund, except for the salary of the chief examiner, shall be paid by the city treasurer on the orders of the president and secretary of the board countersigned by the city comptroller.

SEC. 9. The Board shall control all examinations, and may, whenever an examination is to take place, designate a suitable number of persons, either in or not in the official service of the city, to be examiners, and it shall be the duty of such examiners, and, if in the service of the city, it shall be a part of their official duty, without extra compensation, to conduct examinations as the Board may direct, and make return or report thereof to such Board; and the Board may, at any time, substitute any other person, whether or not in such service, in the place of any one so selected; and the Board may themselves, at any time, act as such examiners, and without appointing examiners. The examiners, at any examination, shall not all be members of the same political party, and no person shall serve in an examination of candidates for office under the provisions of this act in case of a relative or connection by marriage within the degree of first cousin.

SEC. 10. [As amended by Sec. 4, of Chap. 218, of 1897.] Notice of the time, place and general scope of every examination shall be given by the board by publication at least four times on alternate days, beginning at least ten days before the date of such examination, in one or more daily newspapers of general circulation published in such city, and such notice shall also be posted by said board in a conspicuous place in its office at least ten days before

such examination. Such further notice of examinations may be given as the board shall prescribe.

SEC. II. From the returns or reports of the examiners, or from the examinations made by the Board, the Board shall prepare and keep a register for each grade or class of position in the service of such city, of the persons whose general average standing upon examination for such grade or class is not less than the minimum fixed by the rules of such Board, and who are otherwise eligible, and such persons shall take rank upon the register as candidates in the order of their relative excellence as determined by examination, without reference to priority of time of examination.

SEC. 12. [As amended by Sec. 5, Chap. 218, of 1897.] Immediate notice in writing shall be given by the appointing power, to said board of city service commissioners, of all appointments, permanent or temporary, made pursuant to this act and the rules made and established under the same, in those branches or departments of the civil service of such city which are subject to this act and the rules of said board, and all transfers, promotions, resigna= tions, other changes or vacancies from any cause in such branches or departments of the city service, and of the date thereof, and a record of the same shall be kept by said board. When any office or place of employment, subject to such rules, is created or abolished, or the compensation attached thereto is altered, the officer or board making such change shall immediately report the same in writing to said board of commissioners.

SEC. 13. Said Board of Commissioners shall, on or before the 15th day of March in each year, make to the Mayor for transmission to the City Council, a report showing its own action, the rules in force, the practical effects thereof, and any suggestions it may approve for the more effectual accomplishment of the purposes of this act. The Mayor may require a report from said Board at any other time.

SEC. 14. All officers of any such city shall aid said Board in all proper ways in carrying out the provisions of this act, and, at any place where examinations are to be held, shall allow the reasonable use of the public buildings for holding such examinations. The Mayor of each city shall cause suitable rooms to be provided for said Board at the expense of such city; and a sufficient sum of money shall be appro

priated each year by each city to carry out the provisions of this act in such city.

SEC. 15. No person or officer shall willfully and corruptly, by himself or in coöperation with one or more other persons, defeat, deceive or obstruct any person in respect to his or her right of examination, or corruptly or falsely mark, grade, estimate or report upon the examination or proper standing of any person examined hereunder, or aid in so doing or willfully or corruptly make any false representations concerning the same or concerning the person examined, or willfully or corruptly furnish to any person any special or secret information for the purpose either of improving or injuring the prospects or chances of any person so examined, or to be examined, being appointed, employed or promoted.

SEC. 16. [As amended by Sec. 6, Chap. 218, of 1897.] No comptroller or accounting or auditing officer of such city shall allow the claim for services of any person employed in the public service in violation of the provisions of this act or of the rules made and established by the board of city service commissioners pursuant to this act.

SEC. 17. The Board of City Service Commissioners shall certify to the Comptroller all appointments to offices and places in the civil service of the city, subject to their rules, and all vacancies occurring therein, whether by dismissal, resignation or death. No Comptroller of any such city shall approve the payment of or be in any manner concerned in paying any salary or wages to any person, subject to such rules, for services as an officer or employe of such city, before the appointment of such person to the city service has been certified by the Board to the Comptroller, nor after the vacation of such person's office or employment shall have been so certified.

SEC. 18. No Paymaster, Treasurer or other officer or agent of such city shall willfully pay, or be in any manner concerned in paying, any person subject to the rules adopted by said Commissioners under this act, any salary or wages for services as an officer or employe of such city, before the appointment of such person to the civil service of such city has been certified by the Board to the Comptroller, nor after the vacation of such person's office or employment shall have been so certified.

SEC. 19. Any person who shall willfully, or through culpable negligence, violate any provision of this act or any rule promulgated in