of regular Clerks and Heads of Bureaus. The construction of the language has been settled by the courts. This amendment requires the officer who makes the removal to inform the person he seeks to remove, of the cause of the proposed removal, and allow him an opportunity of making an explanation. In every case of removal the true grounds thereof shall be entered upon the records of the department, and a copy transmitted to the New York City Civil Service Commission. A further amendment prohibits removals for political or religious opinions, or the using of official authority or influence to coerce the political action of any person. 8. An amendment to the requirements as to clerical examinations provides for cases in which good handwriting is the principal qualification required. A special eligible list is to be made in such cases. In order to obtain for the City the most experienced service, an amendment has been adopted allowing a preference in appointments under the Labor Schedule G, on the ground of faithful service in the employ of the City. It seems impracticable to conduct competitive examination in the Labor Schedule, but the Commission think that this clause, on the whole, comes the nearest to a competitive examination by giving a preference where actual employment has shown the competency of the candidate. It will thus be seen that no radical changes have been made in the regulations, but that we have endeavored to make such amendments, from time to time, as experience required. The regulations and the exceptions thereto in force are shown by the schedules hereto annexed. We also annex reports of the year's work, from the Chief Examiner, the Secretary and the Labor Clerk, specimens of the examination papers during the year, and also statistical tables containing a summary and a detailed statement of what has been done in the office of the City Civil Service Commission. The Regulations require us to make such suggestions as the Commission may deem necessary for the more effectual enforcement of the purpose of the Civil Service Act, and of the Regulations. The only suggestion we desire to make is that the arrangement be continued which has been made with the Comptroller of the City of New York, by which the pay-rolls have passed through the City Civil Service office, and have been examined for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not persons have been legally employed. This has materially assisted the enforcement of the Regulations and been a great protection to the Comptroller, who, under section 7 of the Civil Service Act, is prohibited from drawing or authorizing the drawing of any warrant "for the payment of salary to any person in its service, whose appointment has not been made in pursuance of this act and the rules in force thereunder." The Comp troller is thus made personally liable for any sum paid contrary to the provisions of this section. We have established a system by which the name of each person in the employ of the City is placed upon a card which contains the date of his application, of his examination, and of his appointment. These cards are arranged in alphabetical order, and enable the Secretary in a moment to ascertain, in each instance, whether or not a person has been appointed in compliance with the provisions of the law. Our experience has shown that cordial co-operation between the Mayor, the heads of departments, and the Civil Service Board is of great importance to the effectual administration of the City service, and of great benefit to the public. All of which is respectfully submitted. EVERETT P. WHEELER, Chairmam. J. VAN VECHTEN OLCOTT. W. BAYARD CUTTING. WILLIAM JAY SCHIEFFELIN. Report of Chief Examiner. NEW YORK, December 6, 1897. To the Honorable Commissioners, New York City Civil Service: GENTLEMEN. I have the honor to present my report of the work of the Examining Board of the New York City Civil Service Commission for the year 1897. As this is the first time that the Chief Examiner has been called upon to make an annual report, I must beg the indulgence of the Commission if, in some instances, I have gone back of the year in order more clearly to place before them the condition of the office as it is to-day. At the end of 1896, Mr. George N. Messiter, who for more than a year had been a member of the Examining Board, resigned his position, greatly to the regret of his colleagues. I had learned to place the utmost reliance upon Mr. Messiter's ability, judgment and cheerful readiness to do whatever work I assigned him. Two new members of the Examining Board were appointed early in the year: Mr. L. E. Jones in February, and Mr. H. K. Spaulding in March. These gentlemen stood highest on the eligible list resulting from the examination held in November, 1896. In August, 1897, Dr. L. F. Warner and Mr. George R. Ferguson were appointed members of the Examining Board, standing first respectively on the eligible lists resulting from the examinations held for Medical Examiner and Mechanical Engineer Examiner. One resignation, that of Mr. J. H. Fitzpatrick, was presented during the year. The most marked change in the constitution of what may be called the examination side of the office has been the appointment of two women as Assistant Examiners. They and the Chief Ex aminer now form the only members of the examining body whose entire time must be devoted to the business of the office. The experiment of employing women in this capacity has succeeded far beyond the expectations which I had ventured to entertain. The two incumbents have not only brought voluntarily to the discharge of their duties the steady fidelity which, indeed, I should have exacted, but an intelligence, a capacity and an interest in their work which have been of the greatest service. I have found it possible and proper to place in their hands the rating of a range of papers which I had not originally supposed could safely be intrusted to them; and their efficient and business-like way of conducting the actual management of the examination-room while examinations are in progress, has been a great relief to me, in allowing me to attend to the increasing office business connected with my position, without the former constant interruptions, and without concern as to the conduct of the examination. There has also been, under this arrangement, a noticeable saving of expense. The Examining Board at present, excluding the Assistant Examiners, consists of twelve members. Two of these, Dr. Brown and Dr. Houghton, are exclusively devoted to medical and physical examination of applicants, and one, Mr. Jessup, devotes his entire attention to investigations as to character. Taking the Board as a whole, eight of the twelve are appointees after competitive examination. It is only just to state here that from all the members of the Examining Board, both those who were members before my appointment and those appointed since, I have received nothing but the most cordial and sympathetic assistance. It is perhaps proper, as it certainly is pleasing, in this place to specify Mr. Collingwood, who joining to great attainments that modesty with which they are not always coupled, has at times almost tempted me to believe that he was my subordinate in experience as well as in rank. I can not but think it remarkable that a new officer coming into a position of authority over men far more experienced than himself, should have found such loyal and efficient coworkers. The credit is due to them. The removal of the offices of the Commission from the old quarters on the third floor to our present quarters has, apart from the more suitable accommodations thus provided for the general needs of the office staff, resulted in providing what we did not have before a satisfactory examination-room, with seats for ninetyeight candidates. The old examination-room was unsatisfactory in several particulars. A part of it was necessarily cut off to provide a passage-way from the main hall to the general office, and as the partition between the examination-room and the passage-way did not extend to the ceiling, we were forced to endure all the very considerable noise of the outside halls and of the passage-way. addition, the cases in which the examination papers are filed were kept in the examination-room and were, of course, constantly consulted; each consultation meaning more or less of a disturbance. Besides these drawbacks, the Chief Examiner's room was separated from the examination-room by the thoroughfare which did duty as the Secretary's office. In At present, the examination-room is that and nothing else. It can be cut off from every other room in the office, an important point when directions or dictation exercises have to be addressed to a large number of candidates. The Chief Examiner's room opens directly off the examination-room, and the close proximity of the platform to his office is another advantage over the old arrangement, under which he had to walk the entire length of the room in going from his desk to the platform. Another change which is an improvement is the anchoring of the desks to the floor. This provides a steady writing surface which, previously, was either not secured at all or was secured by unsatisfactory devices, while the advantage of fixing the interval between competitors is one which Examiners are more likely to understand and appreciate than others. In determining the arrangement of the desks, I relied almost entirely upon Mr. Sturgis. Through the kindness of Dr. Brown, who visited England the past summer, I have had the privilege of reading a considerable |