(c.) The keeping, inspection and copying of registers of licences: (d.) The fees to be charged for licences and for inspection and copying of registers: (e.) The keeping, transporting, and selling of the poisonous substances to which this Act applies; and generally for the purposes of carrying this Act into effect. VICTORIA, B.C.: Printed by RICHARD WOLFENDEN, I.S.O., V.D., Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty 1909. An Act with respect to the Public Service of the H [12th March, 1909.] IS MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows: Short Title. 1. This Act may be cited as the "Public Service Act, 1909." Repeal Clause. Short title. 2. Chapter 40 of the Statutes of 1908, being the "Public Service Repeal clause. Act," is hereby repealed. Public Service and Membership. 3. (1.) The Public Service shall, for the purposes of this Act, "Public Service." include, and the members of the Public Service shall consist of: All persons employed and holding office at the pleasure of the Crown in or under the several departments, branches and members of the Public Service. (2.) Members of the Public Service shall, for the purposes of this Classification of Act, be classified as Deputy Heads of Departments, Officers, Agents, Chief Clerks, Clerks, Stenographers and Permanent Employees: Provided that service in an established capacity under the Executive Government of British Columbia prior to the passing of this Act shall be deemed to be and shall be reckoned as service in an established capacity in the Public Service: Provided also, that the service above prescribed need not have been continuously in one department or continuously in one capacity, but may have been rendered during more than one period: Provided that only British subjects shall be or become members of the Public Service, except where expert technical knowledge is required, in which case only the Lieutenant-Governor may by Order in Council appoint a person who is not a British subject for such temporary employment as may be necessary. Interpretation. 4. In the construction of this Act the following expressions shall, wheresoever in this Act occurring and used, have the following meanings respectively (a.) "Minister" or "Head of Department" shall mean and (c.) "Officer shall mean and include every member of the Public Service who, in his office and employment, and for the performance of the duties thereof, requires professional skill and training of a legal, medical, literary, technical or scientific character, or the skill and training of an accountant; or such special experience as may, by Order in Council, be scheduled to rank such member as an Officer: (d.) "Agent" shall mean and include every person employed as a Government Agent, Assessor, Recorder, Registrar, Chief Clerk, and such other appointments as the Lieutenant-Governor may by Order in Council decide: (e.) "Clerk" shall mean and include every person employed in an established clerical capacity in the Public Service other than the capacity of a Deputy Head of Department, an Officer, a Chief Clerk or a Stenographer: (f.) "Stenographer" shall mean and include every member of the Public Service employed solely as an amanuensis: (g.) Employee." Permanent Employee" shall mean and include every "Permanent member of the permanent Public Service not employed in any of the offices, employments or capacities above defined: (h.) Where in this Act the masculine term is used it shall, when necessary, apply to female members: Classification of Members. 64 Gender." Civil Service Com Examiners. 5. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall, by Order in Council, Appointment of appoint not more than three Civil Service Commissioners and missioners and Examiners. Such Civil Service Commissioners and Examiners shall hold office during pleasure and perform such duties as may from time to time be prescribed for performance by them, and may respectively receive such salary or such allowance, in addition to salary, as the case may be, as may be fixed by Order in Council and voted by the Legislative Assembly. 6. There may be in each department of the Executive Government aforesaid a Deputy Head, Officers and Chief Clerk, and in each subdivision of any department authorised and affected by Act of the Legislative Assembly, Officers and a Chief Clerk who shall perform such duties and exercise such authority as may be assigned and delegated to him by any Act of the Legislative Assembly or by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council by Order in Council. No person shall hereafter be appointed a Chief Clerk unless at the time of such appointment he is a Clerk of the first or second class, or is, pursuant to the provisions of this Act, eligible for appointment as a Clerk of the second class. 7. Officers, Agents and Clerks shall be graded into four or more Grading of Staff. classes, as provided in section 25, according to skill, training, competency and length of service. The lowest or initial class shall be known as the junior class. No future entrant to those classes shall be appointed until he has passed the public competitive examination and certification of good health and character as prescribed by the Lieutenant-Governor by Order in Council, except in the case of temporary appointees at the passing of this Act, who, where the work justifies their appointment, may be admitted to the Service without further examination than that in practical office work required by the Commissioners for Grading: But no future temporary clerk or stenographer shall be employed in the Public Service for more than six months in any year, unless he has passed the public examination as herein prescribed: Provided, always, that if a Deputy Head of a Department Proviso. reports that the knowledge and ability requisite for the position are wholly or in part professional, technical, or otherwise requiring peculiar training, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council upon the Appointment of clerks and stenographers. Salaries of junior clerks and stenographers. recommendation of the Head of the Department, based on the report in writing of the Deputy Head, may appoint a person to the position without competitive examination and without reference to the age limit: Provided the said person obtains from the Civil Service Commission a Certificate, to be given, with or without examination, as is determined by the regulations of the Commission, that he possesses the requisite knowledge and ability and is duly qualified as to health, character and habits. 8. Every Clerk hereafter appointed shall, except as hereinafter provided, be appointed as a junior clerk or a stenographer, after attaining his sixteenth (16th) birthday, and before reaching his twenty-first (21st) birthday: Provided always, that where, in the opinion of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, the position to be filled requires the services of a clerk possessing greater skill and competency than may be necessary for a junior clerk, a clerk may be appointed by competitive examination to the grade of a clerk of the third, second or first class: Provided always, that he has not passed his thirtieth (30th) birthday, and that clerks in the next lower grade shall, upon complying with the Regulations and payment of the fees prescribed by Order in Council, be admitted to the public competitive examination under which such appointments shall be made. 9. For and during the first year of service the salary of a junior clerk or stenographer shall not exceed the following ratings provided opposite the respective ages last birthday in the following scale: Equating the advances of salary to higher grades. Increase upon promotion of clerk or stenographer. Thereafter, and in respect of each succeeding year of service, such clerk or stenographer shall be eligible, subject always to efficient performance of duties, to receive an annual increase of salary equal to forty-eight dollars ($48) per annum until the sum of nine hundred dollars ($900) per annum is reached, which shall be the maximum salary for a junior clerk or stenographer. 10. Upon the promotion of a clerk or a stenographer to a higher grade of service, such clerk or stenographer shall receive the annual increase of salary applicable to the third, second or first class service respectively, as the case may be, until he attains to the maximum salary of that higher class; but he shall not be advanced more than one such higher annual increase during any year unless the Head of |