§ Mr. HIRSTasked the President of the Board of Trade if, at a recent examination for ex-Service men held to fill eighteen vacancies for assistant examiners in the Patents Office (Mechanical Section), only eighteen candidates obtained qualifying marks at the written examination, including a Mr. Richard Claude Reed and, if so, will he state why Mr. Reed was not selected, seeing that eighteen vacancies were advertised and the eighteen vacancies are not yet filled?
§ Mr. BALDWINThe qualifying examinations held under the reconstruction scheme are essentially different from the normal competitive examinations, as they are only a preliminary test of general education designed with a view to facilitate the work of the selection board. Success at the qualifying examination, therefore, does not ensure appointment 1285W and all candidates who qualify at the examination are required to attend before the selection board set up by the Civil Service Commissioners, and it rests with that board to decide what candidate can be recommended for appointment. The board takes into account not only the results of the written examination, but the educational and military records of the candidates and all other relevant considerations. The board considers only the fitness of the candidate for appointment, and it is not under any obligation to select the whole number of candidates who pass the qualifying test. Mr. Reed was one of several candidates who were declared unsuccessful in the competition for the posts of assistant examiner in the Patent Office by the selection board, and I am not prepared to discuss the grounds on which they arrived at their decision.