Intermediate Examination was held), together with the percentage

of failures upon the total number of candidates in each case :—

CHAPTER VI.

THE LAST HALF OF ARTICLES.

THE

HE Intermediate Examination being safely passed, there will remain a period of something under two-and-a-half years (or, in the case of graduates, under eighteen months) before the student's articles terminate, and it is during this period that he will receive the most valuable part of his training. The Council has power to allow articled clerks to present themselves for the Final Examination at any date not more than three months previous to the termination of their articles; but, in the great majority of cases, this power is inoperative by reason of the fact that at least two years must have elapsed between the passing of the Intermediate Examination and the date of the Final Examination at which the student presents himself. It may therefore be taken that for practical purposes there will be the above-named interval between these two examinations, except in cases where the student has failed to pass his Intermediate at the first attempt. The power is sometimes convenient, however, when articles expire, say in June or in December, and the candidate would-but for these provisions -be obliged to wait until the following November or May before presenting himself for his Final Examination.

The actual work which will occupy the student during the latter half of his articles is of course not fundamentally different from that which engaged his attention at an earlier stage, but as a consequence of the experience which he has already gained it will have become possible for his principals to utilise his services more fully, and to thus afford him a greatly enlarged field from which

to gain experience. In the matter of audits, for instance, it is not improbable that he will be given charge of many that do not present unusual difficulties; and although no doubt final approval of the accounts will still be retained by the principals themselves, he will nevertheless have increased opportunities of seeing the work through to the finish, and of observing which of the points that he has noted are considered of sufficient importance to be included in a report, and how the various queries raised are finally disposed of before the audit is completed.

With regard to bankruptcy matters also an increased amount of responsibility will no doubt be accorded to him; and, if the student shows a reasonable amount of aptitude, it is very likely that in this latter part of the articles he will have opportunities of acquiring a considerable insight, not only into the routine work in connection with bankruptcies and insolvencies, but also into those higher branches of this department which involve an investigation into the position of affairs generally, with a view to ascertaining the extent of the estate and the best means of bringing it in.

The writing-up of books in arrear, or the keeping of bookswhether Executorship or otherwise—which happen to be kept in the office, will also very likely devolve upon him at this period; and it may even happen-particularly if his articles were commenced somewhat late, and thus his youth is therefore not an objection— that the student may be appointed the secretary of a company whose registered offices are at his principal's place of business.

It is quite conceivable that the student may be nominally left in charge of any such matters as the foregoing, and the responsibility thus imposed upon him will undoubtedly be in itself a valuable education as teaching him confidence and self-reliance, apart from the opportunity which it will afford him, at the outset of his career, of treating on a business basis with strangers, who may not perhaps in all cases be as scrupulous as might be desired. In addition it

is probable that, if as a result of his past three years' study the student has shown a disposition to make the best use of such opportunities as may be afforded to him, he will at this period at least occasionally be associated more closely with his principal in the most responsible work which may devolve upon the latter, such as the investigations which are necessary in connection with the inception of new companies, or on behalf of the shareholders of companies when the position of the latter is unsatisfactory, or in connection with receiverships, &c.; and for his own sake it is particularly desirable that the student should leave no stone unturned to arrive at the bottom of all the matters which may thus come before him, so that he may derive the fullest possible benefit from each matter that arises.

An increased opportunity of gaining experience will very likely be afforded to the student at this period of his career by his being deputed to take charge of an undertaking, on behalf of his principal acting as receiver, liquidator, or trustee in bankruptcy. Very probably this will entail a temporary residence in some locality more or less remote from the principal's office; and it will be the student's duty not only to nominally represent his principal, but also to assume command of the undertaking which he is placed in possession of, and to see that everything which goes on is not only legally in accordance with what ought to be taking place in view of all the circumstances, but also that nothing transpires (so far as it is in his power to prevent it) which does not accord with the interests of his principal. The proper discharge of such duties as these not only requires a somewhat intimate acquaintance with the law relating to the particular class of business, but also a very considerable amount of personal aptitude upon the part of the student; for, in the nature of things, it cannot be supposed that he has any detailed acquaintance with the particular class of business that is being transacted. It is, however, very important, not only in the interests of his principal, but from the point of view of the student's ultimate success in