1949-1950 - Preoccupied with Examinations       The 1949 Annual Meeting was similarly preoccupied with the matter of examinations, and spent some time in reviewing the amendments of the Act which had been prepared in order to modernize the examination syllabus and regulations. These amendments were approved by the meeting, and a few weeks later were accepted and passed by the provincial Legislature. It was reported that during 1948 one candidate had written and passed the ALS preliminary examination on the basis of the old syllabus, which relieved him of writing a paper on physics and gave the new Board a practical opportunity of detecting other deficiencies in the examination requirements of 1910. This was the first time for many years that a native son of Alberta had written an ALS preliminary examination, but although he had become articled, he later resorted to an easier occupation in the field of commerce and never did attempt any further ALS examinations. This defection, however, was more than offset in 1949 and in January 1950, by the appearance on the Alberta scene of no less than six new recruits, all of whom had the desirable quality of youthfulness which had been lacking in practically all the few new members acquired by the Association during the preceding decade. This blessed event gratified both the Board of Examiners and the Association, since all six of these men had come from outside the province and there was some concern as to how the recruitment gap during the next three years would be filled while those who started by passing the preliminary examinations in 1949 would still be that far away from final qualification. The names of these first six members of the younger generation of Alberta land surveyors are: G.C. Hamilton, SLS, D.A. Ferguson, SLS, J.H. Webb, SLS, R.S. Galloway, SLS, T.G. Watmore, SLS, and R. Thistlethwaite, DLS, BCLS, who a few years later became Surveyor General of Canada. Meanwhile, the Board of Examiners had decided to lighten the task of candidates under ALS articles by dividing the final examination into two parts, consisting of an intermediate examination to be written upon completion of the second year of articled service and a correspondingly reduced final examination. Candidates in the new ALS preliminary examinations, which were now fully organized, were not succeeding too well, but a few had passed and had entered into articles, some with surveyors in private practice who had now found ways and means of providing their pupils with steady employment. In that respect, Mr. A.G. Stewart had led the way by placing several university engineering graduates under DLS articles, two of whom had obtained DLS commissions and afterwards passed the ALS final examinations in the spring of 1950, along with four more imports from outside the province. The situation was obviously improving, and the Association members began to feel that the recruitment problem was now becoming solved.   Back - 1948 - New Members Forward - 1951 - Desk-Pounding Responses