(13) The district examinations herein provided for shall be held not more than twice in any one year in the same district, except in Washington, where an examination may be held in respect of each Department as frequently as the head of such Department, subject to the approval of the President, may direct; and all persons so examined in Washington, wherever they may reside, shall be entered on the “Record of persons eligible for appointment” equally as if examined elsewhere.

(14) Whenever the entry of the name of any person has been on the “Record of persons eligible for appointment” during eighteen consecutive months, such entry shall be marked “Time expired,” and such name shall not again be placed thereon except as the result of another examination.

(15) Persons who may be required to be examined for any custom-house, post-office, or other local office or place of service other than Washington may be notified by the head of such office to appear and be examined at any examination provided for under this rule; and the result of such examination shall be reported by the chief examiner or his substitute to the proper examining board for such office or place, or to the head of the local office; and such board shall enter the name, with the proper indication of the grade of excellence, among those who are to compete at any such place or office, and from whom selection, on the basis of competition, shall be made.

(16) But where the result of any examination aforesaid shall show the excellence of any such applicant to be below the minimum grade of 70 per cent (on the basis of l00 as perfect), the only entry thereof to be made in registers of the Department or of local office shall be of the words “Not eligible,” which shall be written against the name of such person in the register of applicants; and such applicant shall not be again examined for any Department or office within six months of the date of the former examination.

(17) The provisions of this rule do not apply to examinations for promotion, nor do they apply to the State Department, in which examinations will be conducted under the provisions of the Executive order of March 14, 1873.

(18) Subject to the other provisions of this rule, the times of holding the examinations herein provided for in the first, third, fourth, and fifth districts, respectively, shall be fixed by the chief examiner after consultation with the heads of Departments at Washington.  One examination, however, shall be held in each of the last-mentioned districts prior to the 1st day of November next, and the chief examiner shall on or before that date make a report in writing to the Civil Service Commission, setting forth generally the facts in regard to the examinations referred to in this rule and appropriate suggestions for increasing their usefulness.