11

H.—7a.

EDWARD JOHN TOOVEY.

Edward John Toovey examined. ij itntiS (to Mr. Kennedy): I have been four months in the Asylum service. Ido not think your action in connection with this agitation has caused dissatisfaction amongst the attendants; the dissatisfaction existed before the agitation was got up. The agitation is the result, not the cause of the dissatisfaction. I have never found you to be untruthful. I know that a counter petition (as appearing in the Lyttelton Times of the 3rd September) was put up in the mess-room — a typewritten document. I signed the petition sent to Mr. Witty, but not the typewritten document ; I did not agree with it. (To Mr. Beetham) : I think all the attendants have associated themselves with the first petition, although they did not all put down their names. (To Mr. Kennedy): Certainly I was not pressed to sign. No one could influence me in this way; I have my own opinions. We were all agitators in this connection; you took no more prominent part than anybody else. The dissatisfaction was general, though some were afraid to express it. Ido think there is a feeling amongst the staff that they have to be very careful about what they say in connection with their grievances. (To Dr. Levinge): 1 have been here rather more than four months. lam speaking of what 1 have seen myself during that time. I understood when I came here that the salary was £70 per year; I believe it was advertised at £1 7s. 6d. per week, and I was satisfied to apply for it. My salary is the same now. I suppose advancement depends on one's position and on one'sself. I had no understanding with regard to my salary being raised if my work was satisfactory. I am dissatisfied with your manner towards me. Returning from the poultry one afternoon, you met me and asked where I had been that afternoon. When I told you I had been with the poultry, you said, "Damn it all! I am there often enough now, but I've never seen you there." I considered that an insinuation that I was not doing my duty. On another occasion you asked me how many eggs I was getting, and when I told you, you said, "Damn it all! The fowls ought to be laying better." This, I thought, was not a nice manner to adopt towards me. Thomas John Stevens examined. Witness (to Mr. Kennedy): I have been here eight years and a half, aud have never known you to be untruthful. Ido not think you have taken a more prominent part in connection with this agitation than your experience and position warranted. The dissatisfaction was the same before as after the agitation. I signed the round-robin sent to Mr. Witty, stating that I agreed with the statements of the attendants' grievances as made to the Minister. I was not pressed into signing; I did so of my own free will. 1 did not sign the typewritten counter-petition put up in the mess-room; I did not agree with it. (To Dr. Levinge): I did not agree to putting my name against any of the statements contained in that paper. (To Mr. Beetham): I did not sign the typewritten petition, as 1 had by signing the roundrobin associated myself with both aspects of the ease -with regard to the salaries and with regard to the Medical Superintendent, James Wicks, in Charge of Dairy, examined. Witness (to Mr. Kennedy): I have never found you untruthful. 1 do not think you have taken too much on you in regard to this agitation. You did not press me to sign any of the petitions or round-robins that have been got up : I signed them of my own free will. We all had a hand in getting up these petitions: we talked them over in the mess-room. You were secretary. Some of the others who have not signed are as bad agitators as anybody else. The dissatisfaction was general right throughout the building. Certainly the dissatisfaction existed before the petitions were got up. I signed the round-robin sent to Mr. Witty. I did not sign the typewritten counter-petition which was put up in the mess-room for signatures. I did not consider I had a right to sign it when I thought there were grievances. I did not agree with it. During my service, I have understood that there has been a general feeling of insecurity amongst the attendants: while doing their duty to the best of their ability, a little circumstance may crop up which may cause them to be shifted. (To Mr. Beetham) :If anything went wrong, Ido not think we should get justice —I mean at the hands of the Superintendent. That is the reason why I would not sign the typewritten counter-petition. (To Dr. Levinge): I think I have experienced that insecurity myself. Whenever I have spoken to you about anything, you do not give me satisfaction ; you will hardly listen to me. For example, 1 spoke to you about having cream-vats. That is only one of several things. The sense of insecurity is a general impression. You have found fault with me once or twice; on one occasion you told me that the dairy was foul-smelling, on another because I had not got the patient helping me to put on white clothes. I signed the petitions in Mr. Kennedy's room. (To Mr. Beetham) : I do not expect to go through life without being found fault with sometimes. Ido not think my work is perfect, (To Dr. Levinge): My salary is £80 a year. I came on the understanding that I was to get at the rate of £70 a year for the first fortnight; at the end of the month I was to get £80 a 3*ear. William Robert Condy, Attendant, examined. Witness (to Mr. Kennedy): I have been here eighteen months, and have never found you untruthful. This agitation has not caused dissatisfaction and unrest among the attendants," to my knowledge. Of course, they were dissatisfied before the petitions were got up. I agree with the petitions and round-robins and signed them; nobody pressed me to do so; I signed of my own free will. lam on night duty just now.