H. H. JACKSON.]

11

I).—4a.

5. Are you frequently around the Addington Workshops I —Yes. Of course, I may say that fully one-third of my time is occupied in travelling about to Dunedin, Invereargill, Queenstown, and various places, and usually after a fortnight's trip there is a good deal of correspondence to attend to, and I cannot spend as much time in the shops as I would like. But when lam in Addington lam in the shops a good deal at all hours, and, of course, drop in in all sorts of quarters. 6. During your charge of the Hurunui-Blufi Section have you seen any evidence of loafing or inattention to duty at Addington ? —Well, of course, where you have 630 men employed you are bound to find somebody occasionally idling, but taking them as a whole they are a very fine body of men, and no more idling goes on at Addington than anywhere else. In fact, if idling goes on there I give the man who does so credit for being pretty clever. The foreman there would not tolerate anything of the sort for a moment. From time to time cases have occurred, and reports have been sent to headquarters and the men suitably punished. As far as I am personally concerned, no case, no matter how trivial, has been passed over. All cases have been dealt with in a suitable way. 7. Coming now to the boiler-shop in particular, against which certain charges have been levelled, have you any reason to suppose that the boiler-shop is less efficiently supervised than the others ?—No, lam quite satisfied it is efficiently supervised. In fact, if anything, I think Mr. Henderson is a little bit harder on his men than any of the other foremen. 8. With regard to the discipline at Addington Workshops, can you make any statement ?—As far as my own personal knowledge goes, the discipline is quite satisfactory. Any cases of discipline which are considered not to be up to the mark, on being reported, are dealt with in a suitable way. 9. Do you consider the output of work at Addington satisfactory ?—Perfectly satisfactory, in my opinion. 10. There was a reference made yesterday to a machine which was thought by the witness to be a milling-machine, which had been installed at Addington, and which was stated to be practically unused ?—That statement is quite incorrect. There is no machine at Addington which is never used, because we could do with more machinery that) we have got. The machine which was referred to was the new radial milling and drilling machine, which cost considerably over £1,000, and it is practically in regular use. 11. There was reference made yesterday to a large planing-machine which has been at Addington, according to the witness, for many years, and which was stated to be of very little value to the Department ?—The machine I understand that was referred to is the large planing-machine inside the main doors. This machine is used for special work that no other planing-machine in the shops of the Government Bai ways can do. All the large turntable centres, weighing 6 tons, have to be done there, and other large jobs. I can say that, at any rate for the last eight years, that machine has been in regular and constant use. On many occasions it has been worked both day and night. It certainly never stands idle. 12. You regard it as an essential machine ?—I regard it as a really valuable machine for the class of work we have for it. In fact, we could not do without it. 13. Can you give the date when a boilermaker named Ross left the service ?—lt would be in 1899. It was before I was transferred to Addington. 14. Can you state when Earwaker was appointed a leading hand ? —July, 1900. 15. And he is still leading hand in the boiler-shop ?—Yes. 16. Mr. Jenkinson also mentioned a boilermaker called Hislop—is he still in the service ?—He retired on superannuation some time ago. 17. Mr. Jenkinson stated yesterday that he had not seen any pneumatic hoists in the Workshops. Can you state the position ? —I cannot tell you how many there are, but there are dozens and dozens. Every large machine has pneumatic hoists, and in the points and crossings shop there are four, but they are so arranged as to cross from side to side and serve all the machines, and also be used for any material that has to be raised from the trucks. Most of these, I may say, are locally made lifts, but we have some imported lifts. 18. From your own observation have you noticed that it is somewhat tedious to get certain rivets closed in awkward corners of boilers ?—Undoubtedly it is. 19. And it is quite possible, when operating on a difficult corner, that some minutes may elapse between fixing one rivet and the next ?—ln awkward corners it may take five minutes where they have to lower or twist the boiler —that is, from the first start of the operation until the snips are released finally. 20. That, of course, only refers to awkward places ? —Yes. 21. With the general run of boiler-riveting are you satisfied that expedition is being shown ? As far as the men are concerned I am quite satisfied that they are putting in a fair number of rivets per day —approximately two hundred rivets for eight hours. That is working on ljin. rivets, when the snips cannot be released immediately. The machine has to be held on to allow the rivet to cool slowly in order to get a close joint. With a 250 lb. pressure on a boiler you have to be careful. 22. The statement was made yesterday that ninety rivets was the day's work : is that correct ? —No. 23. Would it be of assistance if you had the hoisting arrangements electrified for the lifting-power ? —Undoubtedly. 24. Would it be of assistance if the hoisting arrangements generally were electrified ?—Oh, yes ! it is a thing badly needed. 25. It is a matter you have discussed from time to time ? —Yes, it has been discussed during the last seven or eight years, and the question has been brought up on paper on two or three occasions; but I know it is fully seven years ago since the question was first discussed. A price was obtained for electrifying the cranes.