I.—6a.

102

A. T. ENNIS.

48. Well, you come down then to this : that any Sunday duty that you say is necessary is caused by inefficiency —inaccuracy in the accounts? —I would not say it is inefficiency. 49. Well, it is inaccuracy at some time during the month? —The Sunday duty is necessary to test whether there has been any mistake or not. 50. You have already stated that the machinery or system of accounts is there ; he has got the appliances to balance weekly, and if he does his work accurately there should be no difficulty. Does not that show that Sunday work is not necessary so far as the Department is concerned, but results purely from the inaccuracies that the men make in doing the work?—l have said that if you could get men so perfect that they would not make a mistake during the month's work, then you could dispense xvith Sunday xvork, but there tire very few men like that. 51. But the instructions are that they are to balance xveekly?—Yes. 52. Well, if they balance weekly you get down to the last week, and if you have only got the last xveek and you balance correctly daily during that week you narrow the work right down till you balance the xvork on the Saturday? —No, the xvork for the xvhole month. It is expected that they shall have the balance for the whole month. 53. But you have first of all your first week's balance?— Yes. 51. You also have the second and third weeks balanced, and you balance up on the Friday night of the fourth week, which gives you three weeks and five days, and you have just got the Saturday left. If you balance up the three weeks and five days accurately, what necessity is there for coming back on the Sunday to go through the ordinary work in order to make it ready to bank? —It is found to be so. Errors creep in no matter how careful a man is. 55. It is found then that the Sunday work is necessary because of the inaccurate work that has been done by the men during the month ! —In case there may have been inaccurate work. 56. They have an opportunity of testing the work week by week ami day by day, and if thai test is applied efficiently why should there be any mistakes! —It is quite possible to make a mistake. One cannot know in accounts. 57. Why should it be necessary to work on Sunday?— Well, they have to work on Sunday sn that they can put it right before they bank. 58. Well, when you come down to that, the Sunday is the last day before you bank. You have only got your last day's cash to deal xvith. If you have efficiently balanced your work right along errors can only be in the last five days, and why should it be necessary to go hack on the Sunday—xx'hy not discover the error on the Saturday night?— But if the errors are made in balancing the first xveek it will not be discovered till the whole of the month is done. 59. Then you come back to admitting that the provision t'"r the first week's balance is inaccu rate! —1 have already said that a man max make an error. 60. The Sunday duty is not for the requirements of the Department but simply to enable the men to discover any errors they may have made previously? —It is partly for the requirements of the Department if they require the monthly balance worked out before the man banks on the Monday. 61. The Department provides that a man may balance its he goes along, and if the man does that accurately how can the necessities of the Department compel the man to go on duty on Sunday, and I have already pointed out that xve have given the men two extra days to complete their routine accounts : where is the necessity from tiie Department's point of view?—l have said several times that if a man were so correct that no error could he made there would be no necessity for it, but with the best men errors xvill creep in. 62. But any errors that creep in during the one week should be discovered at the end of the week if the balance is done correctly?— Yes, that is so. 63. Then any Sunday duty is done by reason of the fact that the men recognize that they have not efficiently done the work during the month!—l do not think that at all. 64. Is it or is it not within your knoxvledge that a number of men prefer, if they have got anything special to do, to i\o it quietly on a Sunday or at any other time when there is a quiet day, so as not to be disturbed? —There are such men no doubt, but they are few and far between. (15. But the Department isjiot asking them to do that, is it? —No, certainly not. 66. Then men do it of their own volition? —There are some men who. when they have a difficult job, xvould sooner do it on a Sunday. 67. Hon. Mr. Millar.] If you are balancing daily and the accounts are strictly kept hoxv can there be any error at the end of the week? —Well, I confess it should not occur, but it does. 68. Well, how do they get the balance? —In the larger offices they balance up the cash after every train. Each train is totalled in a book, and at the end of the day they have another book in xvhich they make up the daily bookings, and those .tie compared daily, but even by the best of men errors are made, and those errors are not discovered till the end of the month. The fact that this max- occur makes it necessary that the men should balance before they bank on the Monday. If they do not discover it before they have to bank it cannot be adjusted in the books. 69. A mistake may be made in the booking up of one train? —Yes, it may be one train. 70. The cash xvould balance all the same, but the particular train xvould not get the credit? — It may be an omission in charging up the tickets. They would have cash over and would put thai to xvhat is really a suspense account in the meantime, or if they had cash short they would naturally have to pay that in at once. 71. That is paid out of tin- suspense account ! No. if it was short they would have to pay it out of their own pocket, but if the cash is over it is practically in a suspense account until the reason is discovered. If it is not discovered it is finally banked in the usual way. 72. Mr. Arnold.] With regard to passenger-trains, supposing a train arrives on Saturday night at 11 or 12 o'clock, have you to enter the number of passengers —the booking in and booking ou tj i n the case of a train arriving at its terminus at night, the tickets issued by the guard have to be dealt with : the money he brings in has to be dealt with that night.