1.—9.

102

C. T. CALLIS

219. Have bank-clerks, to your knowledge, ever complained of being forced to work overtime ?— No. 220. In no part of the colony ?—No. 221. Nowhere ?—No. 222. Do you know why so many refused to sign ?—Forty-five ? 223. You stated that there were a thousand in your own bank. You have a petition signed by 701 What has become of the remainder ? Mr. Laurenson : He said there were eight or nine hundred. Mr. Davey : He said that there were a thousand rank and file in his own bank. Mr. Home : There are over seven hundred signatures to the petition. I might say that we have had no return from Auckland.—That is the only city in New Zealand that we have not had a return from. Ido not know what the other banks' staffs number, but I have counted the signatures, and there are 732 on the petition, and there were forty-five against it. 224. Did you not say there were a thousand clerks in your bank ?—I did not intend to say it. 1 meant in New Zealand banks. 225. Is that wrong then ?—Yes ; it speaks for itself. , There are 732 signatures on the petition. 226. Did I understand you correctly to say, in reply to Mr. Seddon, that there has been no suggestion yet made by any of the managers or by those in authority that there might be reprisals ensue ? —No, there has not. 227. Nothing has been suggested in that respect ?—Nothing. 228. Do you suggest that in all probability juniors will be put on in the place of others more competent if this Act is brought into force and carried out ?—Would that tend to decrease the efficiency of the bank ? Could they do the work you are doing ? —No. 229. Then why suggest that juniors could be put on ?—Those they took the place of could be shifted up. 230. But they could not do the work ?—lt could be done by training the juniors. 231. Would that not decrease the efficiency of the bank ?—lt might or might not. It might take a little time to train the man alongside of you, but it might be done in about six months. 232. Supposing overtime was paid for to the clerks, do you think it would lead to a decrease of the overtime being worked ?—Not much. It might be so little that it would not be noticeable. There is no loafing going on. 233. Mr. Wood.] What is the number of bank-clerks in the whole of the colony ? Take the bank you represent ? —Between eight and nine hundred throughout New Zealand in all the banks below the rank of assistant accountant. lam basing the calculation on the petition :we have 730 for and forty-five against. I have no returns from Auckland. 234. Have you had any return from Palmerston North ?—Yes. 235. What bank ?—All the banks. We have one petition for each city. I have a few that have arrived since, and lam going to hand them in. Palmerston North is amongst them, because I know there are five against and fourteen for the petition, and that is the largest percentage against. 236. They waited upon me and complained very bitterly about the hours of overtime they worked in the bank ?—That is the true state. I have the statistics as they came to hand. 237. Mr. Laurenson.] You say this matter has been promoted by the employees ?—Yes. Of course, we drew up the petition from the one prepared in 1901. That paved the w r ay for us. But this has entirely originated from the employees. I did the whole thing myself. 238. I have received the following telegram : " Having two sons in banks am greatly interested in defeat of petitions promoted by banking authorities towards withdrawing protection of Shops and Offices Act from clerks. Petitions are not free expression, but signed coercively, since I know as fact that many keenly desire Act's protection. Kindly lay before Committee my urgent protest." That is from a gentleman whose two sons are in banks and whose bona fides I can vouch for. Did the chiefs of the banks have a knowledge that the petitions were going round ?—No. I quoted one instance from Waihi, where the manager of the National Bank refused to allow his clerks to sign because he had no information about it from the head office. 239. You are representing the bank employees. Do you not think, speaking for yourself and for many young men in the banks, that it would be a good thing to discourage overtime as far as possible ? —It would be a good thing to try and discourage it, but Ido not think it is possible to do away with it. 240. Do you think the best way to discourage it would be by providing that it should be paid for when overtime is worked ?—No, I would not like it at all. 241. That would not be a good way to discourage overtime ?—lt would not. 242. What would be a good way to discourage overtime ?—You are asking me to frame the Act, practically. 243. You cannot suggest a better way ?—You said there were eight or nine hundred employees in the banks below the status of assistant accountant who had signed this ? —Yes. 244. In the Act there is no provision made for the payment of overtime to men receiving £200 and over. If we take off the eight or nine hundred employees three hundred who would not be paid overtime, that would leave six hundred. Would two hours' overtime per week cover the time they are called upon to work in the bank after 5 o'clock ?—Two hours would cover it it in the National Bank. 245. Assuming that two hours would cover it and that 2s. an hour represented the amount paid, that would be 4s. per week. That would be an annual tax of £6,000, say, in the year, and as you indicated that one bank's profit was £300,000 for the year, do you think that would interfere with the bank's profit to any extent ?—lt would interfere with a lot of the members of the staff. As I said before, if they made a mistake they would get paid overtime for finding it out, and what is to prevent them from