D.—4a.

40

[g. c. bichaedson.

170. With regard to your own inspection of the shops, have you found that there is any difficulty in the work of inspecting at Aldington ?—No, except that it takes more time to get over the place, because the shops are somewhat scattered. 171. With regard to surprise visits, do you find Addington is more difficult than Hillside in that respect ?—Yes. 172. Have you asked for new lathes ? —Yes, I think so. 173. Have you asked for additional lifting-appliances ? —For the foundry. 174. Not for the erecting'-shop ? —No. 175. With regard to the Manufacturing Accounts, I understand that all labour is charged to them 1 —That is so. 176. Is material charged % —Yes. 177. At what rate is material charged ? For instance, at what rate are rails charged in points and crossings ?—At the rate they are paid for at Home, plus stores commission. 178. That is supposed to be the rate at which they can be delivered in New Zealand ? —Yes. We have to pay the same price as it costs the Maintenance Department to buy them, plus 2| per cent., the commission of the stores. 179. What do you pay for your pig iron and for your scrap ? —Pig iron, £4 6s. Id. is the average per ton ; serap —cast-iroe scrap—we pay £3 per ton for. 180. You mentioned that the metal in the ladle costs 4s. 9d. per hundredweight. What proportion of scrap is in that metal ? —Seventy-five per cent, of pig and 25 per cent, of scrap. The average cost is £3 19s. 6d. per ton. 181. What do you pay for coke ? —£2 ss. per ton for Brunner, and £1 ss. for gas coke. 182. What fixed charges in the way of upkeep, depreciation, and supervision are put against the Manufacturing Account ?—Supervision is charged, I presume, but I am not in a position to give those figures. Our profit is based on our cost of production and what we sell for. 183. What does your cost of production include ? —Only labour and material and actual workshop charges. 184. Did I understand you to say that you were quite satisfied with the output and method of work in the foundry % —Yes. 185. Are you quite satisfied with taking the coke up to the cupola by hand I—Oh,1 —Oh, no ! but at present we are making an air lift and a hydraulic breaker. 186. You hope to be satisfied shortly ?—Yes. I took your question to refer to the inside of the foundry. 187. Are you satisfied with the quality of the steel castings ? —No, not yet. I hope to do better ; but they are satisfactory to a very great extent. 188. You gave us some speeds of cutting which were in vogue at the present time, but you omitted to mention the traverse and depth. Take the big wheel-lathe, which you said had a cutting-speed of 29 ft. per minute. What is the traverse of that ? in. cut and Jt in. feed. 189. And of the planers with a speed of 22 ft. to 50 ft. per minute ? —The average cut is \ in., with Jj- in. of feed. 190. You think it is preferable for the foreman to initial the books in the office, for the reason that the men are so scattered: do you not think these scattered men require supervision ?—So they do have supervision. The leading hand looks after them as well as the foreman. 191. Is not the foreman continually amongst them ? —Yes, he is continually on the go. 192. Do you think it is possible for the books to be initialled on the job itself ?—I do not think it is impossible, but I think it works better for the foreman to have the books in his office. 193. Are you satisfied with this system of keeping time ?—No, I am not. 194. You think an improvement could be made ?—I think so. 195. Mr. Niven.) Is the riveter on a hydraulic riveter a tradesman ?—A first-class boilermaker. 196. It has been mentioned by you and others that you think it would facilitate the work if new work were separated from the repair-work. Is it not possible, with the small number of locomotives you make, that it would increase the expense of the work ? —lt would not pay to put up separate shops for a small number of locomotives. 197. If you had your staff separated you could not get the same use from them ? —No. 198. If it was agreed to make locomotives in groups of five you would recommend it ?—Yes. 199. But not under the present system ?—No. 200. Does your price for castings include the cost of patterns ? —No ; patterns stand to a separate account. 201. Do you manufacture your own bronze ?—Some of it; some we import. 202. Is the biggest proportion imported or manufactured I—The1 —The biggest percentage, perhaps, is half and half. 203. Do you put a different price on the manufactured from what you do on the imported ? —No, we charge it all at the same price—ls. 6d. per pound. The imported article costs us Is. 3Jd. per pound. 204. You have told us about making improvements—what you call patents and improved machines, and appliances generally. Of course, you know that a great deal of time is taken up in experimenting. To what is that time charged, and the material used on those improvements ? —To the Workshops •4-CCOunt. 205. Mr. Roberts.] When was this snap flask invented ? —I do not know. 206. Who did it ? —The foreman and myself were looking through a catalogue, and we saw it on the cover and made it from that. 207. I believe the snap flask was invented before I was born ? —That may be ; but when I saw it on the catalogue it was the first time I had seen it, and the first time the foreman had also.