D.—4A.

T. BONAYNE.J

47

warrant. The view taken by the Head Office is that no member of the service should be punished unless the offence with which he is charged is proven. Where the proof is clearly established, then such punishment as is, in the opinion of the General Manager, suitable to the offence is meted out. The view expressed by the Locomotive Engineer, Addington, that foremen and other local officers should have the power to dismiss or otherwise punish men is not concurred in, for the reason that there would be no uniformity or equality of punishment for similar offences. This has been established beyond any doubt as the result of years of experience with a small staff, and the difficulty would be greatly accentuated in dealing with the large staff now employed in the service. The statement of the Locomotive Engineer, Addington, that neither he nor the Workshops Managers nor the foremen have power to engage men has been made under a misapprehension. As I have indicated above, the Locomotive Engineer is given authority to select, from among the applicants whose names are submitted to him, men who are, in his opinion, suitable and qualified to fill the vacancies that are likely to occur on the permanent or casual staffs, and when the list is exhausted he is from time to time given authority to select from among the local men offering suitable men for positions on the casual staff, and has an entirely free hand in the matter of the selection of the emergency casuals as required. No doubt he in turn delegates this authority to the Workshops Manager and those foremen in whose judgment he has confidence. Respecting the question of the trial to be given to the men on either the permanent or the casual staffs, the local officer has an entirely free hand, and is allowed to exercise his judgment untrammelled by any restriction. Clause 36 of the " Locomotive Code " provides specifically that " Incompetency on the part of persons selected for employment, either permanent or casual, must be reported at once." Attention has also been pointedly directed to the matter by circular instruction, which reads, — " Some officers appear to be of the opinion that an incompetent person must be allowed to serve to the end of his probationary period before his services can be dispensed with. This is erroneous, and detrimental to the interests of the Department and the men concerned. Any probationer who fails to give satisfaction in the discharge of his duties, or shows evidence of being unsuitable for reterition in the service, should be notified of the fact, and warned that, failing improvement, his retirement will be recommended. Should he fail to profit by the opportunity, particulars are to be forwarded to the Head Office with the recommendation of the district officer." It has been found necessary to repeatedly direct the attention of officers to the various instructions governing the employment of the staff and to the necessity for a close adherence thereto, but, notwithstanding this, the Head Office has to exercise constant vigilance to prevent irregularities in connection with staff matters. In the course of his evidence the Locomotive Engineer, Addington, stated that of the names given him it would be found that the first man was dead, another had left the district, and so on. The departmental records do not support the first statement. Since 1906 the names of 270 casuals have been given to the local officer for employment at Addington. The applications of some of these men had been on the books for a considerable time, and none of the applicants had given notice of any change of address. One hundred and fifty-two men were appointed, 4 had left the district or the Dominion, 23 had not notified change of address, 49 declined appointment, 8 were rejected as unsuitable, 7 were ineligible, none were dead. This leaves 27 in respect to whom the Head Office has, up to the present, received no notice as to how their applications were dealt with by the local officer. Since July, 1906, 258 casuals have been engaged at Addington. The great bulk of the men appointed are those whose names have been supplied from Head Office roll of applications for employment. When the roll was exhausted the local officer at Addington was authorised to himself select men. The following are particulars of the men engaged and those of them who were dispensed with : —

Pai id off as unsuitable. Number appointed. Occupation. Number on L'st supplied by Head Office. Number selected by Locomotive Engineer or W orksho p s Manager; Total. 38 20 12 18 1 2 15 2 7 5 18 19 101 Fitters Boilermakers Blacksmiths Ironmoulders Brassmoulder Patternmakers Turners Tinsmiths Trimmers Carpenters Machinists Strikers Labourers and junior labourers 2 1 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 9RS 4 7 11