17

M. MCLEAN.

1.—14.

90. Mr. Nosworthy.] Do you think that what the leader of the union said has anything to do with it —that you were getting £100,000 more for the work than you ought to get, and that they.were going to have it? —I do not know if that enters into their minds. Individually I do not think it does. 91. Mr. Okey.] Is that bonus system still in force? —Yes. That statement that I handed in is somewhat wrong with regard to wages. Speaking of bonuses has brought it to mind. We instituted a system of bonuses of 6d. per cubic yard for every yard that was excavated, and every one working in the tunnel participated in this. It did not matter what the quantity was. It was really an increase in wages, but was given in this way in the hope that the increase of output would pay for this bonus. That was given about two years and a half ago. Every one working in the tunnel participated. If a man was earning 10s. a day it increased his wages to 10s. 6d. It was really a 6d. rise in wages. It ought to have encouraged every one, but it had not the desired effect. There was no greater output per man than there had been under the previous conditions. 92. The Chairman That payment was in addition to the wages set out in Exhibit E? —-Yes. 93. Hon. Mr. Fraser.] I understood you to say that the first effect of the bonus was to increase the output, but latterly it did not do so? —-Let me make it quite clear. The first bonus we paid was in the heading alone, and that is still in operation. At the start it did increase the output in the heading; they did earn this bonus on many occasions. But the subsequent bonus that I gave, of 6d. per cubic yard for all the excavation that was done, did not increase the output from the whole tunnel. 94. Did the second bonus in any way diminish the extra amount paid to the men working in the heading? —No. 95. Bight Hon. Sir J. G. Ward.] In other words, anybody who was receiving the first bonus got the second bonus too I—Yes.1 —Yes. 96. Hon. Mr. B. McKemie.] The men at the heading had to drive 50 ft. a week before they got the first bonus? —Yes. 97. For every foot over 50 you paid them a bonus? —Yes. 98. Then men working at opening-up did not receive that extra bonus? —Not at that time. 99. But afterwards you gave them the same proportion as you gave the men in the heading? How much extra did you pay the men in the heading when they got over the 50 ft.—6d. a yard?-'— No; so-much a foot, the amount increasing with every foot that was driven. We started with ss. a foot. 100. After you had arranged this bonus with the men in the heading you started to give 6d. a yard to the men in the face who were widening out ?—The men all over the tunnel. 101. What is a fair average distance for you to drive your bottom headings at the Otira end in a week? You started your bonus at 50ft., you say?— They have not been up to 100 ft; in a fortnight for the last four months. 102. What do you say is a fair average distance you can drive in a week under ordinary conditions? —I suppose about 45 ft. is the average distance that is being driven now. 103. Can the top heading and the widening-out and the concreting be carried on at the same time? —It can provided we can get the men. 104. What is the average distance you can drive the heading at the Bealey end per week? —I am not sure. We have the record of one fortnight at Bealey Flat, and it is about 70 links. -.. 108. Say, about 43 ft. When you are driving at the Bealey end you cannot do any other work in the tunnel? —No. 106. The records of the Department show that you have driven at the Otira end over a chain a week on many occasions ?—Yes, on many occasions. 107. You have driven over 4 chains in four weeks, I mean?—l do not think we have done that, but we have done over a chain a week, I think, on one or two occasions. 108. Do you think it would be possible to drive approximately a mile a year—or half a mile at the Otira end and less at the Bealey end? —I think it would be possible with the full number of men and a fair supply of men —I mean, if we had some control over the men so that they would do a fair amount of efficient work. But under existing circumstances Ido not think it is possible to do it. 109. If all the rest of the tunnelling was allowed to stand at the Bealey end, you could drive about a chain a week there, I suppose?— Yes. We are through the worst of the soft ground there, and our proposal, after we had got this lining done, was to go right on with the driving. 110. Does the nature of the ground affect the rate of driving? —Yes; hard ground stops you. When I say " hard " I mean flinty. 111. The nature of the country that you are going through is practically the same at both ends, is it not? —Yes, but at Bealey Flat it is a great deal softer and more brittle. 112. Mr. Seddon.] What is the maximum number of men who can work at the face, driving, at the Otira end? —Nine in each shift. That is the maximum number we can employ in the heading—three machinemen, two checkmen, and three or four shovellers, as the case requires. 113. Have you been able to work that number all along?— No. 114. You say that when explosions take place those men have got to knock off for twenty minutes? —Quite twenty minutes. 115. That is the only way in which you will be able to do a certain amount of work all through the tunnel? —Yes. There is no way of saving the twenty minutes lost after every charge. It generally runs into half an hour. 116. Was there no means of pulling that rock down other than by explosion?— No. 117. Hon. Mr. B. Is the plant you have got at the Bealey end sufficient to force air in for a mile and a half or so?— Yes.