( 39 )
450
1
N
3
4
5
6
7
9
460
1
By Mr. Shewan.-Could that not be stopped? Mr. CHAMBERLAIN, I think, wrote out that seven hours' work a day might reasonably be required from Government clerks.*
A-I think so, and I have always maintained it should be stopped.
Q-Under whose jurisdiction should it lie?
A-I think the Government.
Q-Should not Mr. CHATHAM have power to say?
A-He could issue orders on the subject, but the reply might be that office hours are from ten to four.
Q-Could they not be ordered to come in at nine o'clock?
A-They could be ordered. The men in my office generally come in at nine o'clock.
-How should you complain about not having enough men if they don't, at present, come in and do a fair day's work?
first.
A-Mr. COOPER told me the office hours were from ten to four when I came here
Q-That is the shortest office hours of any office in this Colony?
A-I don't keep them myself; and I expect my men to turn out for me if I ask them to do so.
By the Chairman.-Are there many men in the office who do no work after four o'clock ?
A-Yes, a great many.
Q-Overseers and so on?
A-I think a great many Overseers.
By Mr. Shewan-Before you have any increase in the staff, I think you should get a fair day's work for a fair day's pay out of your men?
A-I may say my men never refused to work extra time either in the morning or in the evening.
Q-If these men work proper hours daily, you would not be so much undermanned as you are now
?
A-It depends on how long you ask them to work.
Q-Nine to five?
A--That would give us two hours a day more, and even then I think the staff would not be sufficient.
By Mr. Thurburn.--The matter of hours depends a good deal on the work a man is doing?
A--Yes, if a man has finished his work at four o'clock, he goes away.
*
Correspondence re Salaries of Subordinates, page 31.
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