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Q.--Of dishonesty?
A.-No.
Q.-On anything else?
A.-No.
Q.-Hon. A. LISTER-How would this system act: that all the skilled labour should be in the hands of the Overseers, and they should do the work they now have to do sometimes-set out the work and lay lines and levels-and that the Contractor should be simply looked upon as a man to provide so many bricklayers and coolies, as a man to supply so many hands and feet, the brain work being supplied by the Overseers?
A.-It would reduce it to day labour, and the men would do little or no work. If you employ the coolies by the day you would not get half the work out of them as out of men employed by the piece.
You
Q.—But you could still make your contract with the men to do the work. want a road made, say; You get a Contractor to make it, and let him make his own arrangements with his men; the only thing is that instead of expecting him to supply the brains the overlooker supplies the brains and the Contractor the muscle.
WITNESS.-No, he does not do manual work, but he has to get things out.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-What do you mean?
Hon. A. LISTER-Putting in the pegs.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-That is manual work.
The CHAIRMAN—There is the ditch being made at Murray Barracks for instance: In order to lay its level they stretch a string. As I understand, the Contractor is a man not competent himself to set that line in a satisfactory way, and practically the Overseer, who ought really to see the work correspond to such a line, has to go and show him how to set the line?
A.-If you have a channel perhaps you do not want it so shallow in parts because there is less water to carry. To get that regular you have to set it out in sections, and all that has to be set out by the Overseer.
Q.-The CHAIRMAN.-Does not all that rather point to this, that the contract for Government works ought to be rather a labour contract than a works contract?
A.-No; I think not.
Q.-I mean that all the laying out and setting and arranging should be in the
hands of the Government?
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON.-That is to say it would need a much larger staff?
The CHAIRMAN.-Yes, but they have to do it now sometimes.
A.-It would lead to a good deal of confusion.
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