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By Mr. Shewan.--Did you not take the store over from anybody?
A-It was handed over to me by Mr. TOOKER.
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Q-Was there any man in charge of it before?
A-Yes.
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Q-And did he not give you a list?
A-I enquired about one, and was told there was no list.
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By the Chairman. And who was the overseer in charge before?
A-Mr. DOUGHERTY.
By Mr. Shewan.--Whom did you ask?
A-Mr. Tooker.
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Q-What did he say ?
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A-He had not got one, and he told me to make one.
By Mr. Master. What is the value of the stores ?
A-Nothing less than five hundred pounds."
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Q-And at Wanchai?
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A-That would be considerably more. I should say nothing less than a thousand pounds.
Q-And is there no inventory?
A-At Wanchai store there is an inventory, because there is a man in charge there.
Q-But not in this one?
A-No.
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By the Chairman.-What do you call this one ? A-I should call it the Public Works Department store. building.
It is at the base of the
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By Colonel Brown.-You want a store-keeper there?
A-Yes.
There are some very delicate instruments there, and they should be taken care of. In the place I left there was a qualified man in charge, but here the Chinese fish about and push things about in the shelves as they please.
By Mr. Master.-When you are away, the key is left in Mr. TOOKER'S office, and the Chinese do take the key and do go there on their own account, and may move something out?
A-Yes. I must tell you also that after my first two or three days I thought it better to keep an attendance book, because some of the Chinese I never saw. When I sent them on a job they went for four or five days on stretch, and came back and told me that they had been in the New Territory, and wanted so much extra pay. They were simply doing what they liked. There were four men from the Public Works Department and two from the contractor.
By the Chairman.-And what steps have you taken now to check the work ? A-I have got three books, one detailing the work and who does it, and another the stores--how they are issued and where they go to, so that they must agree with the different stations where men are sent to repair. The third book is an attendance book.
* Mr. FARRELL when recalled corrected his statement on this point.
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