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27. Your works are at Wanganui, Mr. Campbell ?—Yes. 28. Have you any objection to telling us whether they are working out all right, and whether you are satisfied with their working, as far as returns are concerned ? —Not this year. We are working at a loss this year. 29. Have they been unsatisfactory for previous years ?—For the last two years. 30. You say you pay the men Is. 6d. an hour from 8 a.m. to sp.m. ?—Yes; that is only for the loading. That is merely working on the lighter. They have to go down into the lighter, and it is all chilled. 31. What would be your rates of pay for the ordinary men, then ?—They vary so much. They are paid £1 a hundred for sheep and 2s. 3d. per head for cattle. 32. Then, men work by the hour?—-They get Is. per hour in the chamber, and overtime at the rate of Is. 6d. per hour. 33. The Chairman.] Your men are not so continually employed, Mr. Campbell?—lf we put through a hundred thousand we have a certain staff ill the works, and if we put through five hundred thousand we have got a staff to cope with it. Generally, our season commences at the end of November, and begins to slacken at the end of April and May. In June there is very little doing. We never shut down, because at the present time we have the butchers for the borough, and therefore any small lot that may come in we get butchers to kill, and therefore carry on. 34. Mr. Barclay.] You could not possibly keep all the men on all the year round?—No ; we keep as many as we can doing odd jobs. We paint, and do all kinds of things. We do all our own jobs at the works. 35. I suppose if your works were very much larger and there were considerably more men employed it would be very much more difficult to keep them all on ?—Yes ; I am afraid we will not be able to keep them on now owing to the Conciliation Board decision : it is understood that we cannot paint, and do that sort of thing now. 36. You do not keep going night and day ?—Oh, yes. 37. On some parts of the works slaughtering is done ?—We would very much prefer that there should be no overtime at all. It is only pressure of work that makes us work overtime. 38. As far as your slaughtering is concerned, you can get it all done in the eight hours ?—No, not at times. We are in the same position there as here. We have a private lighter and a Government lighter. 39. You think that you could not get your slaughtering done in the eight hours ?—No, certainly not. We have two lighters. The trucks on the railway are very uncertain, and sometimes, a butcher might be standing idle waiting for the stuff to come down, and at other times they are greatly pressed. 40. Mr. Bollard.] I understand you to say, Mr. Waymouth, that it is utterly impossible to carry on the freezing business, with all the attendant by-products to be worked up, if this Bill is forced upon you ? —That is so. 41. Then, the only alternative would be to work in shifts?—We could not work in shifts. There is not enough work for two shifts. 42. Assuming this Act was forced upon you, would it mean your working shifts or closing down ?—Yes. 43. If you work shifts it will increase the expenditure ?—Undoubtedly. 44. And what would be the effect upon the men ?—They would not earn their living. 45. How many months in the year are you busy?—ln Canterbury, generally from January to August. 46. The men look forward to make sufficient to keep them for the other months in the year ? —Yes ; they have eight months work for the twelve months. 47. If you had to work in shifts, have you calculated what the extra expense would be ?—No. I would have to go carefully into it. 48. Supposing it cost 25 per cent, more ?—lt would cost me 25 per cent. more. 49. Who would you make pay ?—The farmer would have to pay it. We buy from the farmers and charge them for freezing. 50. Mr. Boliard.] You buy from the farmers and freeze on your own account, Mr. Sladden : would that be a fact, you would give the farmers less for their stock ?—Yes; if anything is done to increase the cost of freezing it will have to come off the price of the stock—there is not other margin. 51. You supply nearly all the butchers in Wellington from you establishment, do you not?— We supply, I believe, two-fifths of the butchers. 52. The Gear Company, I suppose, supplies some ?—A third at least. 53. There are not many butchers killing on their own behalf, are there?—ln round figures, there are about a third outside. 54. Could not some of this extra expense be borne by the consumers in the colony ?—lt is a very small factor in our business —the supplying of Wellington ; it is not worth mentioning in connection with the freezing industry. 55. Do I understand you to say in the event of your having to work in shifts that you would be to considerably more expense, and that it is the farmer that would lose?—lt is inevitably the farmer who must pay. 56. It is the farmer who pays all ? —Who pays the most. 57. If you are compelled to carry out the provisions of this Bill supposing it became law, how would it affect the butchers ?—As far as I can see, it would upset their business. They insist on having the last of their meat in the shops by 7.30, and, as I have pointed out, it involves starting pretty early in the morning. We send their meat in by wagon, and the meat for reezing by rail. I think they start loading the butchers' wagons a little after the other men