7

H.—B4

Continuation of Work. We continued our work in Wellington from the 31st May until the evening of Monday, the Bth July. We then discontinued for a few days, and commenced again in Dunedin on the morning of Tuesday, the 16th idem. From there we proceeded to Christchurch on the morning of Saturday, the 20th. We left Christchurch on the evening of Tuesday, the 23rd, and went straight through to Auckland. We finished our work in Auckland on Saturday, the 27th July, and left for Wellington by the Main Trunk express on the evening of Sunday, the 28th, reaching Wellington on the afternoon of Monday, the 29th, and continued our work here from then until the present time. Methods employed. The methods we employed in conducting our inquiry were as follows : We received a very large number of applications from officers of the Public Service to give evidence in response to a circular which we sent out, and which will be referred to later. These applications came from all grades of the Service, and were so numerous that it was quite impossible for us to deal with them all; but in choosing those to be called as witnesses we selected representatives from every class and grade in the Service, and in cases where there was a large number of applications from one class or grade, we arranged with the applicants to appoint representatives or deputations to state their views. In other cases we arranged with those who wished to appear to state their views in writing. We obtained formal evidence from all or nearly all the heads of Departments, and in addition had one or more personal interviews with each as occasion arose. We also inspected the head offices of all the various Departments in Wellington, and a number of branch offices at the three centres of Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. During these inspections we examined books, correspondence, and various documents, and had conversations with a large number of the officers of the Service. In many cases after these inspections we called officers whom we had met during the course of our examinations and whom we thought likely to be able to give valuable information, and obtained evidence from them. The more important offices we inspected together, but for inspections of many of the other Denartments we divided our forces and each took a particular portion; some of the smaller offices w r ere divided between us, each member taking a certain number. By this means we were able to get over the work much more rapidly than we otherwise could have done. Taken altogether, we held consultations with twenty-four heads of Departments in Wellington before beginning to take evidence. We made official inspections of the following Departments : Wellington, 30; Dunedin, 5; Christchurch, 6; Auckland, 4 : total, 45. We examined witnesses as follows: Wellington, 87, representing 257 officers; Dunedin, 13, representing 28 officers; Christchurch, 17, representing 83 officers; Auckland, 16, representing 50 officers : total, 133, representing 418 officers. Included in the witnesses examined were representatives of the New Zealand Civil Service Association in Wellington and Christchurch, claiming to represent about 2.500 members. Over forty written statements were put in as evidence in addition to the above. Two hundred and thirty requests to give evidence were received from different parts of the Dominion, a large number being joint requests signed by several officers. Some of these were of a personal nature, and were not dealt with. Many of the letters were from parts of the Dominion some distance from the four centres, and many of them dealt with similar subjects. In every case which we considered of importance to the inquiry the contents were noted and taken as evidence. No evidence, or source of evidence, of value was ignored. In addition to the foregoing the different members of the Commission had conversations with a large number of the officers of the Service during the course of their inspections of the various offices, books, documents, &c, already mentioned.