["State Steamship Service", The Western Mail (Perth, WA), Friday 06 June 1913, page 17]
STATE STEAMSHIP SERVICE.
COMMISSION OF INQUIRY.
Some little time ago a series of articles appeared in the "West Australian" adversely criticising the administrative methods of the State Steamship Department, controlled by the Colonial Secretary, and on his return from the Eastern States at the latter end of April, Mr. J. J. Holmes, who has had considerable dealings with the State Steamship Service, made, in the columns of this paper, certain specific charges against the management. As the outcome a Royal Commission was appointed by the Government to inquire into the charges. The Commission, which is comprised of Messrs. W. W. Alcock, Assistant Public Service Commissioner (chairman); E. A. Black (accountant in the Lands Department); G. W. Simpson (Comptroller of Government Stores); and Frank Nicholas, held its first sitting at the Fremantle Local Court on Wednesday.
