	He joined the Mount Lyell company as a junior engineer in 1900, and became engineer in charge of mines following the death of W. T. Batchelor on 27 October 1906. Every stage in his rise in the Company was resisted by general manager Robert Sticht, who saw him as an ineffectual intellectual, constitutionally unable to deal with the Union in the tough unyielding manner that characterised Sticht's leadership.