REPORT OE THE PRIVILEGES COMMITTEE.

H.—No. 7.

30

of the same sort was suggested to you?" to which he replied, "Yes ; something of the same sort." And yet it is plain from the whole course of his (Mr. Tribe's) evidence, that he never viewed any proposition made to him, by or on behalf of Mr. Brogden, as being of an improper character, or intended to influence his vote in the House. No such proposal, he says, was ever made or suggested to him by Mr. Brogden or any other person connected with the firm. It is true that Mr. Tribe states that his conversation with Mr. Harrison suggested to his mind the idea, —Could the money paid to him for certain services he had rendered to the firm, and which had been valued at a much higher rate than he (Mr. Tribe) claimed, have been offered with an improper motive? Still he states most distinctly that he did not make use of the expression attempted to be put into his mouth by Mr. Harrison. He denies that any improper suggestion was ever made to him during his intercourse with Mr, Brogden or any other person connected with that firm. He (counsel) would now proceed to call attention to a very remarkable circumstance, which was strongly insisted upon by Mr. Harrison in his version of the impropriety of the proposal made to him; he referred to the alleged pledge of secrecy. Mr. Harrison stated that when this dishonorable proposal was made to him he was asked to accept it under a distinct pledge of secrecy ; that he gave such a pledge, not knowing the character of the proposal that was to be made to him ; that he felt embarrassed with this pledge, and that he afterwards felt it to be his duty to consult the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer and the Hon. the Speaker how far that pledge of secrecy was binding, having, as he himself alleges, been entrapped into it by means of false pretences. If the Committee turn to question No. 22, a question put by the Hon. Mr. Fox, they will find the following:—" Did you understand that promise of secrecy to involve any particular action in the House ? To which Mr. Harrison replied, " I simply thought that it related to the offer made for my professional services in my capacity as a private individual." In that answer he distinctly states that this pledge had no reference to his conduct as a Member of the House, that it related simply to his employment in his professional capacity in the furtherance of transactions of which he entirely approved. He admits that not a single suggestion was made to him of which he disapproved. The undertakings for which his professional services were sought, he entirely approved of. He had no hesitation in advocating them in his professional capacity, advocating them in his private capacity, or as a Member of the House. This completely cuts away the ground insisted upon by the Colonial Treasurer and the Speaker, that the pledge of secrecy had reference to the alleged political proposal. Counsel next called attention to the sequence of the evidence with regard to dates. It struck him that there was something very remarkable with regard to the dates. Mr. Harrison states that these dishonorable proposals were first made to him in the course of the afternoon on Monday, at Mr. Brogden's office, at the close of the interview held with regard to the private business. He says that he made no observation at the time upon the nature of the proposal; but simply remarked that the conversation had better be dropped, and renewed again at the end of the Session. Throughout the whole of the discussion he never led Mr. Holt to understand that he disapproved of the proposals that had been made, or treated them in the light of an insult. At the Government Buildings or the Metropolitan Hotel he meets Mr. Tribe, and then states for the first time the proposals that had been made to him, and asks that very remarkable question about something of the same sort having been proposed to him. After speaking to Mr. Tribe upon the dishonorable character of these proposals, he (Mr. Harrison) receives Mr. Holt as a guest at dinner, and never in the course of the dinner or afterwards intimates to Mr. Holt that he looked upon his proposal as being of a disgraceful character. There is some discrepancy between their statements as to when they parted. Mr. Holt's statement as to the time they parted was in all probability the most reliable, as he supports it by stating that he left Mr. Harrison and went and dressed for Government House. He states that it was about half-past 8 when he parted from Mr. Harrison. Now, during the whole of this time no suggestion is made by Mr. Harrison which led him to believe that anything unusual had occurred. We hear nothing further about what took place until the following day, Tuesday, when the matter is mentioned casually to Mr. Vogel. He (Mr. Harrison) does not say that he went to consult Mr. Vogel on the subject. All he says is that he merely mentioned to him casually what had taken place. Immediately the matter was mentioned to Air. Vogel, he (Mr. Vogel) said that it was a serious matter, and that it was incumbent upon him to mention the circumstance to the Speaker. " I went," says Mr. Harrison, " and wrote to the Speaker, asking an interview, and the Speaker fixed the following morning at 10 o'clock." This would appear to be incorrect, as we find the Speaker in his evidence say that the interview took place not on Tuesday but on Wednesday morning. What took place at that interview is related by Mr. Harrison as follows : — " I related in general terms what had taken place between Mr. Holt and myself. He (the Speaker) then told me that I was not only justified in the course I had adopted, but that I had no option but to bring the matter before the House. I then wrote and delivered the letter to the Speaker on the Thursday morning." It would thus appear, then, that this secret was only casually mentioned to Mr. Vogel, from which we infer that it came to Mr. Vogel's ears quite accidentally ; at all events, being a casual communication, we are quite justified in concluding that he (Air. Harrison) did not take any pains to seek out Mr. Vogel to make the communication to him. Between Mr. Harrison's statement as to the day on which the casual communication was made and the statement as made by Air. Vogel, there is a discrepancy. Mr. Vogel says that this occurred on the Wednesday. His words are, " some day —I cannot fix the exact time, my impression is that it was the day before the matter came before the House —Mr. Harrison spoke to me on the subject without my inviting any statement of the kind." Air. Vogel then appears to have gone to the Speaker, and he appears to have instructed Mr. Vogel to send Mr. Harrison to him. The result of that interview with Mr. Harrison is related in reply to the following put to the Speaker by Mr. Gillies: —"When Mr. Harrison laid the matter before "you conversationally in the first instance, did he inform you that he had previously consulted any other person on the subject ? —Yes, I think so ; I think he told me he had spoken to Mr. Vogel. lam sure Mr. Harrison told me he had spoken to Mr. Vogel." The next question was, "Had Mr. Vogel any conversation with you on the subject? — Yes." It would thus appear that Mr. Harrison had been carrying the matter about with him all day

Mr. Travers.

16th Oct., 1872,