H.—lg

dormitory at night; and I saw for myself what was the condition of all the buildings and offices. Captain Breton showed me his books —cash-book, letter-book, stores-accounts in two forms, registers of admission and discharge, of apprenticeship and licensing, and of absconders, record of offences and punishments, record of orders made on parents for payment, and of payments received by the police, register of letters franked for boys, boys' ledger (containing inter alia the accounts of the amusement fund), and several others. He also submitted to my notice the letters he had received from parents, employers, and boys who had left the school. On this occasion I conversed freely and fully with Captain Breton, and took notes of his statements on many points. I also heard the schoolmaster and one of the naval instructors with reference to Mr. Bezer's conduct at the school, and had an interview with all the officers together. On the 4th instant I received statements from Captain Anderson, Captain P. Jones, and Mr. G. Jones, and from Mr. Newton, the cook, whom I visited in the Auckland Hospital to procurehis evidence. I left Auckland on the oth instant. Just before leaving I took down a statement made by Mr. Keen, who was once an officer of the school. 1 also received from Mr. Speight a statement covering ten pages, and containing some new matter, which I could not then stay to consider. The statement included a reference to a transaction in which Captain Breton and the Rev. Dr. Kinder were concerned. On my return to Wellington I wrote to Captain Breton and Dr. Kinder on the subject. Prom Dr. Kinder 1 have since received a reply which shows that Mr. Speight's view of Captain Breton's conduct and its consequences is a mistaken one. Dr. Kinder's letter, together with a memorandum from Captain Breton on the same subject, is attached to the notes of my inquiry, which are herewith enclosed. In the absence of Mr. Bezer, the only statement of his which I had to consider was contained in his letter to the Auckland JSvening Star. He says that the cook and the schoolmaster are the " ruling features of the school;" that one of these two told him "that just a word from him would put the manager out altogether;" that the manager keeps one of the two there to save him from going to the dogs with drink; that the sub-manager is not allowed to interfere with the schoolmaster, and is virtually under him; and that when he (Mr. Bezer) complained of the scandalous way in which the food was cooked, he was told " that the cook had been there two years—and that was the last of it." Letters (enclosed —Marine 80/1,428) from the cook and schoolmaster emphatically deny the assertion that one of them had said he had power to " put the manager out" of his office. Captain Breton says the cook is the best man who ever filled the post, and that on that account, and because he is an elderly man without friends in the colony, he was allowed to retain his situation after having twice been seen in a state of intoxication; but that, after the second offence, his stay was made conditional on total abstinence from intoxicants, and that the other officers received instructions to report on any repetition of the offence (Notes, July 31, p. 9). Mrs. Speight's evidence (July 31,. p. 8) is confirmatory of Captain Breton's as to the value of the cook's services. Captain Breton explains that by the regulations the sub-manager's office is superior to that of the schoolmaster; but that while the schoolmaster is in school or superintending garden operations the manager carefully avoids all appearance of unnecessary interference with him, and expects the sub-manager to do the same (July 31, p. 9). Captain Breton's letter of June 20, 1880 (Marine, 80/1,428), refers to Mr. Bezer's dissatisfaction with the cooking of the food supplied for his own table. Captain Breton says that the objection was a frivolous one, and that Mr. Bezer proposed to cook his own food, and was told that fuel was not allowed for that purpose, but that if he chose to apply to the Government for a. supply of fuel his application would be forwarded for consideration. The morning after making the complaint Mr. Bezer resigned. Mr. Bezer states in his letter that on Sunday the boys are allowed to engage in noisy play and in fighting; that he has seen boys punished for not fighting in a respectable manner; that the manager pays no attention to the work done in the schoolroom ; that the boys have only two hours' work a day in the schoolroom (and that under a master whose efficiency is challenged by an insinuation); and that, while there are three boats at the manager's service, the officers, when they have occasion to go to town, must walk, whatever the weather may be. Captain Breton's reply (July 31, pp. 9, 10) is in effect as, follows: That no romping or noisy games are permitted on Sunday until church service is ended, but that after that it is better for the boys to engage in cricket and other amusements innocent in themselves than to be kept under a constraint which would render them moody, and lead to conversation on old associations and habits and to the plotting of mischief; that, to avoid incessant tale-telling, boys have been told that it is better to settle such little matters as they often complain of by fighting it out and shaking hands, but that on Sunday and during working hours fighting is prohibited; that he did once punish two boys for not fighting fair, in. a case in which one of the combatants had bitten the other's hand, and had had a piece of his nose kicked off in return ; that the time for school work is three hours a day for every boy, and is fixed by Order in Council; that the manager obtains sufficient knowledge of the state of the boys, with regard to the work done in school hours, by means of reports from the schoolmaster, and by taking charge of the school work himself whenever the schoolmaster is absent on leave; and that the time at which the use of a boat would be of the greatest service to either of the instructors is just the time when, by the absence of one or more instructors, the work is rendered heavier for those who remain on duty, and when it would therefore be most inconvenient to send a boat out. He himself very rarely has a boat out for his own use, except as required in the discharge of duty. Mr. Bezer's letter makes no reference to the circumstances of his resignation, and does not contain any matter which calls for consideration separately and apart from the general question of the management of the school. Mr. Cleverly's case is set forth in his petition presented to the House of Eepresentatives last session. In the petition he states that he was first appointed as schoolmaster at a salary of £10 a month, the engagement being terminable by a week's notice on either side ; that afterwards, with the approval of the authorities in Wellington, he was promoted to be sub-manager, with a salary of £150-

2