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232. You say you are under the impression that that could not be effected ?—No. 233. Are you aware that it was represented to Parliament that a saving would be sure to follow the expenditure for these type-writers ? —I believe that was represented to Parliament: the reason assigned for the purchase of them was that it would tend to economize the amount of correction. 234. "Why, then, is it that the Hansard reporters cannot give out their copy in a sufficiently clear way to enable the members to correct their speeches'?—l do not know. The corrections involve a lot of extra labour in the printing office. The foreman before he gives out Hansard copy generally reads it over and marks it. It is often very imperfect and scarcely legible. That of course takes up time. Copy should be sufficiently clear to obviate all that work. Then some of the reporters are very careless in the use of these machines. Very much better copy could be turned out with proper attention. The use of so many abbreviations makes their copy difficult to read. We have on some occasions to send back copy to the reporters to be re-written. A great many of the compositors say they would prefer ordinary manuscript copy. 235. The work of the type-writer is as clear as any of your type-setting ?—'Well, nearly so. It should be if properly manipulated. 236. Do I understand you that there is a great deal of difficulty in consequence of these abbreviations ?—Yes; sometimes also they do not leave proper spaces between the words or lines. It is difficult to make out the words where two lines overlap each other. The abbreviations are often arbitrary and puzzle the compositor. 237. This puts .a great deal of extra work on the printing office ? —lt adds to the work. I have brought some of this copy with me. If you examine it will you will find that the letter "t" is used for three or four different words. 238. Mr. Barron.] The abbreviations are not the same in all? —No ; different reporters sometimes use different abbreviations. 238 a. What is the objection to members correcting from the type-writer copy ?—The great difficulty would be in getting the members to correct the proofs promptly. 239. There is no reason why the copy should not be sent out from Hansard office direct to members, excepting that you think you would have a difficulty in collecting the proofs again'? — Yes ; that would be the great difficulty. 240. The Chairman.] Could it not be worked in such a way that a press copy could be taken. If that were done you could always have a copy in the office ? —I suppose that could be done if copying-ink were used. 241. Otherwise, if the proof is not sent back from the member corrected, you will have nothing by which you could set up the speech in Hansard except the shorthand-writer's notes?— No. 242. Would it not be well to have some rule by which a member if he neglected to correct his proof within a certain time should forfeit his right to his own corrections?— That might be done. 243. You say there is no difficulty in having the copy distributed to members; the real difficulty would be in getting the corrected copy back again?— Yes. 244. Then, if the member were shut out from correcting his proof, you would still be able to call upon the shorthand-writer to furnish a copy of the speech, which you could still set up if the orignal copy were not obtainable ? —Yes. 245. That would be corrected in the ordinary way ? —By the press-reader in the printing office, I presume. 246. What is the average cost of the corrections?— The corrections made in Hansard every session cost from £260 to £270 ; that is, about one hour and a half per page. 247. Do you refer to the corrections to be made in the copy or in the Hansard proof?—l am not taking into account at all the foreman's time in going over the copy. 248. Would the publication of Hansard be expedited if you could adopt this plan of getting the Hansard copy direct ?—Do you mean through the members ? 249. Yes; through the members ?—Yes, if it were sent down promptly, and obviated the necessity of sending proofs to members after the speeches were in type. 250. The Chairman.] I wish to ask you with regard to the publication of Hansard, has it increased ?—No, I should say not. I am printing 4,800 copies this session. I printed more last year, but, finding a lot of them on hand after the session, I reduced the number. I cannot always correctly forcast the probable demands, The number of subscribers last year was 760. I dare say there will be about the same number this year. The year before last there were 1,500. 251. Then, the subscribers have fallen from 1,500 to 760?— Yes. 252. Mr. Brown.] There is a large supply to members ? —Yes. Members apply for more copies than formerly. Twenty "copies are now appropriated to each member of the House of Eepresentatives and eight to Legislative Councillors. The Legislative Councillors used not to use them very extensively, but they are all appropriated now. This makes the free distribution very large. 253. What does the free distribution amount to ?• —There are about 760 subscribers, the balance of the 4,800 is issued free, with the exception possibly of some 300 copies that are kept in stock. 254. There is a large number that go to Government Buildings?— Yes. 255. I saw an express-load going there?— They would be going to the post office. You will see that every local body, every Borough Council, Eoad Board, public library, and newspaper get a copy of Hansard free. That makes up a very large list, in addition to what are placed at the disposal of members. 256. The Chairman.] Would it not be an improvement in the printing of parliamentary papers to have them all of. a uniform size, such as Hansard, for instance ?—I do not think that anything is to be gained by altering the present size. 257. Mr. Brown.] Would there not be a difference in regard to binding if they were of a different size ?—You would have a greater number of volumes if the size were reduced to demy Bvo., like the Canadian volume; it would probably make a difference of one or two volumes in a session.