171

H.—7

—that is a peculiar way of putting it. That may even include a slip. Irregular settlement in soft ground may include the whole country-side in a slip. Possibly Mr. Blair means that. I do not know, but these are his own words. Irregular settlement in soft ground will, I maintain, include a slip if correctly read, and it may include a very extensive slip. I maintain, too, that it is not for me to define that slip. Dr. Hector has done that very clearly, I think, in his evidence before us on this inquiry, and there I leave it. Now, gentlemen, I shall conclude, having, as I think, conclusively proved to you, as I promised to do at the outset of this inquiry, the causes of the injuries done and even now progressing at the Seacliff building. I claim at your hands that verdict which is according to the evidence laid before you, and no other. Elsewhere I have said, and have repeated before you during this inquiry by the reading of the letter in which it occurred, that my hands are clean in this whole matter; and I confidently look for you, in your report to His Excellency the Governor, at the close of your deliberations, to bear out this assertion, this hope which has sustained me during the whole course of this inquiry, and which does sustain me. You will notice that I have called no witnesses, have asked no one personally to appear on my behalf, or to give any evidence of any kind, but throughout I have relied alone on God and my right. Yes, I have, lam thankful to say. It remains now for me simply to thank you, gentlemen, for the forbearance and the courtesy which you have displayed towards me during this inquiry, and for the marked attention which you have given to anything I have said, and, I confess, that sometimes very imperfectly and perhaps tediously. I conclude by expressing my thankfulness that I have at last, after all these years of silent suffering in this matter, and under the basest insinuations, been afforded this opportunity of clearing myself from all these, and that I also see the near prospect of quite necessary work being done which will save and secure the Seacliff Asylum building from further harm. I have one thing more, by the way, which I have to do. Mr. Blair made an insinuation here as to the settling-up. Yes, the settling-up of accounts with Mr. Gore. He made the insinuation —at least it was implied, in the way it was said—that I had favoured Mr. Gore in the settlement. What was the position of things, gentlemen ? Mr. Gore : I was very near not taking the settlement at all as a matter of fact. Mr. Laivson : I know you refused it for a long time. I ask you to consider the position I was left in by Mr. Brindley ; this man, instead of standing to his duty, took the sulks and walked away, and remained away for a week. Was Ito neglect my duty because he went away ? What I did, gentlemen, was, I think, the most correct and proper thing I could have done under the circumstances. I went to Mr. T. B. Low, who was in the Public Works Department then, and the head of the architectural department here in Dunedin, and consulting with him there we fixed up the very settlement that Mr. Blair refers to. It is not on me therefore but on Mr. T. B. Low, who is now in a better country, that he casts insinuations when he casts insinuations as to that settlement favouring Mr. Gore. Gentlemen, there is Mr. T. B. Low's handwriting, and I will put it in. Mr. Blair : You cannot put it in now. Mr. Lawson : You cannot deny it. Mr. Blair : No, I cannot. Mr. Laioson: The inquiry is not completed. Mr. Blair: It ought to have been put in before. Mr. Lawson: It can be compared word for word, letter by letter, figure by figure, with what is in Mr. T. B. Low's handwriting, which I simply transcribed. If there has been unfairness it must be ascribed to that man who is now in heaven, and not to me. Gentlemen, I hope Mr. Blair will not breathe an insinuation in this matter. Mr. Blair : Mr. Low did not know anything about it. Ho was paymaster, that was all. He drew up that from information. Mr. Laivson: He wrote the accompanying letterpress also, with the exception of a few additional words, which I put in. It is all there also in Mr. T. B. Low's handwriting. You will not dare deny that. Mr. Blair: He had no personal information of it at all. Mr. Laivson : Yes, he had, for he had it from myself. Mr. IMair : Oh, yes ! he had it from you. Mr. Lawson : He had my documents and Mr. Brindley's too. Mr. Blair : He drew it up so that you might have it in proper form ; and I think it is mean, now that he is in his grave at the bottom of the ocean, that there should appear to bo an insinuation against him. Mr. Laivson : I say it is. Mr. Blair : Mr. Low simply drew up that so that it might be in proper form : he had nothing whatever to do with it beyond that. Mr. Lawson : That is what you say. Is that not in his handwriting ? Mr. Blair: Yes. Mr. Laivson : That is all I say. The Chairman: I think you ought to have put it in before. Mr. Laivson : You can keep it out if you like. Mr. Blair : We have no explanation of what it is. Mr. Lawson : It does not need it. It expresses itself—the letterpress does. Mr. Blair : Had Mr. Low any personal knowledge of what is expressed there ? Mr. Laivson : Of course he had. Mr. Blair : Did he measure one of them? Mr. Laivson : Did I ? Mr. Blair : There is no insinuation about Mr. Low. Mr. Liawson : But there is. Mr. Blair : Mr. Low had no more to do with it than the Chairman of the Commission : Mr. Low simply drew it up.