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3023. What expenditure would be required to reopen and commence operations at the Wallsend Mine ? Can you give us any idea of that ?—lt would take two months to pump out the workings, and before we could get the coal from Wallsend there would be an expenditure of something like £6,000 or £7,000 to undertake. We would not think of going to the rise again. 3024. Is all the material taken out of the rise ?—All the material is taken out of the rise workings, and we do not think of going to the rise again. 3025. Can you state the average cost per ton of coal put into wagons at the mine for each department ?—All that will be before you in the pay-sheets coming down. 3026. Mr. Brown.] Would not that sheet from the audit at Dunedin give the cost at the mine subject to the 2s. 6d. per ton ?—Yes; the audit in Dunedin must give the cost of the mine, because they must have had all the cost before them there. 3027. There was a mixture of Wallsend and Brunner there?—ln making up the average cost they do put the lot together, but we can show it separately on the pay-sheets. 3028. Mr. Moody.] What is the quantity of small coal thrown into the river ?—The returns now before you show that. 3029. Can you give us any idea if any further attempts will be made to prove the fault in the Brunnerton Mine ? —As soon as the weather is fine and we get started at work we shall proceed to prospect from the surface. 3030. What quantity of air is there passing down in tho Brunnerton Mine? — There are 50,000 ft. or 60,000 ft. passing as a rule. It depends on the number of men we have as to how we run the fan, and what wo are doing.

Thuesday, 30th Octobee, 1890. Mr. William Haevey Boase sworn and examined. 3031. The Chairman.] You are an old resident in Greymouth?—Yes. 3032. For how long have you resided here? —Twenty-six years. 3033. Are you connected with the labour unions here?— Yes; I am secretary of the wdiarflabourers' union here. 3034. You had some connection with the mines in tho earlier days, had you not ?—Yes ; I was clerk to the Ballarat Company at the time they had the mine. 3035. What date was that, do you remember?— About 1868 or 1870, I think. 3036. Have you visited the mines since then ?—Yes, frequently. I have been down there several times since then—years ago. 3037. Have you been there lately ?—No. 3038. Have you been about Brunnerton lately ? —Yes; I hardly miss a week. lam frequently at Brunnerton. 3039. Then you know all that is going on about there ?-- Yes ; I am fully aware of what is going on. 3040. And the opinions the miners hold on various matters ?—Yes, and I might mention an opinion advanced to me by one of the oldest miners—l might say he was born in the mine. 3041. What is his name?— John Morris, I think it is. His father was one of the parties that came from Ballarat as coal-miners. I was talking with him some time ago, and I said, " Now, I wish to talk to you apart altogether from the strike, and apart from anything you have to do with it. I w T ould like to know your opinion with reference to working the mine, and its dangers." Well, he told me himself that he is very often timid in working the mine. 3042. Mr. Brown.] Which mine do you speak of?—He referred to Coal-pit Heath. There has been, you know, a chasm open at the top of the hill over Coal-pit Heath, and the company has employed men for weeks and months there in stuffing down clay in the chasm, to keep the water from going down. And I may say that I indorsed Sir James Hector's opinion when I first saw it in the paper, knowing what I did of the Brunner Mine and the lay of the rock. I said that was a true opinion of the mine, and that if the pillars were ever removed the tendency would be to throw the whole hill into the river. Well, this chasm opened, and men, as I said before, were employed there months stuffing down clay in the crevice to prevent the water going down, and this very much frightened the miners. 3043. The Chairman.] Have you seen this crevice yourself?—l know exactly its position, but I never went to see it. 3044. I suppose Morris will be able to tell us all about that ?—Yes. I asked him if he thought the plan they were adopting would stop it ?—-I thought, myself, it never would; and he said it would never stop it. It never would stop it, because if the hill still gives way it will be always opening. I always understood that there was a stipulation in the Ballarat Company's lease that the pillars were not to be taken out. 3045. You would be made aware of that in your position as clerk to the company?— Yes. 3046. Do you know where that lease is to be found?—l remember, and [to the Chairman] you may also recollect it too. You yourself, Mr. Taylor, and I went into the mine to make some measurements one night, and I asked you the question. In fact, I do not know but that I put it down in an old pocket-book of mine, and you said you thought there w 7 as such a stipulation in the lease—that the pillars were not to be taken out. 3047. Mr. Brown,] You have not yourself been in the mine lately? —No. 3048. Nor examined this crack?—No ; I have never seen it. I was always under the impression that such a stipulation was in the lease. And this has also occurred to my mind: that I was a member of the Nelson Provincial Council, and we had a little dispute in that Council with reference to the mine, and I asked Mr. Curtis, who w 7 as then Superintendent, whether such was not the case, and he confirmed it. I have had several conversations with some of the oldest and best miners