19

I.—3a

The Chairman : I do not think that is a fair question to put. Hon. Mr. Mitehelson: You are putting the matter in a different way from that given by the witness. It is quite a different thing altogether. Mr. Licndon : I know it is a different case; there was no such letter in existence. Hon. Mr. Mitehelson: I object to Mr. Lundon putting questions in the way he does. He should confine himself to the question as answered by the witness. Mr. W. Kelly : There is no necessity for putting the question in that way. Mr. Lundon wil have an opportunity of making his own statement. The Chairman: I rule that Mr. Lundon must not put the question in that way. 44. Mr Licndon : Very well; it makes very little difference. [To witness :] Have you sold any other land to the Government or to anybody else ?—No. 45. You are a minister of the Church of England, and go about from settlement to settlement ?—Yes. 46. From your going about the district you know where blocks of land have been sold by the Natives, both to. the Government and others. The Chairman : What point do you want to open up by this question ? Mr. Lundon : That they got a good price for the land; more than ever they got before; and that they were satisfied. Hon. Mr. Mitehelson : That is going against yourself. Mr. Lundon: There is nothing against me. I am accused of taking money that belongs to them. Ido not look upon this inquiry as final; there is another place for that. The Chairman : You might put your questiou in this way :Do you not think that the price you got for the land was satisfactory ? Mr. Lundon : He has an intimate knowledge of the sales of land among the Natives. He may not have sold land, but he knows others who have. The Chairman : That has nothing to do with this case. 47. Mr. Lundon (to witness).] Were you satisfied with the 4s. 6d. when you got it ?—Yes. 48. -When they got their money for the land were there many present in Flood's hotel ?—Yes, the whole of us who signed on that day. 49. And your friends? About twenty altogether?—No; there were not twenty. 50. Were Flood and Cochrane present ?—Yes. 51. And other Europeans ?—No. 52. Was George Clindon's brother present ? —I do not remember. 53. Was Eobert Flood, the school teacher of the district, there ?—He was not in the room when we were paid. 54. Were all who signed satisfied?— Yes. 55. Was any one, of the lot who signed, drunk ? —No ; none of them were drunk at that time. 56. Did not some of them get up and make speeches? The Chairman : I must again ask Mr. Lundon to let the Committee know what bearing these questions have on the case. It appears to me that he is taking up a great deal of the time of the Committee, and for what object ? Mr. Parata : It is not necessary to put these questions. Mr. Lundon: They sold a great deal of land, and there was never such a satisfactory sale of land before. It was a new way of selling land, and they were all pleased. Tamaho said so. The Chairman: I cannot see what bearing this has on the case at all. Mr. Lundon: I know that I am trespassing on the time of the Committee in consequence of the mention of Baiha Tamaho, who has nothing to do with the case. The Chairman : In justice to the Natives, they were allowed to show the Committee that they received less money for their shares in the land than others. It was only through finding out what Baiha Tamaho had received that they found they were paid short. That is the reason why their statements were allowed. 56a. Mr. Lundon (to witness).] If Eaiha Tamaho had not got £108 10s. from the Government would they have sent that petition to the House ?—lf we had heard nothing about Eaiha Tamaho getting the extra money, and if we had not received the letter from the Government pointing out that our shares were £217 10s. each, we would not have sent the petition. 57. That you would have been quite satisfied with the money you got? —We would have been satisfied with the money received if we had not heard there was a further sum paid. 58. You stated in your evidence yesterday that you wrote the petition?— Yes. 59. Is it not a copy of another document ?—I think this is a copy of a petition we sent to the Chairman; it may be similar to the petition we sent to the Chairman. The Chairman : He makes a mistake there; he never sent me a petition. Witness : Well, we sent one to the Government at all events. 60. Mr. Lundon.] Did you get that petition from another document ?—John Webster, who was there, spoke to me about the petition. I went to consult him, and to tell him that we were desirous of sending a petition to the Government. 61. And Mr. Webster wrote the original draft? —Mr. Webster wrote out a petition and then I re-wrote it. 62. How many years have you known me? —A great many years. 63. Have you and I not been great and constant friends during all that time ? The Chairman : I must again say that these are questions that I do not think have any bearing on the case. I wish to give you every latitude that it is possible to give, but Ido not see the relevancy of these questions. 64. Mr. Lundon (to witness).] I now come to the document put before you yesterday, and which you read in Maori. Did you ever read it before ; will you still persist in saying that that document was not read to you?—l never read over that document.