I.—3a,

46

129. Mr. Lundon stated yesterday, that when he was negotiating with you at Wellington he stated that he would make a lot of money out of the transaction ?—I do not remember his telling me that; but I have no doubt he said he would make money out of the transaction. Of course I was not then dealing with the Kaitaia land alone : I was dealing with the three blocks. 130. Do you consider that Mr. Lundon purchased that land for the Government ? —I do not recognise Mr. Lundon as a Native-land purchaser at all. I was particularly careful that the money did not go into his hands in any shape or form. I do not recognise him as acting for the Government. 131. I asked Mr. Lundon under what authority he was acting, and if he had any authority from the Natives to act on the Bth October, the date of your memorandum. His answer to that was that he had a general authority extending back fifteen years. The Natives were asked as to whether any authority had been given Mr. Lundon during last year, or prior to the Bth October, and they each one of them absolutely denied they had ever given Mr. Lundon any authority whatever to act prior to the Bth October ?—-That would be a matter between the Natives and Mr. Lundon. I was not cognisant of it at all. 132. Mr. W. G. Smith.] Were you satisfied, and was the department satisfied, that the price paid for the land was a fair one?—l was guided, of course, by the report I got from the Survey Department. Since this matter has cropped up, I instructed Mr. Sheridan to telegraph to Mr. Kingston, of the Land Department in Auckland, asking him at what price the Waste Lands Board would probably put the Kaitaia Block on the market for settlement, and the reply was that the upset price would be 10s. an acre. 133. Were you quite satisfied with the transaction ?—Prior to this inquiry, I had no cause of complaint in any shape or form. 134. Hon. Mr. Mitohelson.] Are you now satisfied, seeing and knowing that the Natives only received 4s. 6d. an acre?— With the knowledge I have of this block, and the surrounding circumstances, if I were going to buy it to-morrow I certainly would not offer 7s. 6cl. an acre for it. 135. You are not satisfied with the result, as shown by this inquiry?—l have no cause to complain, so far-as the arrangement I entered into on the part of the Government. 136. Hon. Mr. liichardson.] Do you consider, Mr. Cadman, that under the arrangement entered into by you it was Mr. Lundon's duty to have informed you, near the end of the negotiations, that he could get the land for 4s. 6d. an acre —that it could be acquired for a very much less sum than he had accounted for ?—I do not think so, after the conversation we had. I fixed the price myself, and if there was any mistake made about the price, I reckon I had made that mistake; I was guided by the department as to the value of the land. The impression on my mind was this : When I fixed the price at so much, as long as that is carried out, it is immaterial to me what the Natives paid to anybody for commission. Unless the purchase-money is absolutely paid to the Native owners, the deed is absolutely invalid. That having been done, I reckon, as far as the Government officer was concerned, he had done all that he could. If the Natives then chose to give the money to Mr. Lundon, or anybody else, I do not consider it part of my duty to follow that up. 137. If Mr. Lundon had informed you that he found he could have purchased the block for 4s. 6d., would you then have been satisfied to have allowed him a liberal commission on the part of the Government for so acquiring it? —I do not think I would have treated Mr. Lundon as a Government officer at all, and should not have allowed him to go on purchasing land for the department. 138. Did you expect that the Natives would be paid a sum of money less than 7s. 6d., and Mr. Lundon paid the balance, whatever it might be, to make up the 7s. 6d.; would he have been paid by your department ? —No, certainly not. I knew from my own experience in purchasing Native lands that the Government are bound —or anybody else is bound —to pay money over to the Natives themselves ; therefore, I would not have entered into any arrangement to let anybody have the handling of that money at all. I fixed the amount at 7s. 6d. per acre for the block, and that was to be paid in a lump sum, as is always done by the Government Department. We could make no other arrangement with anybody else for any other price than 7s. 6d. an acre. 139. Then, you expected that Mr. Lundon, for anything he had done in the transaction, would be paid directly by the Natives, for whom he was acting?— Certainly. 140. Mr. Kapa.] Do you think that the Natives would have petitioned this House if the thing had been rightly placed into their hands ? —I am quite satisfied, from the evidence, that the cheques were actually paid into their hands. 141. Did not Mr. Lundon state to you that he was making a large profit out of the sale of the Kaitaia Block?—I do not remember his telling me that he would make a large profit out of it, but the impression on my mind was that he reckoned he would get better commission, or whatever you might call it, from the Natives for Kaitaia than the others —-that is, provided he was successful in getting the negotiations completed quickly. 142. Did you understand from Mr. Lundon, when he said he was making a good commission out of the sale of the Kaitaia Block, that he was going to take his commission out of the 7s. 6d. paid by the Government ?—I considered that the Natives, out of the moneys they received from the Government, would pay Mr. Lundon something for his services. 143. The Chairman.] If Mr Lundon had been acting as Native-land purchaser, would these Natives have been paid by the postmaster only, or by Mr. Lundon, who said he was acting for them ? —If I had employed him to purchase the land, I should have taken care that the money would have gone to him, because he would be moving about the district getting the signatures, instead of collecting the Natives in one centre. 144. Do I understand that Mr. Lundon did not ask any such authority, either by letter or wire, from Auckland ? —lf it is stated so in the document on the file I am sure it is right. 14u. Mr. Parata.'\ When you fixed that price of 7s. 6d. per acre you were sure that the money would be paid to the Natives ?—I knew it must be paid to the Natives, because, if they had not