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111. Did you ever intend them to be paid?— Certainly. If the Government had chosen to pay the actual price for the land and rails, the whole cost of the construction was to be given up. 112. The question is whether you expected Gray to pay those bills ? —I knew that Gray could never pay those bills unless he got some one else to go in with him. 113. Supposing Toomey had taken this affair ? —Then I would have expected him to pay. 114. Did you not get the bills ? —lf I did, they never were paid. 115. Did you not set them off against Gray's wages ?—No. 116. Now you say you are the owner of the mine?—Logan bought the rights from the Mortgage Company—l lent him the money. 117. At the time you sold, or proposed to sell, to Mr. Gray, did you sell under power of sale in your mortgage ?—I agreed, and Mrs. Logan also consented. 118. Were you selling as mortgagee ? —I was selling as acting for the mortgagee, and Mrs. Logan as second mortgagee. 119. Had you taken possession under your mortgage powers, then ?—I was never in possession of either the line or-the mine. 120. Then who is the equitable owner of the line now? —Well, the equitable owner in the first place is Mr. J. Logan, then I come as holding the mortgage, and then comes Mrs. Logan. 121. You have cut these out by selling their mortgage ? —Oh, no ! 122. Mr. Lake.] As I understood, your claim as mortgagee is simply through having purchased the interest from the Mortgage Association ?—No; Mr. Logan bought it. 123. The rights that have come from that purchase, then: how was it that neither you nor Mr. Logan made any claim under the 167 th section of this Act for non-payment of the mortgage ? The money you stated was borrowed on debentures of the company ?—The Fernhill Bailway was not constructed under this Act at all; it was constructed under the Public Works Act. The only railways constructed under that Act are the Kaihu-Dargaville, Wellington-Manawatu, and West Coast. 124. You stated that this line was sold to Mr. Logan. You cannot produce the deed, can you ?—I can. [The deed was produced.] 125. We have it in evidence that the books were never in Gray's possession at all, and cheques were always signed for Gray. How could Gray be presumed possibly to have any equitable right of ownership if the books were in Logan's hands?— Gray agreed, I presume, with Mr. A. H. Logan that he should do the clerical work in order that the mine might be carried on. I insist that Gray was only acting; if the mine had been sold he would have been kept on. The coal-mines in the Green Island district have been gradually falling away, and it was a great thing to him to be kept in constant employment. 126. How did Mr. Logan's position remain apparently the same after the nominal sale to Gray? —Because he was understood to have taken the thing, too. 127. Mr. Macgregor.] Who?— Mr. A. H. Logan. 128. Mr. Lake.] In what position was Mr. Logan, not having kept the accounts apart?—l never interfered with him. Mr. Gray was practically the nominal owner. 129. Mr. Moore.] What position were you in with reference to the money you lost ? —l'became security to the bank. I paid the bank £177. Then Logan came and got occasional advances of from £30 to £50 to help keep the concern going. I paid that money. He gave bills, and I indorsed them and met them. lam sure that lam more than £1,000 out of pocket by it. Mr. Gray said that I drew money, and that Macdonald drew money—he is entirely wrong. I understood from Gray that there was a fault in the mine which caused him a great deal of trouble. 130. You said at one time you intended that Mr. Toomey and Mr. Logan were to take over the mine. Who was to be responsible to you, and in what way?—To pay my claims ? Mr. Toomey was to get the whole occupation of the thing if he paid the mortgage amounts. 131. You said that you never signed a bill or cheque in shape of indemnity of Toomey. Did he get a cheque for £60 from you ?—That cheque for £69 was given to lift bills of Penman's that were in the Bank. Logan came to me and said that the Bank would not give up the bills unless I signed a cheque. I indorsed the cheque in order that they might get out Penman's bills, that Macdonald might sue on them. It was never meant by me to be given to Toomey. 132. You said that you did not believe that Andrew had ever applied to Howorth for any rent, or you would have heard of it ?—Yes ; Mr. J. Logan was one one of the directors of the company, and he often consulted me when they got into trouble. They wanted me to join the company, but I declined to do so. Mr. J. Logan has lost over £30,000 in the concern. 133. Mr. Earnshaw.] Do you not think that, seeing that the Commissioners have been owners of the land, and as the work has been done upon their property, they should be responsible for the payment of Hamill's wages ?—There is one thing that should be considered, and that is that any profit made out of the line since 1882 to the present has gone to the Commissioners. They ran and maintained at their own expense the Walton Park line, and it was constructed at Government cost; this line has been constructed at the cost of the company. They got a large increase to their traffic through it. 134. The Chairman.] Mr. Maxwell's contention was that the owners of the mine would have brought the coal to the main line ? —lt was simply impossible for them to do so ; the road was a very bad one indeed. Alexander Hugh Logan examined. 135. Hon. Sir B. Stout.] You remember when first you had to do with this coal-mine ?—ln February, 1886. 136. About Toomey's cheque: Mr. Toomey has a cheque for £69 155.; for what was that cheque originally issued?— For Penman's bills. To lift the bills in order that I might sue on them. The bank to hold the cheque in place of the bills which were indorsed by Sir Bobert Stout.