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D.—4a

LETTERS PBOM THE CROWN SOLIOITOB AND MR. THEO. COOPER ON THE SUBJECT OP THE REVISION OP THE REPORTS OP THEIR ADDRESSES, ETC.

The Crown Solicitor to Mr. Kane. Wellington, 24th December, 1895. Sir,— Midland Bailway Arbitration. With reference to the proofs submitted to me to-day, which purport to report the proceedings on Saturday and Monday, I desire to state that I absolutely decline to attempt to correct the printed report. Throughout the case the reporting has been skilful and accurate in part, and I desire to make no reflection on the reporters generally, but I am bound to say that many passages in the proofs as submitted to me are utter rubbish. More than this, the earlier proofs (I refer more particularly to Mr. Hutchison's speech and Mr. Wilson's evidence) have not only been incorrectly reported, but they have been so altered that they now stand in print not in the least as a report of what was said, but rather as a statement of what these gentlemen, on mature consideration, think they ought to have said. I therefore find it quite impossible to correct and approve of reports of isolated parts of the proceedings when I cannot subscribe to the assumption that the whole report or any part of it is correct. Accordingly I decline to correct any proofs, and I desire to place on record my conviction that the printed report of the proceedings, taken as a whole, does not even approximately represent what was said or done. I must ask you to send a copy of this letter to the Hon. the Premier. I have, &c, E. W. Kane, Esq., Hugh Gully, In charge of reporting, Midland Bailway Arbitration Case. Crown Solicitor.

Mr. Theo, Coopee to Mr. Kane. Deae Mr. Kane, — Wellington, 6th January, 1896. In reference to the report of the Midland Bailway proceedings, I desire to say that on the whole my address, &c, was reported satisfactorily, and I found it necessary to make very few alterations, and these mainly verbal inaccuracies. Every now and again, however, I found portions very badly reported —in fact, the report was sheer nonsense —and in such instances I had great difficulty to correct the proofs. An examination of the proofs will show where these patches of misreporting occurred. I have not inserted in the proofs anything that I did not say, and the proofs as now corrected are accurate records of what I actually said. Of course, in the patches I have referred to I have had to rely on my memory. The omission of the reporters to insert any of the extracts I read or the letters I quoted, and their practice of leaving them for me to insert under line " Please supply," threw on me a very heavy task indeed. I have supplied all the extracts and documents, &c, quoted by me accurately, but the labour involved occupied me three complete days. lam not blaming the, reporters for this, as I recognise the difficulty they met with in the matter. On the whole, I have to thank you and the reporters for the courtesy I have experienced in the matter. You have my authority to forward a copy of this letter to the Premier. I shall be glad if you will send me a copy of the proceedings as reported. Yours truly, Theo. Cooper. Approximate Cost of Paper.— Preparation, not given; printing (1,600 copies), £124 16s.

By Authority: Jambs Bdbns, Government Printer for the time being, Wellington.—lB9o. Price, 3s.]

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