E. MACDONELL.]

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570. Would the constable who delivered them to him know the contents ?—lf he read them. 571. Would the summonses be in envelopes? —No. 572. They would be open, so that the constable might have seen them as well as the sergeant ?—Yes. 573. At any rate, the information got out of the office within less than an hour and a half, because some persons had got the news and gone to the editor of the Evening Mail ? —That is so. 574. That editor, Mr. Hanby, had taken a part in the Stoke business, had he not?— Yes, I believe so. 575. Is it correct that he had a presentation of a typewriter made to him ? —I heard something like that—that a number of men there had been presented with something ; but I did not know that he had in particular. I was not in Nelson at the time. 576. You do not know whether that typewriter has been mortgaged to a legal gentleman in Nelson ?—No. 577. Do you know the Mercantile and Bankruptcy Gazette ? —Yes, I see it occasionally. 578. Would you be surprised to hear that the typewriter is mortgaged to Mr. Maginnity ? —No. 579. About Constable Williams and the false statement he is supposed to have made, have you seen what is called " the false entry " ?—I saw a report on a slip of paper. 580. This entry is supposed to have been made at a later date than the constable said it was made at ? —That is so. 581. Do you know if there was anything in this entry, which was made afterwards, contrary to fact ?—No. 582. Is that disputed, Commissioner? Commissioner Tunbridge : There is nothing in the entry, as far as I know, to prove whether it is true or false. 583. Hon. Mr. The point is, then, Inspector, that the entry instead of being made at the date at which it was supposed to be made was made afterwards ? —Yes. 584. You have no evidence that the entry is not correct ?—No. 585. As to these abortion cases in Nelson, you mentioned four or five charges, and you were going on to mention some statement made by a doctor, or something that you had seen in a doctor's book, when you were stopped ?—Yes. Mr. Maginnity : I stopped him because the doctor is now dead. 586. Hon. Mr. But you did have evidence before you that there were several cases of alleged abortion going on ?—Yes. 587. Now, with regard to the assaults, have you read the Commissioner's finding with regard to the constables we are dealing with now? —In reference to assaults, yes. 588. You have read his finding where he suggests what should be done to them ? —You mean in reference to the assaults ? 589. No, in reference to the charges against these men. The Commissioner says, "As regards Constables Durbridge, Kemp, and Burrell, I think it would be as well if these men were removed to other stations. The two former appear to have become two familiar with certain sections of the community at Nelson, and Burrell and Durbridge have, I fear, been too ready with their hands." What construction would you place upon words such as these in a report made after an exhaustive inquiry—l mean where the head of the Police Department in New Zealand says that Burrell and Durbridge have been too ready with their hands?—l would consider that he was satisfied that, at any rate, some of the reports against them as to committing assaults were true. 590. Some of these charges of assault were put on one side, because, it was said, the complainants had the opportunity of bringing the matter before a Magistrate ?—Yes. 591. I think I put the question to you before, but I will put it again : If such a matter came before a Magistrate and there were two policemen giving evidence on one side and two men, such as those referred to here, on the other, what from your experience would be the decision of the Court ?—As a general rule, I would expect that the constables would get off. 592. That the Magistrate would naturally look upon members of the Police Force as men above suspicion—honourable men?—l do not know that. He might consider what they were charged with, and if he had any doubt he would give them the benefit of it. 593. With regard to the assaults, you mentioned that Reed was a man who was given to drink and the use of bad language?— Yes, speaking from memory, I understand that is so. 594. Were any charges of drinking and using bad language brought against either of these constables now before the Committee ?—Well, there was a charge of drinking against Durbridge on one occasion. That is all. 595. Mr. B. McKenzie.] That is the Bush Inn case ?—Yes. 596. Hon. Mr. Hall-Jones.] I do not refer to that. Was there any charge of using bad language brought against either of them ?—I do not think any charge of bad language was investigated. It was stated to me by the people who were supposed to have been assaulted that the constables sometimes used strong language, and so forth, but I did not take much notice of it. 597. What sort of a man is Eemnant?—l do not know much about him, but he seems to be a hard-working man. 598. What is his calling ?—Carter —carting coal, or something of that. 599. Is he a man of average reputation ? —I would fancy so. 600. What about Blincoe ?—I chink that Blincoe is a young fellow of good character, as far as lam aware. There may be something against him for all I know, but I did not hear of anything. As I said before, I hired a cab and saw him at the brewery, and immediately after drove to see his companion, before they knew that I was inquiring into anything of the kind. I saw them separately, and got their statements separately.