J. MITCHELL.]

33

I.— lo.

15. Why did you go to Mr. Virtue at all?—At Mr. Beynon's request. 16. What to do ? —He asked me to go along with him, and I went. 17. If he had asked you to go to, say, Victoria, would you have gone ?—Probably I would ; I am fond of going there. 18. What did you go to Mr. Virtue for ? —To see Mr. Virtue, at Mr. Beynon's request. 19. What happened then ? —I sat and listened. 20. Did Mr. Beynon ask Mr. Virtue why you were not allowed to sell to him association flour ? —I cannot remember. 21. You cannot remember what you went to see Mr. Virtue for?—l went at Mr. Beynon's request. It is a long time ago, but I remember that Mr. Beynon agreed in my presence to put up the price of bread. 22. Did you hear anything preceding that?—l cannot remember. 23. Can you not remember a word of what Mr. Virtue said ? —I might if I had it before me. 24. You cannot remember the sense of what he said ?—No. 25. Your memory is a perfect blank as to what took place between Mr. Virtue and Mr. Beynon, except as to one thing, that Mr. Beynon agreed to raise the price of his bread?— That is so; there was a lot of conversation, but I cannot remember what it was. 26. Had it any reference to the difficulty Mr. Beynon had experienced in getting flour ?—I do not know that there was any difficulty about Mr. Beynon getting flour, because there were hundreds of others from whom he could have got it—they are Thomas and Co., Paterson and Co., and others. 27. Do you know of your own knowledge that Mr. Beynon could have got flour elsewhere?— I presume so. 28. I do not want your assumption : do you know whether he could have got it ?—He could have got it from Paterson and Co. and Thomas and Co. 29. How do you know ?—1 could have got it there. 30. You are assuming that Mr. Beynon could have got it there because you could : I want to know whether, of your own absolute knowledge, you can say that Mr. Beynon did not try to get flour elsewhere and failed?—No, I cannot say. 31. After Mr. Beynon agreed to raise the price of his bread what happened ?—I could not tell you. 32. Did you go away with him ?—Yes. 33. Did he buy any more flour from you ?—I could not tell you without reference to our books, but I may tell you that he has been a customer of ours ever since. 34. For flour?— For general lines—sugar, and so on. 35. But for flour?—l could not say without reference to our books. 36. Did you consider the interview was simply between Mr. Beynon and Mr. Virtue?—l thought so, yes. 37. Mr. Hardy.] Do you know whether bakers who are in or out of the union—bakers generally—could have got flour without going to the Millers' Association—whether supplies of flour are kept up in Wellington that are not sent along by the Millers' Association ?—Yes, so far as I know. If any baker in town wants flour all he has to do is to plank down his cash and he gets it. You cannot refuse to supply a man with flour. 38. But supposing the Millers' Association refused to supply flour to a man because he was cutting prices, could that baker get flour elsewhere ? —Yes ; he could get it through the stores in town. 39. Do you' mean from the auctioneers and large stores? —If a baker's supply of flour was stopped he would be able to get it through a merchant. 40. But, I suppose, all the popular brands could only be had through the Flour-millers' Association? —No, I do not think so ; there was the Golden Gem and other brands. 41. And supposing a baker's supplies were stopped, he would have no difficulty in getting supplies from elsewhere ?—So far as I know, no difficulty. 42. Could he get a sufficient variety of flour to carry on his business, because I understand bakers require different brands for blending ?—I am not a baker, but I think a baker could always get Silver Dust and Golden Gem. 43. He could always get plenty?— Yes, as far as I know. 44. The Chairman.] You do not mean to say that you do not know why Mr. Beynon went to Mr. Virtue : he says you invited him to go with you ?—There is a Master Baker's Association here, and one of the members had spoken to us about Mr. Beynon, and had said that if we supplied Mr. Beynon with flour they would withdraw their custom from Laery and Co. When we went to Virtue's they said they knew nothing of the matter —it was a master bakers' proceeding. 45. Mr. Loughnan.] You mean that Virtue and Co. told Mr. Beynon that they had nothing to do with it?— Yes ; that they had no control over the Bakers' Association. 46. The whole proceeding was the action of the bakers' president ? —Yes ; it had nothing to do with the association, so far as I know. William Isaac examined. (No. 8.) 47. The Chairman.] What are you ?—A baker in business in Wellington. 48. Mr. Taylor.] How long have you been in business here ?—About thirty-six years. 49. Had you ever experienced difficulty in getting your flour before the Millers' Association was formed ?—No. 50. You remember the New Zealand Flour-millers' Association being formed ?—Yes. 51. Had you any difficulty after the association started operations in getting flour?— There was a stoppage for a while, because they said I was selling bread under price, and I could not get s—l. 10.