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G.—s

a new grant. In reply, I have received the following letter from the Minister: "Wellington, 6th June, 1906. —The Chairman, Te Aute Trust Commission, Wellington.—Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of even date from the Secretary to the Commission, informing me of the papers you desire to see referring to the Wanganui School endowment, and in reply thereto I beg to inform you that Mr. Flanagan, of the Lands Department, will produce certain papers before the Commission incident to the issue of the grant. —Wm. Hall-Jones (for the Minister of Lands). —P.S.—I do not understand the reference to section 9 of the Commissioners Powers Act as applied to the Crown." Mr. Flanagan is in attendance, and we will take his evidence now. I may say that we do not regard it as part of our business to inquire into the validity of the grant or of any grant. What we want to get at is: what are the true words of the trust, and in order to enable us to do that we want to find out which is the grant now in existence. I may say that I have seen Mr. Flanagan, and the mystery about the second grant is pretty well cleared up. I understand the position was this: there was some mistake in the linkages on the plan in the description of the endowment, and it was thought desirable to cancel the original grant and issue a new grant rectifying the mistake. A new grant was issued; but in the new grant, although the linkages were correctly given, the gentleman who engrossed the grant omitted certain words that were part of the original trust. As far as we can see, we have got to take the first grant as truly expressing the trust; we have to read into the second grant the words that were accidentally omitted from the first grant. Frederick William Flanagan examined. 1. The Chairman.] What is your official position?— Chief Draughtsman, Head Office, Lands and Survey Department. 2. You have received instructions from the Minister of Lands to produce certain correspondence, &c., relating to the Wanganui industrial endowment, which correspondence has been asked for by this Commission? —Yes; I produce the correspondence [Correspondence produced]. 3. There are some letters and documents which the Government decline to produce?— That is so. 4. I understand that the Government declined to produce the same documents to a Committee of the House of Representatives some years ago?— Yes. 5. Do you produce a copy of the plan of the endowment? —-Yes; I got a copy made. 6. This is a true copy of the original plan upon which the Crown grant was issued ?—lt is the only original plan that we possess. It is dated October, 1852, and is signed by the surveyor who made the survey, and the late Sir Francis Dillon Bell, who was Commissioner of Lands at the time [Exhibit No. 47].' Aubrey Gualter examined. 7. The Chairman.] What are you? —An accountant, and I am secretary to the board of trustees of the Wanganui Collegiate School. I have been secretary for two years. I was appointed by the board of trustees. My salary for acting as secretary is £20 a year. My duties are to look after the minutes and correspondence, and keep the petty expenses in Wellington. There is no bank account kept in Wellington. I produce the book showing the state of the petty cash account. That account is fed by drawing on the Wanganui account. 8. You disburse these petty expenses out of your own pocket, and. when it gets to a certain amount you get a cheque from Wanganui?—Yes. 9. Will you furnish us with a copy of this account?— Yes [Exhibit No. 48]. 10. You have nothing whatever to do with the collecting or receiving of rents from the endowment? —No; they are collected at Wanganui, and. the books are kept by Mr. Liffiton and the headmaster. 11. Do the trustees meet regularly in Wellington?—No, only when there is any business to do. 12. Are the accounts which, are paid out of the trust funds forwarded to the trustees here to be passed? —No; the accounts have been previously passed by the trustees, then they are paid in Wanganui, and are reported on again. 13. You draw on Wanganui for your salary? —Yes. Mr. Liffiton receives the rents, and is paid 5 per cent, commission on them. Of course, he does other work. He gets no salary, but the 5 per cent, on the rents collected.

Wanganui, Monday, 11th June, 1906. The Chairman handed in a copy of the following correspondence with Archdeacon Williams in re cattle referred to in his evidence before Select Comimttee of Legislative Council in 1875: — Dear Sir, — Te Aute Commission, Wellington, Bth June, 1906. By instructions from the Te Aute Royal Commission, I enclose an extract from the evidence given by the Venerable Archdeacon Williams before a Select Committee of the Legislative Council in 1875, relating to certain cattle belonging to the trust at the time the Archdeacon took the estate as tenant of the trustees. This evidence has only been brought before the Commissioners since they came to Wellington, and they were therefore ignorant of the same when they took the Archdeacon's evidence at Napier. The Commissioners suggest that the extract be sent to the Archdeacon in order that he may make his comments thereon. The Commissioners would like to know from him—(l) the number, &c, of cattle taken over; (2) what became of them; (3) what was their value ; (4) what became of the money. Kindly place this letter and enclosure before the Archdeacon, and send his comments, <fee, to us at Wanganui as early as possible. We leave for Wanganui to-morrow (Saturday) morning, and will probably remain for about three days. Yours, &c, R, A. Loughnan, Secretary. J. B. Fielder, Esq., Managing Trustee, Te Aute School Trust, Napier.