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62. You know the present condition of thai part of the river? I do. 63. Supposing the tailings which we know are all over the bed and banks of thai river are allowed to go into the Waihou, what, in your opinion, will be the result of thai so far as concerns navigability and Hooding the properties adjacent to the Waihou? I find ihe ladings, when thei go down below the Junction, as a rule settle on the sides of the river near the banks and there they stick. 64. Supposing the large quantity thai now exists above tin- Junction is allowed still to go down into the Waihou, what do you think will be the ultimate result?— That the Wail will just become a little stream going through a morass. 65. Mr. Myers.] Your occupation now is that of a farmer/—I am a land agent. I have been a farmer. Ob. Do you happen to have an\ qualifications as a civil engineer/ No. I know a little bit about surveying, and 1 know a good deal about draining. 67. You said you had been mining? Digging and prospecting; never mining in mv life. 68. How long is it since you have been Warden/ I have been fifty years Connected with the goldfields in New Zealand, in both Islands. 69. When did you cease your connect ion with mining either as Warden or in any other capacity?—l was last Warden on the West Coast in 1880. 70. Do you know anything al all about the methods which are adopted now in the batteries in these districts?— Not a very great deal. 1 have a general idea, of course, but I am not an expert in these matters. 71. Mr. MeVeagh.] What swamps about Waihi do you suggest these tailings should lie put into? —There is a large swamp, if you go along the old Tauranga Road, lying to the left. 72. How far out from Waihi? —It is below Waihi. It is some distance above Waikino. It is about a mile and a half back from the river to the northward of the old Tauranga Road. There is plenty more useless land there, because tin dry land is not much good. 73. The swanq, is a small one? —It is a fair size. I cannot tell you the area. I camped on i; all night in 1865. I was there last about five years ago. 74. I am told it is dry now? —Very likely. 75. Is it a fact that the whole of the land on the Waihi Plain is a basin, and the slope is on the river/ If you stack the tailings there, how are you going to prevent them getting into the river? —They will not run uphill. 7(i. Are the willows on the Waihou on the banks or in the stream itself?—Thev are mostly growing just on the edge of the banks. Some are higher than others. Some are right down oi, the water. 77. I think their position generally is very much the same as on the Ohinemuri /—Yes. 78. You have been here many years, and you have seen, I suppose, a great amount of clearing going on during your experience- the felling of bush and draining of country? There has been a good deal, but not so much as you might have expected 79. Are there not timber companies operating in various parts roundabout this district ?- There is no timber company operating close here. There is ag 1 deal of timber at Hikutaia and Turua and Wharekawa. 80. What about the Waitawheta Gorge?— The- is some g 1 bush in thai, and it has been cut for the Waihi Company. 81. Have you any information as to the depth of the water shown on the charts al the mouth of the Thames on the bank you speak of/ —1 had a cutter when I was in the Covernnicnt service that drew 6ft. 3 in. of water, and I was in the habit of entering the mouth of the Thames frequently, so I knew the river well. 82. How long ago was that —about 1876?— Before that. S3. Who navigated the vessel for you?—l had a sailing-master, but 1 could do it myself if necessary. I very often came iq, myself with a Maori crew. 1 last came up in the cutter about 1874, but 1 have been up and down in the steamer dozens of times since. 84. Have you any recollection after this lapse of time as to the state of the tide at which you navigated that cutter across the bank?— When the tide had made an hour or so you could do il all right. 85. Mr. Hanna.] Are you aware that a license has been granted to a certain company to work these deposits in the river from the Junction upwards?— Yes. 80. Taking your long experience of the river, if that company takes these tailings up al the rate of 500 tons a day, treats them through a very fine mesh, is that going to Ik- beneficial to the river or not 1— I do not know that it is going ~, make much difference, but if you make it finer you make it so that it will settle down and form permanent shallows. 87. for ihe sake of argument, we will assume that it will not settle?—l would not assume such an absurdity. 88. We will prove (hat your absurdity is a correci proposition?— All right. 81). Mr. Mueller.] Did you come in that cutter which drew 6ft. 3 in. of water right up the Waihou? —Not as a rule. We used generally to go to Kopu. and then I pulled up the river in my whaleboat. Tt was an ordinary whalehoat. 90. Can you state from your earlier experience of the river up to the present time whether the lower Waihou. from the Puke to Opani Point, has been filling up? I know the last time I was down at Turua I noticed at low water a much larger shoal than existed there formerly. I may state that originally there were only two places where we were liable to stick through being either too soon or too late on the tide. One was opposite Onuiliu Creek and the other was down Bagnall's Reach, below Puriri.

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