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72. Mr. Clendon.] Is it not easy to shove a pole 5 ft. or 6ft. in the hard bottom?—At one time you could shove it through easily, but now you have to give ii a few jabs to shove it through. It goes as far, once it goes through the crust. 73. Have you at any time taken a systematic sounding of the harbour/ 1 did three months ago. 74. What did you do? —1 tried the ground between Turua and the fairway buoy. 75. The other portions of the harbour you did not sound I— There was no necessity to do so. 70. What is the velocity of the current running from Kopu to the fairway buoy?—Up to the mouth of the river it runs three knots and a half at times. 77. What is the current at the mouth of the river"?—Al spring tides it is quite a 3A-km>t current. 78. Are there the same number of vessels going to Kopu and Turua for limber of recent years as in former years?— There have been more in recent years. 79. These vessels have had no difficulty in getting up to these mills/ No difficulty in getting there. 50. Or in coining away/ —Yes, they have had difficulty in getting away. 51. Do they sail up or tow up and down/—They tow up now. 82. The bank you told us about on the north side of the Thames floods Wharf is visible at low water, is it not?— Yes. 83. Is that composed of reddish-coloured sand?— Yes. 84. Can you say up-country sill has had anything to do with the formation of this bank? —I do not think it has. • 85. The Chairman.] Where do you know of sand of a similar character?—l do not know of any sand of thai description anywhere. SO. Mr. Clendon. | This has been established since 1867?- Yes. 87. And between 1867 and now this stuff has been going into the harbour/ Of course, it has. SS. Have any of the local authorities al any time done anything by dredging or otherwise towards keeping the channels of the harbour as they would like them?—Y'es : they have walled all the tailings in to the north side of the wharf to the liest advantage. 89. Hut have you done any dredging within the harbour limits at any time? —Yes: about twenty-six years ago there was a dredge here, but she was not a success. 90. What portion of the harbour did you dredge?—We tried alongside the wharf. 91. That is the channel for the boats to com,- in and out? —Yes. 92. The Chairman.] Have these creeks ever been declared sludge-channels/—Not to my knowledge. Mr. Bruce: They are not proclaimed slude-channels. 93. The Chairman.] Has your Hoard ever taken any exception in any way to this material being deposited from the creeks/—Yes: and made everj endeavour to prevent it. 111. What action have they taken /—Built walls t,, keep it in. and compelled the companies to retain their tailings as much as possible, the W'aiotahi Coin],any especially. 95. Is it nol illegal under th. Harbour Act to throw material into such places when- it may be swepl into the harbour/ I bt-lieve it is. 90. You are cognizant with the Harbour Act? —Yes. 97. You have never taken any action against anybody- you have welcomed this? -No; the Board has made every effort, so far as my knowledge goes, to prevent that sort of thing. Mr. Brute: The provisions of the Harbours Acl in that connection have been ignored because the Hoard did not wish to interfere- with the mining industry. 98. Mr. Myers.] I suppose you are not prepared to deny that large quantities of Thames tailings have escaped on to the foreshore/ Certainly not, because they have. 99. You, I suppose, would not be in a position to give any idea as to the aggregate quantity in any given number of years that has so escaped?— No. The only way lo get that is from the battery-returns. 10(1. Do you say. or do you not say. that these tailings have been damaging the Thames fore shore? —In what way 1 101. In any way?—lf ii is filling it up, most emphatically they have damaged it. 102. And some' of these tailings would be washed away/ I reckon they would lie washed inshore. 103. And you have told us. I think, that the foreshore has been raised rapidly inshore?— Yes. 104. Then, may we take it that thai has been done by the Thames tailings?—l do not know what other tailings would do it. 105. Y 7 ou were here in 1895?— Yes. 106. I am informed that in 1895 the question of this proclamation of the Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers as sludge-channels was discussed by the Thames Harbour Board and approved by the resolution of that Board: is thai correct?—lt was not approved. It was strongly fought against, and only carried by a casting-vote. 107. I do not care how it was carried: I am asking you whether it was not approved by a resolution of the Thames Harbour Board?—l suppose it was. 108. You know it was?— Yes. 109 Mr. Moresby.] You stated that the depth of the channel was not less, nor is it narrower, but the bottom is harder : now, is there a bank at all mi the right-hand side of the channel going ol ,t?_Yos, there is a shallow bank of shingle and sand. The bank is from below Opani Point to abreast of Tararu.