T. JACKSON.]

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I. So you have been for twenty-four or twenty-live years in the service of the borough/- Yes. 5. During that time has it been your duty especially to look after the drainage of the town? Yes, the drains and outlets. 6. There is no main sewer through the Thames/ No. 7. The drainage is through shallow channels on the sides of the reads/-Yes. leading into culverts, and then conveyed to the foreshore. 8. Now, in taking your drainage on to the foreshore, the level of the foreshore is the primary si art ing-point /--Yes. 9. lias that level been altered at all during the last few years?— Yes, considerably. 10. During the last twenty years what has been the evtenl of the rise in the floor of the foreshore? About 3 ft. 11. During ihe I.is! ten or twelve years has the rise been more rapid than during the same period anterior to that? —Yes, rather more rapid. 12. From your knowledge, is the amount of tailings that has been made at ihe batteries in the last ten years less than in the previous ten years? On the south end only. Tha north end is the principal pla.ee where crushing is going on. I do not suppose the battery in the Karaka Creek is going six weeks in the year. 13. Previous to ten years ago it was going continually, was il not / - Yes. In the Hape Creek there are no batteries at all. 14. Is there a battery on the Thames side that goes constantly with the exception of the Waiotalli / No ; thai is the only battery on the Thames with anything like constant crushing. 15. Is that going on,- oi three shifts? Up till rea ntly it was going three, but now only one. 16. Do you remember (he openings or culverts laid down by the Public Works Department on the railway-line?— Yes. 17. Could you walk through these culverts with ease when they were first laid down/ Yes. (hie at Shortland 1 could walk through just by bending the head, and one in Albeit Street had about 2 ft. of clearance. 18. And the bottoms of these culverts would then b, level with the foreshore/ Yes. 19. Can you walk through these culverts now ?- No. 20. Can you crawl through?— Yes. ' 21. 'lhat you consider is very good evidence of the rise in the foreshore.' Yes. That is how I gauge ihe depth that the foreshore has made up. 22. The borough has been in the habit for some years of removing large quantities of dibris from the mouth of the Karaka Creek/--Y'es. This year we have just completed a contract for 1.00(1 loads. 23. The usual practice has been 1., remove between 800 and 1.000 loads/—Yes. We have removed as much as 1,500 loads ill one yon 21. This annual removal of tailings from the Karaka has only been practised during the last ten or twelve years /--Principally. There was very little previous to that. 25. Tin Chairman.] You use the term " dSbris ": do you mean gravel/ -No; it is gravel ami everything mixed—mullock, &c. It is used to (ill up low-lying places. 20. Mr. Clendon.] You omitted to mention the ore that has been crushed ill the Tararu Creek/ -Yes, they have a battery there. 27. What quantity has been crushed in the Tararu Cnek during the last three years/ -I think the battery was only running one shift, but lately it has closed down altogether. 28. Can you give any idea of the quantity of ore crushed in the Tararu Creek in the last two or three years / — No. 29. What has been the rise in the foreshore between Tararu Creek and the Kuranui Creek/--That has no! filled up such a great deal. 30. lias it filled il], at all. and. if so, to what extent/- I ,1, t think it has tilled up at all. It depends on the wind, which brings the gravel up and down. 31. What has been the rise from the Kuranui Creek to the Karaka Creek/ —About 3ft. 32. From the Karaka to the Kauranga/- That will be much about the same. 33. Would you say or would you not say that the railway along the sea-shore has been a factor in the raising of this level?—l do not think so. It is outside the railway. 34. But has the railway played no part in the raising of i: in the westerly winds/- I do not think so. 35. Have you made any examination of the foreshore at all outside the level you have spoken of?— No. -'10. Th' Chairman.] Have you ever walked out on ihe beach at low water? Not far out. 37. Is it too soft /—lt is soft, but it is considerably harder than it was previously. ■ l.s. Mr. Clendon.] You told us you have been in the habit of taking away 1.000 to 1,500 loads from the Karaka Creek: what quantity comes down ycarh ' 4 hat is about tin- quantity. We usually lake away everything that coiiies down. We have just finished taking away 1,000 loads for the last year. 39. And the previous year?— Fifteen hundred loads, which contain a yard and a quarter. 40. You cannot say whether the up -country tailings and slimes have had anything to do with the raising of the foreshore?—] cat say at all. 41. Mr. Vickerman.] In reference to the- raising of these culverts from the railway, is it not simply because they have not been cleared out /-No: they have their level right through.