W WILSON ]

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74. Yes. Did you get the £198 10s. direct from a Government Department?—Oh I I could not tell you from memory 75. Did you get it from Mr Symes?—No, certainly not. 76. Did you get it from any other person outside the Government ?—Not that lam aware of By whatever process I got it, it was paid into Messrs. Frere and Wilson's account—the full amount L en -,I 0 n received the letter from Mr Symes upon which you made the payment on the 24th March, 1906, did you make any representations to the Government that you had been requested by Mr Symes to make that payment?— No. 78. Did you make any complaint to any Government officer either before or since?—No 79 Mr Massey] Do you recollect the amount of the cheque you paid to Mr Symes'?— £9 18s. 6d. J 80 That was 5 per cent, on the amount you received ?—Yes. 81 Do you know of any other cheques paid in the same way?— No. 82 I want to get the date of the abortive arbitration proceedings. Can you give us the year m which they took, place?—l could not say from memory 83 Mr Allen.] Was your brother a constituent of Mr Symes at the time, in 1905 or 1906?— No, he was out of the colony 84. But did he live in 'his electorate?—He was out of the colony for many years, and he was not on the roll at that time. As long as he was resident in the colony he was a constituent in the -Patea Jilectorate all the time. 85. And was Mr Frere in the Patea Electorate?—Up till the time he went away, yes 86. When did he go away?— About 1904 or 1905 87 Mr A M Myers ] When you sent your cheque for £9 18s. 6d. to Mr. Symes, did you consider that he had rendered you services that justified your doing so?—I looked at it from this point of view: I did not think it was correct for any member to charge a commission of that sort, but my brother and Mr Frere were out of the colony Mr Frere had sold his place, but did not give delivery for twelve months after he left, and there was no chance, as far as I could see of their ever getting the money, but I did not think it was an unfair thing that .1 should make this payment. I thought it was an extraordinary charge, because they were out of the colony but, as 1 thought they had no other chance of recovering the money, I paid him the commission

Thursday, 3rd November, 1910. The Clerk read the following telegram : " J A. Hanan, M.P , Parliament House, Wellington —Your wire re Hine's charges only just reached me. I hope it is not necessary to call me now It so, require longer notice. I have no correspondence between Major and myself over sale of property I gave Major property, as commission agent, to sell, and did not care if it was to Mikado of Japan so long as I was paid. Paid Major £300. Amount I received for property £11,000-odd. That is all the evidence I could give the Committee. Transaction quite clean and Government got good value. Very busy, and hope you won't need to call me. Reply Tututawa — Fred. Bayly.—Tututawa, [Wellington's Telegraph-office Stamp], November 3, 1910." The Chairman Some member of the Committee—l think, Mr Allen—asked for the petition and the minutes of the Committee of 1906. Mr Allen There was a previous recommendation from the Committee in which they said they had no recommendation to make, and the petition was referred back to them. The Clerk Mr Otterson gave me this minute-book, and said there was no other. The books were burnt in the fire. Mr Allen We have it on record that the petition was referred back. I wanted to see who were present. The Chairman And the voting, I presume? Mr Allen Yes. Have you anything saying that these records were destroyed ? The Clerk Only a verbal intimation. A meeting was held on Friday, the 19th October, 1906. Mr Allen Who presented the petition? The Clerk It does not say here. Mr Symes was at the meeting in support of the petition. Mr Allen The names of the Committee are here. The Chairman The Committee set up by the House to consider all petitions from Ato L consisted of Mr Symes, Mr Hall, Mr Charles Lewis, Mr Lethbridge, Mr Lawry Mr R. McKenzie, Mr Remington, Mr Gray, Mr Wood, and the mover, the Hon Mr Millar Mr Allen Then you have the record of those who were present at the time. The Chairman Yes. Joseph George Haddow sworn and examined. (No. 4.) 1 Mr Myers ] You are a solicitor?—l am. 2 Residing in Auckland?— Yes. 3 You are practising there on your own account?— Yes. 4. At one time were you in partnership with Mr George Hutchison ?—For a short time, in Auckland. 5 When was that?—ln 1906, and the first three months of 1907—for about nine months altogether 6. And did he then leave New Zealand?—He left New Zealand in March, 1907, 7 And was away for about.how- long? —About eight months. 8—1.14.

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