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305. The Chairman.] Professor Thomas, of Auckland, a geologist, went up there to report, and reported that it was nothing ?—There is nothing but iron there. 306. Mr. Seddon.] About these expenses : you told us that when you came to Wellington you advanced £100, that the money was paid back to you, and another advance of £60 was asked from you?— That was much later on. 307. On top of that you advanced money several times to the Natives to go on with this matter? —Yes. 308. Have you any idea how you stand now?—l have a statement. 309. Have you put it in?— No. I will put that in later when I have had a meeting of the committee, which I want to have, and finally settle up everything. 310. You are considerably out of pocket over the whole thing? —Yes. There will be a lot of money to be paid—about £1,500 of £1,600 altogether. 311. I take it you do not assess very highly the value of this property? —I think the £25,000 was a very good price indeed. Hon. Sir J. Carroll: At this stage I think Mr. Massey might give us some idea of the witnesses he is going to call. Mr Massey: There are those two —Mr. Rattenbury and a Native, whom I mentioned. They are nominally mine, because the request came through me; and then I propose to ask for Mr. Loughnan. I think I shall be able to get the information I require from Mr. Loughnan; if not, it may be necessary for me to call Mr. Mason Chambers. I cannot speak positively with regard to Mr. Loughnan until we have heard Mr. Herrman Lewis. [Before (he Committee adjourned the witness handed in several exhibits referred to in the evidence.]

WednkbdaJi 6th September, 1911. Edwin Hejjry Hakdy further examined. (No. 10.) J. Mr. JJive.j I understood you to say that you were adviser to the Natives in the proceedings in this Mokau-Mohakatino Block? —Not directly —indirectly. 2. And you also acted the part of the Good Samaritan to the Natives and gave them financial assistance ?—Yes. 3. How long have you been adviser to the Natives prior to the sale and after? —I became interested in November, but the Mokau Natives arranged to pay me from January 10th. 4. You were adviser to the Natives that were opposed to the sale of their lands, were you not? -Yes. 5. Did you advise them to refuse the offer that was made? —No. 6. Did you advice them to accept it? —No, not the Natives. 7. You neither advised them to sell nor to refuse the offer? —No, not directly, as far as I am aware. I did not really have any conversation with the Natives, because I did not speak Maori, but I have with most of the agents and members of the committee. I may have given them my opinion as to what was advisable. I rather think I did. I did mention that in one of my telegrams to Damon. 8. Will you be good enough to explain what your position was as adviser to the Natives? — I was a sort of focus to whom they intimated their requests. If any meeting was to be held 1 was telegraphed to arrange it, which 1 did. Different people in different parts gave orders, and I did the rest; I did not initiate. 9. Did you attend this meeting of the assembled owners? —Yes, but not the first one. 10. Did the Natives ever ask your advice as to whether they should sell or decline the offer?— No, not on any distinct occasion. 11. Did they ever ask you whether it was advisable to sell or not?—No, they never put it in that way. 12. In what way did they put it? —The Natives did not put it in any way at all. I could not speak directly to the Natives —I could only speak through the intermediation of them or Mr. Macdonald. 13. You told the Committee yesterday that £25,000 was more than the value of the property? —That was my own opinion—it was right up to its value. 14. Will you explain to this Committee why, when you thought that was more than its value, as adviser to the Natives you did not advise them to accept it? You say you did not advise them to accept it?—l did not want to prejudice them or to interfere with them in any way. If I were asked by the Natives if 1 thought it was a fair price I should say certainly, but I could not enter into any explanation with the Natives. The people with whom I was in touch and sjmpathy all through were members of the committee, but they were scattered far and wide, and I could only see them occasionally. If anything was referred to me by telegram or otherwise I invariably gave a straightforward answer. 15. I understood from you that you had been adviser, and also acted the part of the Good Samaritan to the Natives, and that in your opinion £25,000 was more than the value of the property, and yet you did not advise them to sell. Do you think you were acting justly in not giving them that advice? —They had the advice of Damon and Macdonald while I was there, but I did not approach them in any way. I took an unprejudiced position with regard to the matter. 16. Do you know that continuing these proceedings meant a big outlay of money?—l quite understood that, certainly.