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had gone on for something approximating twenty years, so that Mr. Gaudin's visit was not an unusual visit. It was not something which was arranged for with any sinister purpose, but part of the ordinary work he had been doing, or some representatives of the firm had been doing, year in and year out down through those decades. " (d.) Your petitioner left Auckland by the ' Navua ' for Samoa, and arrived at Apia on the 29th September, 1914. " (c.) Immediately upon his arrival your petitioner reported himself to Colonel Logan, the Administrator, informed him that he had brought a large quantity of goods consigned to merchants in Apia, and asked him if any restrictions had been placed upon trading with the firms in Samoa, to which Colonel Logan replied that your petitioner was at liberty to do business with any or all of the trading concerns in the island. " (/.) After the departure of the 'Navua' from Samoa your petitioner set about the particular business which had brought him to the island, and this was to collect money owing by traders to Kronfeld Limited. " (g.) This amounted to a large sum without including the value of the goods brought by him in the ' Navua,' worth about £3,000, and which he disposed of'in the island. " (h.) Before your petitioner's arrival Colonel Logan, the Administrator, had stopped the distribution of coin to his troops, and also ceased to pay in coin for any expenses or goods incurred or required by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force; and the Administrator had further issued a Proclamation which made legal tender the German note currency existing in Samoa at the outbreak of the war." May I pause there and say, with all respect to Colonel Logan, that I think a more stupid blunder could not have been made by any one representing our country in Samoa. May I appeal to the reason of this Committee and say that to make German notes a currency without knowing exactly how many had been issued, without knowing in whose hands they lay—to expose any one to the obligation of treating as legal currency this paper which either might be worthless or not — to impose upon any person going to Samoa the necessity of taking in payment for honest goods brought there, not cheques upon New Zealand nor drafts upon New Zealand, not coin, but German notes which no one would look at in New Zealand. I say to ask him to accept in exchange for honest goods a currency which was worthless —and I say it with all respect to Colonel Logan— was a most stupid thing. " (i.) In these circumstances your petitioner interviewed Colonel Logan, the Administrator, pointed out to him that these German notes were useless outside of Samoa, and that if he were prohibited from receiving payment in gold for the goods just sold by Kronfeld Limited, and of the debts previously due to that firm by traders in the island, it would paralyse his business operations, and result in a disastrous loss to the firm he represented. Your petitioner showed him the account against various traders totalling a large sum, which did not include the value of the goods he had brought in the ' Navua,' and asked Colonel Logan to be allowed to take back to New Zealand the amount of British coin which he might collect, and which he did not anticipate would amount to one-fourth of the value of the goods he had just brought to Apia. This Colonel Logan refused to agree to, and your petitioner then suggested that if he left money with Colonel Logan he might give your petitioner a draft on the New Zealand Government for the amount. To this Colonel Logan replied emphatically, ' I will not.' " May I pause there to suggest that that was a fair proposal. This firm had brought down good solid moneys worth to the island; they were entitled to get moneys worth in the shape of coin or other currency in return; and when Mr. Gaudin went to Colonel Logan and said, "I will give you the money —I will hand you all the coin I have collected —so that you may be put in possession of the gold which represents the goods I have brought here; give me some draft upon New Zealand to let them know I have given you the gold, and they therefore in turn will give me not gold, but bank-notes or some currency which will fairly represent the goods I have brought here." To that very reasonable request Colonel Logan replied —I think somewhat arrogantly—" I will not." Now, this reply, so far as Mr. Gaudin was concerned, was somewhat embittered by what I am going to read to you. " (j.) Notwithstanding Colonel Logan's refusal of his requests, your petitioner found that a transfer of money from Samoa to New Zealand had been granted to a German, the money being paid into the Treasury at Samoa to be paid over to a German prisoner of war in New Zealand." So that the treatment which Mr. Gaudin asked should be given to him, a British subject, while being granted freely to a German, was denied to one of our own blood. Mr. Harris: What was the amount of money given to the German 1 Sir John Findlay: I think, £50 in one case, but altogether about £1,050. I understand, that what was done was this : that the money was paid to Colonel Logan. He communicated with New Zealand that he had received that money from Germans in Samoa, and that he required that the equivalent sum should be paid to Germans in New Zealand either in gold or in banknotes, and that that course was taken in several instances. One instance Mr. Gaudin can swear to of a sum of £50, and, acoording to Mr. McCallum, if you totalled up all the different occasions it would amount to over £1,000. " (k.) In these circumstances your petitioner decided to bring back with him the gold he had collected, amounting in all to £832, being a very part of the large amount then owing to his firm for goods supplied.