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to revoke the said authority, wholly or in part, and also to inquire into and report as to the most practicable scheme, having regard to all relevant considerations, for the construction of a harbour suitable for the requirements of the Hawke's Bay District: And whereas a Bill intituled the Napier Harbour Board Empowering and Loan Bill, 1926, purporting to authorize the Board to reclaim certain areas of land therein described, was during the last session of Parliament introduced thereinto, but after consideration thereof was not allowed to proceed, and it is expedient that a Commission should be appointed to inquire into and report as to the necessity or expediency of the proposed legislation and as to the other matters hereinafter set out: Now, therefore, I, General Sir Charles Fergusson, Baronet, Governor-General of the Dominion of New Zealand, in exercise of the hereinbefore-recited powers and of all other powers and authorities enabling me in this behalf, and acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, do hereby appoint you, the said John Saxon Barton, Arthur Cecil Mackenzie, and John Biggar Waters to be a Commission to inquire into and report upon the following questions : — 1. (a) Whether, in view of reports already furnished and of any further investigations which you may see fit to make, it is practicable to construct a harbour suitable for the requirements of the Napier Harbour Bating District as at present constituted (a) at the Inner Harbour, or (b) at the breakwater. (b) If so, which of such schemes you would recommend as providing the best and most suitable harbour from an engineering, navigational, and economic point of view. (c) Whether the expenditure of the money necessary to construct such a harbour, taking into account the amount already expended, can be justified from the financial and economic aspect. (id) Whether, taking into account all relevant considerations, it is advisable that such a harbour be constructed. (e) Whether, in view of all the circumstances, there is any other scheme which you can recommend in preference to those mentioned in paragraph (a) above, as providing for the said district the acccommodation and facilities required. (/) Whether the reclamation of the areas described in the First and Second Schedules to the Napier Harbour Empowering and Loan Bill, 1926, or any other areas within or adjacent to the Harbour of Napier and the lands vested in the Napier Harbour Board, should be authorized, and, if so, to what extent, and by what arrangement can any such reclamation be most economically and satisfactorily accomplished. 2. Whether at the present time, according to the working of the existing law (namely, the Harbours Act, 1923, and by-laws made thereunder), the port dues, berthage dues, wharfage dues, charges for labour and on goods, and other charges which the Board is empowered to levy, are imposed in a manner operating equitably as between different classes of ships, and as between the different parts of the harbour in which ships are or may be worked, and as between the different classes of persons liable pursuant to the Harbours Act, 1923, for payment of the said respective dues. 3. And generally to inquire into and report upon the premises and any matter arising thereout which may come under your notice in the course of your inquiries and which you consider should be investigated in connection therewith.

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