ALLEGED BRIBERY OF ASSESSOR WAAPA TIPA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2087, 21 November 1885, Page 3

ALLEGED BRIBERY OF ASSESSOR WAAPA TIP A.

An inquiry into the above was held at the K.M. Court, C.unbudge, bofoie His Honour Judge Smith, on Thursday List There was a lnige att-ndance of n.ttiveand others in couit The Clerk opened tlie proceeding- by reading the Governor's commission appointing Hugh Garden Seth Smith a special commissioner to enqune into the alleged charges of biibery. Harry Symonds called, said, befoic pioceeding to give hi* evidence he wanted to know who was going to pay his expenses, having come a considerable di-tanoe to attend tin 1 court, .\nd at gi eat pei sonal inconvenience? His Honour said the Government would pay his costs. Mr Symonds «,ud that theio wore many others concerned m this enaniiy, «h-mi ho liad bi ought with him. Who was to feed them dining their stay. His Honour said the Government would pay Mr Symonds expense-*, but cutild not say th.it they would pay the espouses of liny one else. Mr Sjmondi pointed out that in hi.s siibputia it said "you and others." Ho was satisfied to give his c . idenee. Hare T.itiuoni was thai sworn. Hi« Honom a-ked him w h it he knew about the alleged bnbi'ry of Waata Tip.i. The witness gave hi- evidence as follows • —1 inside at Waotu. With reference to the alleged bribe of £200 pud to the Asse.vsoi in the M.ingiUut.iii cue, it was stated to me that it was moie than £100, Mr Bl ike told me so. I hue no ucr-.0n.il knowledge of tin* in itter bejond what I have heaid from Mr Blake. I have no knowledge of -mythmg touching the matter previous «o Mr Blake's statements to me. By Blake's statements tome I beeun; aw.ue of the ciiciiiii»tance. He "-howed me the stamped leceipti fioiuTipn, Mr Blake showed mo thiee receipt-, beating the signature of Tipa Ono was for the value of £">O, another wa-. for i'2o, and a thud was for £I.">. Mi Blake s.ud theio weir other-'. Tin-, was during NovtMiibji W4 Mi Blake and I wero woikm^ c mjointly, on behalf of the same paity, theieforo I sud to him, "(tivo me those leceipt-." His reply was " No leave them with mo to he taken cue of." Mi Blake's reason assigned to nic, was that he wanted to show the receipt-, to tie Chief Judge. The Chief Judge has seen -ome of the receipts and I beliovetheieaieotheis. The receipts, tw >of them, wero shown to the Chief Judge when tho court vv is sitting atCambndge. Mr Blake said to me. This is .v veiy improper thing to do, to give money to the assessor when the ca->e is pending, whether the money be given as a pie-ent 01 as payment. I know troin wh it Mi Blake told me that the money foi which ho (.houed the receipts had been a payment to the is>esssor. This was the reason I spoke of tho matter to the Chief Judge. Kichaid Thomas Blake sworn slid : T am a surveyor and natno agjnt. Tho Ngamk mkawa case was conducted at Kihikihi by Harry Symonds at hr-t and I sub-equently joined in with him, and we thpn woiked the case togethei. At tho clo-o of the case I assisted Hauy Symonds and others in then application foi a leheiring. It was intended at one timP that I should go to Wellington to mgc the matter of rehuarmg. I w,b un.ible to tr<>, and the papers in connection w ith the witter were handed over to Hury Hymonds, who wentto Wellington. They left Cambridge, on tho 27th, October. On November 12th, Gi ice and Moon's papeis were handed over to me. On the 13lh Mr Mi Moon handed me a schedule of ctedits t<> enter up, including two receipt fn.m Waata Tipa, one was dated Kihikihi, 10th May, for £10, Anoth"i lecjipt wa- dated Nguiuwhh, 12th November, 18*1. The fii-t was in Mann and the other m Knsiish. On the 17th November I met Hany Synvwds at Hewitt'-. Hotel. He had returned fiom Wellington mi the T>th. I a-ke 1 him what he had done, in W. llington, and he implied that the matter of th" le-h-aung had been loft in Mr Sheehan's hand-. It was he (Symonds) himself that lefeired to the assessor. He s.ud he hid heAid a lep'irt that the ftHse-.s<»» hid leconcd ovei £200. When heforo the Chief Judge, Syinond ■ said, " I know that Tipi received ovei £200 »t the couit at Kihikihi." Symonds asked whether it would not be advisable to bring fotwaid a charge again-t him in older to stiengthen the application for a re-hear-ing. I told him then that the assessor hid received no such amount to my knowledge, that it was quite true that the assessor had borrowed money funn Mr Moon, and tho only amounts I knew of wore the £20 and the £2.">, but that th*re might bo other sumof which I did not know. Tipihim-elf cime to Symonds and me at Kilukihi, and sud he had bonovved £20 fn.in Mr Moon foe tho purpose of bringing his wife up fiom the Thames, or for food or something of that soit. This was sometime in May, ISSI. Told Symonds it would never do to bring forward a cliftrgi of bubery. Also told him that if he consulted Mr Sheehan lio would give him tho Kama advice. SymoiK'B's n—eitions »b >nt mv showing the reji ipts to the Chief Judge I kuow nothing whatever about. By his Honour: Aftei tho convocation with Symonds I found tl^ie wa-, another sum of £10, paid on April 4tli. to be cut ;ied up again-t Tipa. Tlih £10 wa> a cherpio of Mr J. P. Thomson 1 -. Mi J. Y. Thoin-on has since told mo that the £20 loaned by Mr Moon to Tipa had bern lepaid in his (Mr Thomson-) offke. Have likewise heard fiom Mr Moon thai the £10 has also b -en repaid. With regai dto the Ngatn aukawa case, I am personally mteiestud thirtugh my wife, who i-, related to Re \vi, and Mr Moon is al"o inteie-ted veiy largely in the Ngatirauk iwa clum. If the money had been paid to Tipa in the way of a bubo judgment should havo boon foi Ngatiraukiivv.i, wherois, it was agiin-t them. Sviifiids was right in Having that I le marked it was not a pioper thing for an assc— or to be receiving money from partie-. w bile the court, was sitting. Know nothing of any receipt of £-")0. William Moon, sworn, said : I am a land agent and farmer lesnling at Cambndgi'. I lent the various sum- mentioned to the ,i>.ses-<or. Theie was a fuither sum of £10 lent to Tipa by Mi J. I. Thomson at his request, and which has ninco been tepiid. The £2") lent at Ngaruawahia was aftei the whole com t was over and adjourned Tip.i'-t wife id au old f i lend of mine, and ha* in the past done ihb miiiv kindne-sps. This wan the fiint opportunity I had of le turning her kindness, and I did so without any hesitation. With regaid to the £20 lent Tipa at Kihikihi, it wa» done quite openly. The chrqua was wiitton in tho office used by Captain Blake and H.u ry SytnoncU. Tipa Wdti the fiist to inform Blake and Sytnonds of the fact of his having borrowed this money. Tho assesH«r acquiesced in tho judgment against the Ngatiiaukawa in whose behalf I was dooply mtciosted at the time. Mrs Moon and her relatives were the oiiginal applicants in the Xgatnaiikawa case. By the court : None of the-e paymentß wero made with tho view of influencing the assessor's decision. Harry Symond-s recalled, said : With reference to the statement that Tipa had come to Mr Blake and mo and slid lie had b<ii rowed from Mr Moon, that in inconect. With reference to Mrs Tipa having done CPitain kindness for Mr Moon, why did Mr Moon wait so long to recompense her for her kindness? Again the icccfpt« for this money were in Waata Tip.t's name, and not in his wife's name. I leceiveda telcgiam from Mr Blake, at Auekhnd, asking me not to say anything about these receipts. Thnt telegiam is now with Mr Blake's younger brother. I took all Blake's statements as bona fide, because he and f were working togethpr, and now I find they arc all baseless. ReHppcting the tolegrum referred to by Hany Symonds, Mr Blako informed Hu» Honoui tint his In other had wired to him at Auckland laying that Hany Symonds intended to proccod againi-t the as«e-sor for bubery, and was going to u-.e his naino in connection therewith. Ho had wired back to his brother to toll Harry Symonds to do no uuch thing, and not to use Ihh nanie. Tho enquiry then ended.

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