1.—3

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492. Sir O. Grey.] Was it any part of Mr. Mackay's proper duty to apply fo these rights! > Brissenden and others ?—Mr. Mackay said that he had received certain applications from certain people before the arrangement was made, and that he would issue these himself. 493. Was it part of his duty —did it belong to his oifice to do it ?—That is a matter for his own judgment. He was Agent for the General Government in the matter, and I was ordered to act in concert with him, and to get along as well as I could. 494. Does the Agent for the General Government usually issue such rights ?—lt is not for me to say what his duties were as Agent for the General Government. The Government will know what his duties were. 495. Was it a matter of favour that Mr. Brissenden should have been allowed to put in his application so late?— Anybody could have made application up till 10 o'clock. If he had made the application previously, Ido not think it was any favour as long as they were paid for. If he had made application to me previously he would have received a ticket, and would have got them from me. I had at first fixed 5 o'clock as the last time for receiving applications, but as a number of men were coming up I agreed to keep open till 10 o'clock. At 10 o'clock I closed, as it would be late before they could be made out. 496. Was Mr. Brissenden's application lost ?—Mr. Brissenden's application could not be found. 497. Was it belived to have been stolen ? —lt was believed to have been stolen or mislaid—it was either stolen or mislaid. At that time, it was not thought that these things would ever be required. We thought that they had served their purpose. This book was only compiled when we heard it whispered that rights had been issued before 10 o'clock. These were preserved on purpose to trace them. 498. One of the witnesses on the inquiry says he is positive it must have been stolen?—Mr. Allom says it must have been stolen, and that it could not possibly have been mislaid. 499. Is its disappearance a singular circumstance ? —A few others have gone, but it was a large one, and was more liable to get thrown down in the dust than a smaller one. There were fifty-two or fifty-three names on it, and it would require a pretty good sized piece of paper to contain them. 500. Have you been able, notwithstanding the loss, to trace all the names for which he applied ? —Yes. 501. Mr. Bradsliaw.~] Mr. Allom was the Eeceiver of Revenue ? —Tes. 502. By whom is he appointed ?—By the General Government. 503. And paid by them ?—He is paid through the Province of Auckland. 504. To whom does he account ? —He accounts to the General Government —to the Treasurer and Auditors here. 505. And his accounts, are they certified by anybody on the field ? —He deposes to his accounts before a Justice of the Peace every Saturday. At the close of the month I examine his stock of blank forms of rights, and see that the correct number are there. 506. Prom whom does he receive these ?—He receives them upon application to the authorities at Wellington. 507. He has a corresponding number on each block?— Yes, each block has a corresponding number to that issue. 508. This book was made up from that block?— Yes, and from the applications. Those are the applications in that book—all that were recovered. 509. Was there no other Eeceiver on the field ? —No. 510. Then he is the officer accountable ?—Yes, for the money part of it. 511. And for the issue ? —He ought to be, but the regulations in Ohinemuri are different from those in other places. The regulation there states that the miners' rights " shall be issued by the Warden." 512. Hon. Sir D. McLean.'] In the new regulations, framed at Auckland ?—Yes. 513. Mr. Bradshaiu.~\ You say this is a new thing in regulations that the Warden is made responsible?—lt does not say the Warden is responsible, bnt the regulation says "he shall issue." The Eeceiver of Eevenue accounts for everything direct to the Treasury. He is subject to the Commissioners of Audit. All the Warden has to do with his accounts is to compare the returns with the stock of blank forms. 514. The Eeceiver of Eevenue being the responsible officer after you have signed them, on any other field he alone would issue them? —Yes, he alone would issue them. 515. Mr. T. L. Shepherd.'] When did Mr. Brissenden's application first come under your notice? When did his list come under your notice?—lt never came under my notice at all. 516. You signed the rights not knowing that he had applied for them ? —I signed them in blank. The applications for the ones I issued came before me, but not the applications for the rights Mr. Mackay issued. All my applications were compared with the rights. 517. Do you know what number of rights Mr. Mackay received from Mr. Allom ?—I did not know the number until afterwards. It was about 150 or 153. 518. He never spoke to you about it?— No. He told me he would get his after the other applications were made out. I know this : that there were about fourteen rights that he had not got, and he awoke Mr. Allom about 3 in the morning and got them. 519. Was there any special reason for Mr. Mackay receiving Brissenden's applications more than any other application for rights.—No; except that Mr. Brissenden had made application to him at Ohinemuri previously. There was a sort of feeling amongst a certain lot of people that those who had first made application should be the first to receive their rights. 520. But the bulk applied to you ?—All the people who applied that day applied to me. Mr. Mackay received no applications that day, or after the advertisement appeared. All these applications had been received previously by Mr. Mackay, most of them at the time when the " Luna " was there. 521. Do you know what number he received? —153. 522. What number did you receive ?—I had 247 tickets, representing about 700 rights.

Captain Fraser, R.M.

20th Sept., 1875,