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must be in Harvey's sheep, as all the others not having been dipped for at least twelve months an Inspector would be able to see if anything was wrong, considering the sheep being in a clean yard and quite dry. I hear that Inspector Blundell has since been to Harvey's and discovered the insect in one of the sheep marked, but in a very incipient stage. lam strongly of opinion that this outbreak in his flock must have been most recent, and that, both from Harvey himself and from the evidence that I have gathered from independent sources, I am satisfied he was quite ignorant of the fact when he dipped. I may mention that on the 18th January last I passed 116 wethers for Harvey, to go to Nelson; they were perfectly clean and free from disease, and had been running with his main flock a fortnight before I saw them. I did not see the whole of his flock at that time, as I had an appointment elsewhere, and had not time to wait, but in going to his house I passed through the chief part of his sheep, and took particular notice of them, and could detect nothing amiss. In short, I believe these sheep have caught the contagion from some source which I will make it my earnest business to find out, and they had not sufficient time to develop it up to the time of being passed by Inspector Blundell at Havelock; and that, of course, it would be a matter of small difficulty in detecting it seven or eight days later, especially as they had been packed in punts and mobbed together on the road. Eichard Hull, Inspector of Sheep, Picton Subdivision.

Evidence taken in re Infected Sheep travelled to Nelson from Havelock with Clean Permit. Blenheim, sth April, 1884. Alfred Mills states :lam a resident of Havelock. I have been a sheepowner and drover for many years. lam well acquainted with scab. I was present at Havelock on the 14th March when one Peter Archer landed a mob of sheep from punts, about 600. These sheep, I believe, came from Harvey's, Bourke's, my brother's (John Mills's), and Gould's. Whilst these sheep were being landed I held them on the beach for Archer, and afterwards drove them up to the end of the town. Inspector Blundell was present. He left me and went on to the punts prior to any sheep being landed. I should say he was twenty minutes on board the first punt before any of the sheep came ashore. There were six punts, averaging about a hundred sheep each. I saw Mr. Blundell was evidently very particular in his inspection ; in fact, I thought there was no necessity for so closely examining them. It took fully more than two hours to land the sheep. Mr. Blundell was greater part of that time on the punts. He then came ashore and stayed with me round the sheep until all were landed. Every opportunity existed for as thorough an examination of these sheep as was possible under the circumstances. Harvey's, Bourke's, and Mills's sheep had been two nights and two days on the punts. They were wet from leakage in the punts, and with the exception of their backs their wool was very much soiled and discoloured from the manure and filth in punts. I saw nothing that would have given me the slightest suspicion that the sheep were scabby. I held them feeding on a grassy spot near the landing-place for some time. I neither saw a sheep kick nor bite as scabby sheep do, nor did I observe any indication in that direction. Previous to the last twelve months I have personally known Harvey's flock. He has not had scab on his place to my knowledge for several years, and has sent one or two lots of sheep to Nelson previous to this last lot. I never knew or heard of any of these being scabby. I do not know of Harvey's having brought in any strange sheep for more than two years, and, unless some stray sheep have got into his flock, I cannot imagine where infection has come from. Nelson, Bth April, 1884. Thomas Hunt, Inspector of Sheep, Nelson, states: On the 17th March one Peter Archer, a drover, informed me that he had a mob of sheep from Marlborough at Happy Valley awaiting inspection, and wished me to pass them. On the 18th I went to Happy Valley and met the sheep about one mile and a half from Wakapuaka, or not more than nine miles from Nelson. He was then driving them along the road, and had not waited for my arrival before leaving Happy Valley with the sheep or for my inspection. He had travelled about two miles from where he had stopped the previous night. This was at Turner's, a small sheepowner in Happy Valley. I waited at the Wakapuaka Hotel until the sheep came there. I examined several of them. I then suspected that the sheep were infected, but could not find the insect. I only walked round the sheep; I did not yard them. I did not count them, but was informed by Archer that he had lost sixty on the road. I told Archer to take them straight on to Sharp's yard, and that I would see them on Wednesday, the 19th. I saw them on the 19th at saleyards. I then closely examined them. I could not find the insect, but drew Inspector Price's attention to the sheep as being suspicious. Inspector Price then went into the yard, and after some little time found live scab on the sheep, and asked me to look at the insect, which I did, and saw it on the sheep. The largest spot on sheep at the yards did not exceed the size of half-a-crown. I should not say the sheep could have been infected more than from a fortnight to three weeks at the most. The sheep having been so closely packed in punts, and driven afterwards, would tend to make any infection spread rapidly. There w ras neither hard scab nor wool off to indicate that the scab was other than of very short standing. The usual place to inspect sheep coming via Eai Valley from Marlborough is at Turner's, Close's, or Powell's. These two first are flockowners in Happy Valley. These places are at least twelve or fourteen miles inside the boundary of districts, and sheep inspected in Happy Valley are actually a long distance inside Nelson District, and amongst other flocks, before they are inspected. In this •instance, Archer's sheep were driven on to clean runs and kept amongst clean sheep, then driven two miles farther before I saw them. I had a suspicion of Archer's sheep at Wakapuaka. It has been the custom to meet sheep at Happy Valley for the last four years. I did not stop the sheep when I met them, although I suspected them, because I- did not know where to put them. I had no idea that Inspector Price would be at the yards. I had not written or informed him that I suspected the sheep were wrong. Although I suspected the sheep—in fact, believed they were scabby—l did not warn the auctioneer or