1.--4A

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875. Whom did you meet there, do you remember? —Mr. Williams and the underground manager. 876. Anybody else ?—Mr. Taylor. 877. Who is he ? —He was surveyor, I think. 878. Surveyor for what ? —For the company, I believe. 879. Whom else did you meet ? —I do not think there was anybody else. 880. Was Mr. Binns there ? —I think I mentioned Mr. Binns; I went with Mr. Binns. 881. Who gave you authority to go clown the mine, or had you any authority: did you have sufficient authority with Mr. Binns ?—I went down, as Mr. Binns told me to do so. 882. Did Mr. Williams go down with you ?—I believe so. 883. You are not certain ?— No ;I am not certain ; I think he did, though. 884. Are you certain as to who did go down with you ? —The first day that I was there we had a walk round the mine, and I think Mr. Williams went with us, but I am not sure. 885. When you commenced your survey, who went with you, do you remember?—Mr. Taylor, Mr. Binns, and some workmen —I do not know who they were. 886. In what capacity was Mr. Taylor there ?—As check surveyor against me. 887. Was Mr Taylor present with you on behalf of the company throughout your survey ?—He was there all the time. 888. Mr. Taylor was there all the time, did he take any notes ? —Yes. 889. Did you show him your notes ? —He had a copy of all that I took; he booked them himself as they were taken. 890. Now, we have been told that one inaccuracy was pointed out in this survey by Mr. Williams : do you remember his pointing it out ? —No. 891. Did Mr. Taylor point out any inaccuracy, or was any alteration made ?—The evening of the first day, as the survey was going on, Mr. Binns and I were looking at the survey in the book; there were some off-sets taken from the survey-line which showed some of the places, when added together, to be of greater width, and Mr. Binns, the next morning at the mine, mentioned the fact of these places being so wide to Mr. Williams. They were remeasured, and in one place, I believe, it was found to be wrong, but it was never put on the plan ; it was found out next day. 891a. What I wanted to get at was whether the inaccuracy was pointed out and corrected ?—Yes. 891b. Were there any other inaccuracies to your knowledge, besides that one instance ?—No ; not that I am aware of. 891c. Would you have been aware of any if they had been pointed out by Mr. Williams to y OU ?—Well, if Mr. Binns had told me. Mr. Williams did not speak to me about them at all. He made his objection through Mr. Binns. 891d. Will you look at that plan there : I want you to look at it very carefully, Mr. Twining, because a great deal hinges upon the correctness of that plan. It is only fair to tell you that one witness has sworn upon oath [Form of question objected to by Mr. Chapman.] Well, its accuracy has been called in question by one of the witnesses, therefore I wish you to be very careful. Will you look at it carefully, and tell us if that is the plan- which you prepared ?—Yes. 891e. Is it in the same state now as when it left your hands? —There may be some pencilmarks upon it, but I believe all the writing of it and the workings are the same. 892. Are the bords and pillars the same as drawn by you?—Yes; I think so. 893. I want you to look at it carefully? —I am certain that it is, so far as it goes. 894. That was the plan prepared in February, 1883 ?—Yes. 895. You visited the mine in January? —Yes; on the 31st January. 896. Did Mr. Williams or did Mr. Taylor get a tracing of that plan at any time?—Not from me. 897. Did they apply to you for it?—No. 898. I understand you to say that Mr. Williams had notes : had he sufficient notes, taken from yours, and from observations made at the time, to have compiled a plan similar to that ?—You mean Mr. Taylor? 899. Yes?—He took everything from me ; he had the option of using it. 900. And he obtained the same data from which you made that plan? —Yes. 901. Did he ever object to the measurements taken by you, or to the quantities taken out by you, during the survey?—No. 902. Then, are you prepared to say positively and distinctly before this Committee that that plan correctly shows the state of the submarine workings of the Shag Point Mine at the date of your survey?—Yes. 903. Did you tie in your survey at any place during the progress of the survey? —It was tied in everywhere; every place was dialled that we could get through. 904. What was the result of your tying in? —That it was tied in correctly. We always allow, in an underground survey, that if you get to three links it is correct. 905. How did you proceed to take the survey with reference to the measurement of the bords : did you take the bords in the widest places and run a straight line through, and then take the narrowest places and run a straight line through them; or did you follow the inequalities of the bord, and show them upon the plan?—There was a straight line—the survey line. Whenever there was any bend in the sides of the places there was an off-set taken of it, which was taken to the next straight, and so on. — 906. With what result ?—They are marked on the plan, showing every bend there is in the. side of the place. 907. The plan shows every bend? —Yes; and the actual width of every bord. 908. Then, if one witness has sworn that the widest pieces were taken and straight lines runthrough, that is not correct ? —No; it is not correct. 909. Can you state what the average width of the pillars is, according to that plan ?