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102. Are there 2,000 acres level. Are they what could be called plains?—No, not strictly speaking. 103. You got £12 for your work in obtaining signatures?—From when I took charge of the petition altogether. 104. Did you get any money from Mr. Douglas after the sale was completed?—Yes, I got a cheque for £40 in January, I think. 105. What did you get a cheque for £40 for?—For what I had done since 1889. He has been using me as his agent all the time. If I had sold the property I would have got a good commission. 106. You never got anything for minding the property ? —No, not more than about £3, and, if I remember rightly, that was a refund for money paid out. ■ 107. And you got £40 after the date of the sale ?—Yes. 108. Did you render an account ?—No. 109. Did Mr. Douglas give you this money spontaneously?—He spoke to me about it and said he would pay me for all this after the sale was done, that I had been put to a lot of trouble one way and another. And he sent me this £40. 110. After giving you £12 for the actual work done for him in getting signatures. Did he promise you a lump sum after the sale was completed ? Did he say he would give you mone y ? —I do not know that it was at that time, but when the land was sold I think I mentioned that I expected something out of this, and he said, " Certainly, I will pay you for what trouble you have been put to." 111. What did he mean by all the trouble? —Acting as his agent since 1889. 112. Why should he pay you for that in a lump sum in the beginning of 1894 ? The sale took place after October, and you were paid in January a lump sum of £40. Why should he pay you a lump sum after the sale, for work carried on for many years ? —I do not think I was overpaid at all —£40 for five years. I thought that was a very small amount. 113. Did you not understand that the £40 was paid to you as payment in direct consequence of the sale ?—I do not suppose I should have got it if the property had not been sold. £12 was paid as my expenses in connection with obtaining the signatures. 114. That money would have been paid if the sale had not been completed—that money was commission on the sale?—l cannot say, looking at it that way, that it would have been paid. 115. Was it a bonus on the sale ? —lt was a salary to me for acting for him for five years. 116. You have already stated that you would not have got it had the property not been sold? —I only thought I would not have got it if the property had not been sold. 117. In that case it could not have been payment for five years' ordinary work; otherwise, if the property had not been sold, you would not have had any payment at all ?—Well, I looked upon it as that. I have said if the land had not been sold I would not have expected that, but I cannot say distinctly I would not have got it. 118. Did you, previous to Mr. Douglas sending you down this petition, ever know a meeting of the settlers to take place there to ask the proprietor to get this land sold ?—Not of a publiclycalled meeting. 119. There is a local newspaper at Clinton ? —Yes. 120. It has been given in evidence that Mr. Douglas contributed an article to that paper on the 25th of August. Previous to that, did you ever know the local paper to advocate the purchase of this land, or even suggest it ?—I cannot remember anything of the kind. 121. Did a gentleman—James Wilson —sign your copy of the petition?—Which James Wilson ? 122. Ofßalclutha?—No; I had no Balclutha signatures. 123. Did a farmer named John Findlay sign ? —I hat is almost at Balclutha—just outside. 124. Mr. Duncan.] With regard to that £40. It would appear, from the way Mr. Scobie Mackenzie put it, that you looked upon getting the £40 as a result of the sale; that you would not have got anything if the land had not been sold. Had you any arrangement with Mr. Douglas to get a commission if you negotiated a sale for part of the property ? —No, I had no arrangement; even if I sold 200 acres. 125. Had you sold anything ?—No. 126. What did you do for him during the five years ? —Just took people who had been negotiating to show them the land, and communicate with Mr. Douglas. 127. Mr. Hall.] With regard to this commission. What is the usual commission you get for the sale of estates ?—I do not know what it would be for a large estate like that; 2-| per cent, for a small one. With a large affair it is by arrangement. 128. Had you any arrangement with Mr. Douglas ? —No. 129. It has been said that you got £40, and you say it was for work done for Mr. Douglas from the year 1889 ? —Yes, trying to get a purchaser all along. 130. As a matter of fact, you would not have got the £40 if the estate had remained on your hands—if it had not been sold?—I could not swear as to that. I would not have expected it. 131. It would have remained on your hands ? —Yes, and I would have had a chance of selling to some one. 132. In estates of that kind, when they are taken out of your hands for sale, do you .usually get a consideration ?—I cannot say. Sometimes you get so much commission; and if you do not sell you get nothing. It is a matter of arrangement. 133. Was this given definitely for the sale, or for the work you had done ? —I consider it was for the work I had done. I had done the work. 134. Hon. Sir Bobert Stout.] You got the £40, and nothing was said as to what it was for ?— Yes.