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Witness : Subject to correction, about twenty-five or thirty. 326. Mr. Gully.] Then that includes numbers you previously inspected, and, having previously inspected, you did not think it necessary to make a fresh prospect?— Yes, exactly so. 327. There is a certain number you knew of in former days, and there were a certain number you prospected in this engagement —what counsel wishes is as to the number there ?—Practically, I have prospected every block. 328. Do not you see how we are trying to test the value of their evidence? I have got to come back to exactly the same question : How many prospects did you make on the hatched areas for the examination of the Midland Eailway; how many prospects did you make in all these hatched areas for the company ?—We might say 300 or 400. 329. Just now you said twenty-five ?—These are prospects ; I was taking the blocks. 330. How many areas ? — I think about twenty-five blocks. 331. But you tell us twenty-five was the number you included previously; how many did you prospect in course of the examination for the Midland Eailway ?—I am interested in about five or six blocks. 332. Hon. E. Blake.] That would be about nineteen or twenty? —Yes ; nineteen or twenty. 333. Mr. Gully.] And generally, what was the nature of your prospecting operations?' —That would depend entirely on the nature of the stuff. If it was limestone country I simply took a bit and put it through my fingers and threw it away ; if coal grits, the same thing would be repeated. I examined it to satisfy myself as to the nature of the rock; if it was granite, I knew it would contain no gold, and also threw it away. 334. Why did you pick it up ?—To see if it was coal, or to see if it was the Old Man reef or other formation, such as blue reef sandstone bottom, granite, or a variety of gravels that I knew from experience and from eye education did not contain payable gold. 335. Anything else you desire to suggest you did in the way of prospecting ?—Well, of course, we have got evidence of the boring at Barrytown. 336. Was that the only case in which you acted?— Well, of course, we were continuously prospecting.' Then, in Jackson's we got the quartz, and the position it cropped up, and tested it in every way to see if it contained gold. 337. Is that all ? —That is practically all. I used the tin dish on several occasions when I thought it necessary. 338. How many times did you use the tin dish ?—Probably, in six months, every second day. Personally I sank no shafts on these hatched portions. 339. That fairly describes your process of arriving at the conclusion you have done ? —Oh, no! more than that. I take a general view of the country. Of course, I know the country fairly well. I have got an idea where the leads all run, and as to what course they are likely to take. 340. You have a personal knowledge of the country ?—And personal knowledge of the runs of gold, and I have examined probably 1,500 or 2,000 different claims. 341. Hon. E. Blake.] In this region?— Yes. 342. Mr. Gully.] You did not take the claims for granted—you examined them?—l got from my examination of the claims my principal knowledge of the country. 343. As to quartz : are you competent to give an opinion on that?— Yes. 344. Do you make any allowance in your reserves for prospecting?— Where I considered itnecessary, Yes. 345. Have you in any case made special allowance in respect of prospecting being considered advisable ?—Yes, in numerous cases, notably in the Moonlight district. There is one block there admitted without any ground being objected to at all. 346. How do you mean objected to? —Objected to by us. 347. Hon. E. Blake.] What do you mean by the Moonlight district?— Block 88. In that block, from Healy's Creek to Moonlight, there are no workings of any kind. There is a block there of about 1,500 acres, I suppose. All that we have admitted; at least, I think it should be reserved for prospecting rights. 348. Mr. Gully.] Upon what ground do you make special reserves in respect of that future prospecting ?—Gold has not been found there, but there is a chance, in my opinion, of gold being found there. 349. Let us understand the principle upon which you say that in some localities there is no chance, and in others there is a chance of future prospecting resulting in the discovery of gold ?— Alluvial gold leads may be described as of three classes. First of all there are leads ; and, by the way, I wish to correct a slight error which I made when you asked me as to the position of the leads in certain cases. I thought you were referring to the river-leads. On the beach, of course, they follow the line of the sea. Al.uvial gold may be thrown up by the sea, or it may be found in old river-courses, or it may be placed in position by glacial action. 350. I am asking you simply this : Why have you in some cases allowed areas for prospecting operations in the future ?—I considered that the natural features of the country are such that there is a possibility of gold existing in certain areas. 351. Only in the case where, in your opinion, the natural configuration of the country points to the probability of gold —or rather, you say, the possibility of gold. Have you allowed anything for prospecting ? —ln several cases I have allowed wherever I thought it necessary. 352. Are there not in many blocks considerable areas in respect to which it is doubtful—it has not been ascertained whether there is a probability of gold being found or not ?—I do not think so —not in the hatched portions. 353. In making your reserves providing for mining purposes other than actual mining, what definition of that term have you acted upon ? Have you acted upon the definition of the term in the