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447. Did you show him the letter which had been -written by Mr. Allport to the Collector?— Ido not think I had the document with me at the time. No, I told him about it. 448. Are you sure you had not the letter with you and showed it to him ?—I do not think I had. 449. Did the Minister ask yqu to go to the office and get this ? —I think I went of my own accord. I wanted him to see exactly the effect the production of this envelope would have before the jury or the Court. 450. Where did you find the envelope ?—ln the Marine office. 451. Where?— Mr. Allport had it. 452. Was it recorded away on the file with the other papers in connection with Captain Jones's matter? —No, it was filed by itself. 453. Can you tell us why that was ?--There was nothing to connect it. The examination papers are all on a file by themselves, and this envelope would be one of the ordinary records of the department —the daily letters received. 454. Is there any reason for it not having been with the other documents ?—That is the reason. I would not expect to find it with the examination papers. 455. And then you went back with the envelope to see the Minister? —Yes. 456. And on the production of the envelope, what did he say ? —First of all he doubted the handwriting. He said afterwards that so informal a document should not have been taken as an authority. 457. Then you were to find out from Mr. Allport the particulars ?—That was on the day after the trial—that was on the 25th. I saw him again on the 25th after Mr. Allport had given evidence, and he referred to the matter again, and I said, " You ought to have the official letter from Mr. Allport stating exactly what occurred on the Bth July, and here it is." When I brought that up to him, after reading it, he underlined these words, " dispensing with the requirement as to mate's certificate," and wrote the memorandum saying that " this statement is without the slightest foundation." 458. Well, at this time, did you recollect the fact that you had shown him the envelope before it was acted upon?—No, I have no recollection of doing it. 459. Does that not seem strange to you ? —I cannot say that it does. There was a lapse between the time, and I had not thought about the matter at all. It had not been under my notice in any way, and I had forgotten that. 460: On the 26th January you wrote a memorandum to Mr. Hall-Jones, did you not?— Yes. 461. In that memorandum I think you say, " If, therefore, it is decided that Captain Allman's verbal statement and the note on the envelope are not sufficient Ministerial authority for the memorandum which was written to the Collector, then I must accept the responsibility and submit to the censure implied in your minute of the 25th instant, which, without these further remarks by me, might be deemed hereafter to be directed against Mr. Allport " ?—Yes. 462. Now, before you wrote that letter, did you try to recollect all the circumstances concerning these events ?—Yes, no doubt I did. 463. Backed your memory as much as possible? —Yes; I endeavoured to recollect. 464. And still it did not strike you that you had shown the envelope to Mr. Hall-Jones?—No; I did not remember it then. 465. And you tried hard to remember?—No doubt I did; certainly. 466. Of course, a public officer does not readily agree to accept censure if he can get out of it ? —Certainly. 467. And notwithstanding that you did not recollect ?—At that time I did not recollect. 468. Will you tell us, if you can, how this recollection gradually dawned upon you that you had shown this envelope to Mr. Hall-Jones?—lt came back to my mind about the middle of February. 469. Can you tell us what brought it back to your mind ?—No, I cannot. Of course, a great deal of attention was directed to the matter owing to Mr. Hall-Jones having sent the telegram to the southern newspapers denying having given that authority, and that turned my mind very strongly in the direction of endeavouring to recall the circumstances. The fact of Mr. Hall-Jones having made that denial produced an atmosphere in my mind hostile to the dawning recollection that I had shown him that memorandum ; and when I began to remember about it, I could not have sworn about it then, and I almost dismissed the matter from my thoughts. 470. Mr. Allport wrote his letter regarding the matter, and you wrote then saying that " after endeavouring to recall the circumstances under which the envelope with your note on it came to be recorded, I am now able definitely to corroborate what Mr. Allport has stated"; but, first of all, you had written that memorandum stating that you did not recollect Mr. Allport showing the envelope to you ?—Quite so. 471. But, after reconsideration, this much came back to your recollection, and you were able definitely to corroborate what Mr. Allport stated ? —That is so. 472. And you go on to say, " It is the case that he brought the envelope to me and told me that it came through Captain Allman, who had stated, when handing it to Mr. Allport, that the Minister had agreed to let Jones be examined. I remember commenting on the irregularity; but I concluded that the matter had been fully discussed between yourself and Captain Allman, and I contented myself with directing Mr. Allport to make a record of the envelope " ?—That was my recollection at the time. 473. Although that was your recollection on the 26th January, that does not seem to have been the fact ?—No. It was a fact so far that Mr. Allport had brought it to me and we commented on the irregularity. I did not order the filing of it at the time, but I did after seeing Mr. HallJones.