56

[c. macdonell.

I.—lα.

368. And upon that you say ?—On the whole of what came to my knowledge there and what was inquired into lam of the opinion—l was then and am still—that Burrell and Durbridge are not samples of the New Zealand police. At this stage the examination was interrupted by the arrival of the hour of 1 o'clock. Mr. Maginnity : I must leave the matter at that, sir. I was going to ask you if it would be possible —I know it is asking the indulgence of the Committee to an almost unwarrantable extent, but they will at once recognise that some little allowance might be made to me on account of my living at Nelson, and it is impossible for me to come again to this investigation. If the Committee could give me an hour this afternoon I should take it as a personal favour for one thing and as of very great assistance in the conduct of this inquiry. The Chairman : We will let you know in about two minutes. The Committee will consider your request. The Committee considered the point in camera, and decided to resume the inquiry at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Examination of Inspector Macdonbll continued. (No. 10.) 369. Mr. Maginnity.] Do you remember attributing a motive to Miss 's visit to Wellington in some of your reports ?—That was a statement made to me. 370. You put that statement on record that she came here for a special purpose ? —I reported what was said to me. 371. Now, having heard the Commissioner's statement in regard to that, and having seen—l presume you have seen—the report of the Chief Detective ?—I have seen it. 372. Having seen that, you would still prefer to believe that she came here for an illegal purpose ? —That is my opinion. 373. Notwithstanding the investigation made by the Chief Detective, the statement made by the medical man, and the statement made by her before the Committee you are still of opinion that the girl came here for an illegal purpose ?—That did not alter my opinion. Ido not say that was so, but I say that that did not alter my opinion. 374. You prefer to adhere to that opinion, notwithstanding these irrefutable facts ?— Irrefutable ? 375. Are they not? The investigation by Chief Detective McGrath ? —He made inquiries and took the answers. I may say that lam not silly enough to imagine that the girl was going to tell him supposing she did come here for an illegal purpose. 376. The Chief Detective went further than you did. He went to the medical man, who assured him that there was not the slightest indication that the abortion had been wilfully caused ? —The doctor assured him that he did not see such an indication. Ido not know how he could see it when the birth took place. 377. The medical man would probably know more about it than you would. He saw the girl and examined her ?—I have seen enough of these cases to know that a doctor cannot after the birth. 378. I want you to discriminate between what you heard from women in Nelson and what you heard here at this table as being the relation of facts by the Chief Detective who interviewed the girl and by a medical men who was present at the birth and examined her. What I put to you is, do you still prefer to adhere to your opinion, gained from those women in Nelson, rather than adopt an opinion based upon an inquiry made by the Chief Detective and a medical man ? — I must give my answer in my own way. The evidence of the doctor, in my opinion, goes for nothing. 379. I will put the question to you again. Having seen the report of Chief Detective McGrath and the evidence of the medical gentleman who had the opportunity of seeing the girl, do you still prefer to adhere to your opinion, based upon statements made to you in Nelson by some women ? —I will answer the question straight out if lam allowed to explain afterwards. 380. That is a question that is susceptible of either a " Yes " or " No" in answer to it?—l have answered that again and again. That does not alter my opinion. I wish to say that the doctor's evidence, in my opinion, amounts to nothing. In any Court of law lam allowed to give an explanation of my answer to a question. 381. You told the Committee that there was a great deal of abortion practised in Nelson: would you kindly explain that ? —I will. I think that what I said was that I could say a good deal about abortion in Nelson. 382. That was your statement, Inspector, that there was a great deal of abortion practised in Nelson ?—As far as I remember, I said there was a great deal of abortion in Nelson. 383. I am asking you upon what grounds you make that statement to the Committee ?—I will tell you, and I hope it will be considered straightforward. As I said before, we have had a number of charges of that description made in Nelson. 384. How many?— Either four or five. We got the books of a doctor when we arrested him. I think it was the third time. He came back to me that night 385. Who was that ?—The doctor. I was going to explain what I know about the abortion cases. 386. What I want to know now is who those four or five charges were against ?—I wish to explain what I know about the abortions in Nelson, and how I came to know it. 387. I asked you how many charges there were, and you said four or five. Now I want to know whom those charges were against. Any statement made to you by a doctor would not be evidence. lam asking you about cases that you do know of, and that are known to the public. Now I want you to tell me what the four or five cases were ?—I cannot give the names of the