CAPTAIN CLARK.T

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122. And after your return here you had a few days' work upon the squaring-up of the accounts of the Ninth ? —Yes ; twenty-six days' work. 123. And for those twenty-six days' work you charge detention allowance although you were domiciled in Wellington before going away ?—Quite so. 124. Why ?—I think I have already explained. 125. I think the explanation applied to a long period?— You can term it a long period. 126. Your explanation covered the five months. lam dealing with the account you rendered first, for £40 12s. 6d. Would you get detention allowance if the detention in Wellington was so brief ? —Quite so. For the Ninth work it was twenty-six days, and I was then prepared to go the country, but I was not allowed to go. Major Smith told me to stop and do the Seventh work, and then when that was done to stop and do the clasps. 127. Apart from any payment made by the paymaster, do you know of any payment made by the Department for detention allowance to officers who were domiciled in Wellington ?—I would like to explain with regard to that. There was a Captain Brown came back with the Tenth Contingent. He did the discharge-certificates of the Tenth. That gentleman's address is some place in Yorkshire, England. He gave his address before he went out as Onehunga, Auckland. That gentleman came down to Wellington here to try to get into tne First Contingent, and subsequently with the Second, but I think he was rejected for the Second. At any rate, he did not go with us; but he finally got away with the Fifth. When he came back he had come back with the Fifth. He stayed in Wellington, and went back to South Africa again with the Seventh. He came back with the Tenth, and while he was here in Wellington he got detention allowance. You may say that his home was in Onehunga, but immediately he was done he went to Yorkshire. 128. That was his last known residence—his place of residence was given as Onehunga?—On the same supposition I may have given my address as somewhere else. 129. Did you give it as Wellington?— Yes, because it was Wellington at the time. 130. After the completion of the work on the 28th February where did you take up your residence ?—ln Wellington. 131. Have you been in Wellington ever since ?—No. 132. How long did you remain after you had completed the work in February?— About three or four days afterwards I went up to Eltham. 133. Have you been there ever since ?—No; I have been down to Wellington and to Dannevirke. 134. You have had no settled place of abode?— No. My settled place of abode now is Dannevirke. 135. Since when has it been Dannevirke ?—Since July last. 136. Between the end of February and July you had no settled place of residence?—l have put in a good deal of time at Eltham. 137. Where did you put in most of the time between February and July?—ln Wellington, but I was simply in Wellington to try to get the money. 138. You have been a long time in the service of the contingents in one form and another. Apart from the time covered by the amount which you claim, what was the greatest length of time, even when you were on active service, that you went without any pay?— Six months. 139. On active service in the field ?—Yes. 140. And the reason for that was that you could not get near the money-chest ? —No; the paymaster had just come over to Africa and had not got his accounts settled, and the colonel had not been on column the whole time. I forget the exact circumstances, but it was between five and six months. 141. That was the only occasion ?—Yes. Our cheques were made out every two months. 142. You would get them at about intervals of two months? —Pay was claimed only once in two months. We did not claim it ourselves. The paymaster made out the whole of the claims. He resided at the base, with the exception of occasional visits to the regiment. 143. What do you reckon you had due to you on the 28th February ?—On the 28th February, according to my calculations, £634 Os. 3d., I think. 144. Included in that £634 Os. 3d. was the sum of £277 which you considered that you had only to send in your voucher to get —or, rather, portions of it. The £277 account, less the contingent work—the work on the medal roll at £1 12s. 6d. a day—you considered you were entitled to ?— Yes. 145. You supposed you would get it if in November you chose to send in a voucher for what was then owing ? —I presumed so. 146. If you had sent in another voucher in December you would have got the month's pay ?— Quite so. 147. And yet you let the large sum keep growing?— Yes. 148. What was your reason for leaving the money ?—I thought it was as good as being in the bank. I did not actually want it just then. 149. Mr. Barber.] With regard to the preparation of the King's Medal roll, which took so long, was it a colonial work in connection with the whole of the contingents, rather than a provincial work? It was not done in the other centres ? —No ; it was done in Wellington. 150. What was the total cost of the preparation ?—£277 17s. 6d., less the amount for the work on the contingent, £40 12s. 6d. That would be £237 ss. 151. There is no chance of finding out what it cost in the other colonies, but I question whether it would not cost more in the Australian Colonies. It was not a work connected with one contingent, but with all the coutingents that went away ? —According to the correct interpretation of the spirit of the regulations it was strictly proper that one officer from each of the contingents should come and make the roll up. In my case it was known that my knowledge was such that I could do the lot.