H.— 2l.

J. J. MEIKLE. J

63

121. He says that the alteration of the brand seemed to be fresh, and yet you, an experienced man with horses, did not notice that —although your son said that it appeared to have been recently altered ? —I had every confidence in Scott, and I would not like to say that Scott had stolen the horse. 122. You told me that you did not notice that the brand had been altered, and that it was so successfully done as to deceive anybody. Your son saw that it had been altered. Now you say that you had no suspicion ? —I knew Scott, and did not suspect anything. 123. If a horse is brought to you by a man you know, at 7 o'clock in the morning, and you go out and see it. and he asks you £20 for it and finally you get it for £14, and in regard to which your son says that the brands appeared to have been recently altered, you would not for one moment —by the way, you paid no money for it ?—That is -so. 124. It was left with you in September, and you were to give him £14 for it some time in November, I think ? —He was to get £14 some time in November. 125. You were to work the horse in the meantime ?—No ; I told him I did not want the horse badly. 126. Why did you not work it—why did you not treat it as your own horse, and work it ?—-I did work it, but we had any amount of young horses in the paddock. 127. Your son would know about that ?—Yes. 128. He said you worked it for a month ?—He would know. It might be worked for a few hours in the day. 129. He swears that the horse was worked for a month ? —He may have said that. 130. What was the date on which Scott came to you with these horses ?—ln September. Mr. Atkinson : Arthur swears that the horse was worked for three weeks. 131. Dr. Findlay.] He brought the horse in September ?—Yes. 132. Scott came back again ?—Yes. 133. How long after his first coming to you was it before he returned ? —I think about nine or ten days. He passed on —he did not stop. 134. These are the depositions of your son. He was speaking on the Bth November and he said, " A month ago " —that is about Bth October —" a horse was brought to our place," and he said that Scott returned about a fortnight later ? —I think it was about eight or ten days later. 135. If he were there on the Bth October—as your son seems to have thought—and he came back ten days later, he would be at your place on the 18th October, 1887 ? —No ; he never stopped at my place —even in September, he did not. 136. Scott will swear that he stopped at your place on the 18th October, 1887, and your son bears it out that Scott stayed at your place on that day; that you altered the brand, and that while he was there he saw your son bringing in sheep from the station ? —" From the station ?"I am glad you told me that. It is new evidence after nineteen years. Mr Justice Cooper : What was the result of the case ? Dr. Findlay: He was convicted. 137. Dr. Findlay (to witness).] You know that Lambert has sworn consistently that he saw you altering the brand on the horse for the theft of which Scott was convicted ?—Untrue, sir. 138. But he swore it ? —He would swear anything. All his evidence shows how nicely he has sworn. 139. Now we come to review the evidence you gave in the Court yesterday. You told the Court —repeating very clearly and closely the evidence you have always given before—you told the Court that Lambert was set to watch you ?—He said he was to get £50 to get me off the place. 140. This is what you told Judge Williams in Meikle v. Lambert trial, " He rapped at the back door. I went to the door myself. He said he had something to say to me. I told him to come inside, and say what he had to say. He said, ' Look here, Mr. Meikle, I have to get £50 to get you off your place. Cameron and Troup will stand at my back.' Cameron was manager for the company, and Troup was head shepherd. He said he was to put sheep or sheep-skins on the land so as to get me into trouble and off the place. He said, ' I will let you know the night its to be done, Mr. Meikle. I won't do it.' " Is that quite correct ?—I did say so, and Ido so still. 141. You believed this when he said it to you?— Yes. 142. And you believed that he was to put sheep or sheep-skins on your land to get you into trouble ? —Yes. 143. That was the first you heard of it ? —Yes. 144. When this man came to your door what did you say in reply ? —I asked him how it was to be done. 145. Well, then you did make a reply ? When Judge Edwards asked you yesterday you said " Nothing " ? —I said " Yes," and I told His Honour that my wife and I went into the room ; she was unwell. 146. We have the notes of what you said yesterday. When asked you told His Honour you made no reply ? —I made a reply and walked on. 147. What was your reply ? —" That is what others have told me." 148. It was no news to you ?—No, I was told previously ; Perry told me before he left, " Cameron will hunt you off this place." 149. Do you mean to tell this Court that a respectable company was hiring this man to put skins to secure your conviction % —Cameron is a man who would do anything. He is out of this colony now. 150. Do you believe this company was getting skins put there to get you wrongfully convicted % —I do; and Cameron was the man who told me he would hunt me out of it, on the railway-platform here. 151. You called Lambert inside and told him to say what he had to say. Was not this what happened 1 lam quoting from your wife's evidence :" My husband said to him, 'If you have any-