H.—2l.

64

[j. J. MEIKLE.

thing to say come into the kitchen and say it before the people there ' " ?—That was on one occasion, not on this occasion. He had been there several times, even without me. 152. On another occasion when he came you say you went and asked him to come in, " If you have anything to say come into the kitchen and say it before the people there " ? —I wanted no secret, I told him. 153. What was the other occasion ?—He came in to tell me something about the forearm of a sheep —about the 25th. 154. At any rate you told him to come in and say it before the people there ?—Yes. 155. Did he tell it there ?—Yes. 156. And there were several people there ?—He did ; there was no secret in it. 157. What did he say ?—He said, " Mr. Meikle, I have come to tell you lam to get £50 to get you off your place. I have either to put sheep or skins on your land, and lam to get £50. Cameron and Troup will stand at my back." 158. This is a subsequent visit when you invite him into your kitchen, and there before fresh witnesses he makes this statement ?—He made it repeatedly. 159. Youx wife says you said, "If you have anything to say, come into the kitchen and say it before the people there " ?—That is true. 160. How many times has he made it ?—Repeatedly to my men, and not only that, but to others outside. 161. That he was to get £50 to put sheep or skins on your land ?—There was no doubt he did put them there. 162. Where was he to put them ?—ln the barn. That was the farthest building from the house that was convenient for him. 163. He was to get £50 for putting sheep or skins on your land, and the man who was to get it, you say, came to you on several occasions and declared so before witnesses and outsiders ?—Certainly. 164. Was Mr. Lambert ever in a lunatic asylum, do you know ? —I do not know, it does not matter to me if he was. 165. Can you account for a man, who is going to put skins in your barn to get you convicted, going around the countryside and telling everybody that he is going to do it '—Undoubtedly. To suit his purpose, which he did by the grindstone incident. 166. If he held his tongue, and had not made these speeches—you were an old policeman, and must know—he might still have put them there and escaped detection ?—He would never have got within the gates had he not come the way he did, as a friend—had he come as an outsider, because his appearance was enough for me ; and I never took him into my confidence, as I told the detective. 167. Look at the position you were putting yourself in by this speech ?—I am not making a speech. 168. You say you would not have allowed him within the gate ?—Never. 169. Because he told you this story ? —And I intended to tell the police. 170. Did you believe he was going to do it ?—I believed that if he did not, the other man would. 171. And yet you allowed him inside ?—I believed that, if the other man did not do it, he would. 172. Before we pass on, what was the purpose of putting the skins on your land ?—To get me convicted, so that I would not be to Wellington when the matter was being inquired into before the Land Board there. 173. Were you going to set the world on fire by going to Wellington I—l was going to get past wrongs redressed that had been done by this company. 174. You are going back to the assault ? How far back ?— Three years before, and I have got the correspondence. 175. You say a horrible conspiracy was afoot to get you from going to Wellington ?—Yes. 176. I think you told Mr. Atkinson that the purpose was to get your land because the company could not work their station ? That was the reason you gave him ?—lt was also to get me out of the property, and prevent me from getting redress. 177. They had two reasons ? —Yes, and Cameron told me he would hunt me out. 178. Well, they did get you convicted, and have they got the land ?—No, but Cameron's brother has got it. 179. Who first, as a matter of fact, were the mortgagees at that trme ?—The Government Lrte Insurance Department and J. G. Ward and Company. 180. Who sold it ?—The Government Life Insurance Company. 181. Through the Registrar ?—I could not help that. I was in gaol. 182. It was sold by the Registrar, and the company did not buy it ?—Because they could not get the homestead, but Cameron's brother bought it since. 183. We will pass to another stage. Not only did Lambert tell you this amazing story that he was going to put these skins into the barn, but something else of a more dramatic kind was to happen. Lambert told you this : He said, " I saw two daisies of letters to Troup from Cameron telling him how to put you out, but trust to me I will let you know the night the trick is to be done. The 'joker' will be dressed in light clothes; I will be dressed in dark. You fire at him with the light clothes." Do you remember swearing that ?—I did; I would not fire with ball all the same. 184. What were you going to fire with ? —I would have made him stand. I told him that if I could find the man coming on my place at night I would fire, but not with ball. 185. What were you going to fire with ?—With powder, but not with shot. I said, " I will frighten the first man I see near the building at night." 186. You say that Lambert told you " the joker " was to be dressed in light clothes while he was to be in dark clothes. Was that to enable you to distinguish who to shoot at ?— He told me that one would be in light clothes and the other in dark, and he said that the man in light would carry the skins,