H.—2l.

66

\j. .T. MEIKLR.

220. I have told you where he could have put them. Was Harvey a fairly truthful witness ?— I found him a very decent man and all of them a very decent family. 221. He would not have made a mistake when he gave his evidence ? —I could not say that. I never coached him. 222. Do you know that he gave evidence—once, twice, thrice—and said there were skins kept in the stable, and as many kept there as in the barn ? —I never saw them. If there were any there they were taken over to the smithy and hung there. I would not allow them to remain in the stable to keep the horses from their feed. 223. At page 38 you will find Harvey tells us this, " I had no instructions about coachhouse or stable. I had to look out for barn and smithy. It was in them the skins were to be put. Sheep were killed sometimes in smithy, sometimes in stable. I had seen sheep-skins in stable. There were sheep-skins as often in barn. I cannot say anything nov positively as to how many skins there were in the smithy " ?—Quite likely. 224. This stable, you told Mr. Atkinson, was a place in which all your men could go, it was not locked ?—Only at certain hours. 225. Why could Lambert not have put the skins in the stable ?—Because I say he could not have come except in a friendly way. The dogs would have barked. 226. Why, you were away from home yourself at times ? —But his purpose would not have been effected if I was away from home. 227. Do you seriously tell the Judges that Lambert could not have smuggled two skins in the stable ? —Not at night, unless he was caught by the dogs. 228. But the skins in the stable were not counted ?—They were all counted into the barn. 229. But he says they were as often in the stable as in the barn ? —Not at that time. 230. Do you seriously say that he could not have put them into the open stable ? —No, because we could look out at it through a window and see him through it; it is impossible. 231. You say it was absolutely essential to this man's crime that he must put them in the barn ? —Yes. 232. You must, upon what you told us, have been absolutely certain from the first moment you heard of the skins in the barn that Lambert did it ?—Of course, he put them there the night before. There is not the slightest doubt. 233. Then, as soon as you went out you knew this was the man who said he was paid to do it ?— You knew he was there the night before : you saw a suspicious bag outside while he was there : you remembered that the man had waited to get your son to open the barn ? From the first moment you knew the police had found the skins in the barn you knew that Lambert was the guilty man ?—I had some suspicions that it was him or Stewart, but afterwards I saw it was him because he came there the night before with a bogus tale, and then I saw it was him. 234. Your trusted servant, Harvey, counted the skins the day before the police came, and Lambert comes the night before, puts them there, and the next day the police find them ? —Yes, the police went straight to get them. 235. Had you any doubt it was Lambert ? —I had no doubt, and my petition showed that. I had a doubt that Stewart might have assisted him in a way, because Stewart came to do it on the Bth October, but he failed because he was not smart enough he said. 236. Stewart came to assist him ?—Perhaps he was smarter than him, Lambert said. 237. You did not see Stewart about on the Ist November ?—I did not. 238. The only one who could have done it was Lambert ? —There was no one else who could have got into the building. 239. And no one else could possibly have done it ? —I say so still. If lam as sure of heaven, I will be pretty safe. 240. You told us you believed Lambert's story when he told you he was going to put them in the barn. The police came and found them in the barn. Could any reasonable man have a doubt after that ? —I have no doubt now, nor did I after being incarcerated. 241. We will see now how you acted after the police raid on your house. The first time you see Lambert after your own and son's arrests on the Bth November ? —Quite correct. 242. You saw him at the North Star Hotel ? —On the Bth November. 243. Did you come up and say to him, " Mr. Lambert, you are the man who put the skins in my barn " ? —No, I did not come up to him at all. 244. What you did say was this, " Behave truthfully whatever you do " ?—I did. He confessed to his own crime too. 245. Six days after the police had discovered the skins ? And he told you to go away, that he wanted the £10 of blood-money he was to get from Stewart ?—He said " I am waiting to get £10 bloodmoney to clear out of the road." 246. What did he mean by that ?—I suppose it was part of his reward of £50, because Troup had been sent away to Nelson, and had left the station some time after this man came—it may be a few days —and had not returned until within a fortnight before my conviction, according to his own testimony. If the three had been there they'could not have done it so well, because they would have given each other away. Troup was at the Road Board meeting. 247. What did you understand when he said he was to get £10 ?—I came to the conclusion that he was getting part of his reward; 248. When he told you he was to get £10 you knew that was part of his reward for having effected his purpose ? —That is so. 249. You could have little doubt of the character of the man then ? —I had only one doubt—did he come with an honest intention to have his knife sharpened, or to put the skins there ? and there were the two alternatives.