J. J. MEJKLE.]

67

H.— 2l.

250. And after he told you that he was going to get blood-money from Stewart any doubt disappeared ? —I had no doubt at all then. 251. Now, we will show you a letter. You will remember a letter was put in written by you to Lambert ?—Yes, on the 14th November. 252. This is six days after you had satisfied yourself that the real culprit—the blood-money man— was Lambert: is this the letter you wrote to this scoundrel :— " November 14, 1887 " Dear Sir, —I want my sheep shorn. Can you come and shear them. Tell Arthur whether you are coming or not. I hope you will be straight in this matter about the company and myself. You have nothing to fear, and listen to no report. Constable Lees, lam afraid, will be in serious trouble over this matter and the company. I should like you to come and shear as you promised. " J. J. Meikle." That is the letter you wrote ? —That is a copy of it. I have it in my book, 253. Now, I want an explanation of this letter. You begin by saying " Dear Sir, —I want my sheep shorn. Can you come and shear them." Your sheep were on your premises, were they not ? —Yes. 254. This blood-money man was to come and shear your sheep ? —That was my plan to get him to come to my place. 255. This was a trap he was to fall into nicely ?—I was going to get him down there so that I could frighten the whole thing out of him. 256. Did you fire your gun off then ? —No, not then. 257. Then the letter goes on " Tell Arthur whether you are coming or not. I hope you will be straight in this matter " ? —Certainly, because if he was a man he would have admitted right up. 258. And you would have nothing to fear if he was the man who went there and put those skins there and got you convicted for felony. You know he was guilty of a very great crime ?—No doubt, and if he had come down there I would have frightened out of him exactly what had been done. 259. Have you done that kind of thing before ?—No, but I would have found out from him if he had been there the night before and betrayed his trust in such a cowardly way. 260. What was his trust ?—Well, a man who would come there and say he was a shepherd and then do what he did 261. I think your wife said he gammoned to be your friend ? —Yes. 262. And then he betrayed the trust you put in him ?—That is the only way I could do it. I put no trust in any man who acted as he did. 263. But he could betray no trust, if you put no trust in him. " I hope you will behave straight in this matter about the company and myself. You have nothing to fear, and listen to no reports " ? —Reports that were going about all over the district about the £50. 264. What were the reports he had nothing to fear from ?—The reports were that he, Lambert, had told several people he was to get £50 by the company's servants for putting the skins on my property. 265. Why did you say " Listen to no reports " ? —Those were the reports that were going abroad. 266. Then you ask him not to listen to the reports which he himself had circulated. You tell him he has nothing to fear, and ask him to listen to no reports, and yet you say the reports were those which Lambert himself had circulated ? —I say, if he had told this about the company, they would have been indicted far worse than myself. 267. Mr. Justice Edwards.] You say you expected to get him to admit having put the skins there ? —Yes. 268. Well, what are these reports ?—The report was that, if he made a clean breast of it, he would probably be indicted ; and I wished to try and get him to make a clean breast of it, as I would have explained to him that the very men who employed him to do this were really the guilty parties, much more so than he was, and that they would be indicted. 269. Dr. Findlay.] You say he was to listen to no reports. These reports, you say, were that he was paid to put the skins upon the place by the company's servants. Well, if that were so, he must have known it. Why did you refer to a report he knew already ?—The report was that he was likely to get into gaol if he confessed, and nobody else. I wanted to explain to him that it would be the other way about. 270. You wanted to explain to him that if he would come and make a clean breast of it you would not prosecute him ? —No; I should not have prosecuted him, but the directors, because the}' would be the guilty parties. 271. You told me a moment ago that the report you referred to was a statement he circulated that he was to put the skins there and get paid for it ?—And other reports afterwards. 272. What was the report he was not to listen to ?—The report that went abroad that he would be arrested, if he confessed, and nobody else. I wanted him not to listen to that, but to come to me, when I would have told him that, if he confessed to having been employed, it would be the company who would most likely suffer and not himself. 273. You told us a little while ago that you wanted him to come to your place in order that you might frighten the truth out of him ? —Because if he confessed, the truth was out. 274. Mr. Justice Edwards.] This letter reads, " I want my sheep shorn. Can you come and shear them ? Tell Arthur whether you are coming or not. I hope you will behave straight in this matter about the company and myself. You have nothing to fear, and listen to no reports." That, to my mind, rather suggests that you were referring to something which both you and Lambert knew ?— Undoubtedly, but I wanted to explain to him that if he confessed what he knew that I was quite sure he would not be convicted, but that Troup and Cameron, who employed him, were the guilty parties, and that they would be convicted.