T. GILMOUE.

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I.— 4a.

the river now as easily as, or with less trouble than, they did twenty years ago. I got that from Captain Sullivan not many days ago. I know that the river is gradually getting narrower, but that is not the fault of the Waihi or Karangahake tailings. The farmers themselves have, encouraged willows to grow, and I was pointed out by Mr. Forrest a place on the Ohinemuii River, a little bit above the Junction, where some willows are growing. At the present time they are 15 ft. in from the bank. Those trees were at oue time on the bank of the river, but they accumulated the dibris and the silt long before the tailings came down, and kept encroaching on the river till now they are 15 ft. back from the bank. 7. Mr. Herries.] Your contention with regard to flood damage is that the floods are common to the whole river, and are not due to any deposit of silt?— Yes, on the AVaihou. That is my firm conviction with regard to the Waihou. 8. And you substantiate that by your knowledge of the district and your having seen previous floods?— Yes. As I told you, 1 saw a flood in 1883 when Paeroa was all under water, with the exception of the higher ground. I remember a man named Lavery—l think that was his name —who lived at the Junction. He was stuck in the hotel up at Te Aroha with me from Thursday till Monday. He told me he never saw his land flooded with water, and that he was offered £30 an acre for it. That was somewhere about the latter end of 1879 or the beginning of 1880. I came down the river with him, and when we came to the Junction there was a Wesleyau minister who had been in the dwelling, having had to take refuge there. He had had to stay there for two or three days, not being able to get out. 9. That was before there were any tailings? —Yes, before there were any mines. 10. You say that the river is subject to floods, and always has been?— Certainly. 11. AVhen you went to look at this land at Netherton which has been the subject of complaint, did you see any silt-deposits on it?—No, seeing that it was a month or more after, and a shower would wash the light silt off the grass. As is the case up at Te Aroha, of which I told you, when this light pumice lodges on the grass the cattle cannot very'well, eat it till a shower washes the pumice off. I presume that might have occurred at Netherton. 12. The silt was so light, if there was any deposit, that it could be washed off by a shower? —Yes. 13. In regard to the Ohinemuri River, you admit that there is some considerable deposit?— There is, certainly. There is sand lying in the river. I admit, further, that if the Government were to try to invent some method of disposing of the tailings from the mines, they could find no better means of getting rid of them than the present river, because once tailings get into the Waihou, with a large flood of water coming down to meet the Ohinemuri, the whole thing is kept on the move, and no sediment settles except when the river overflows its banks. Then it deposits on the banks. 14. You have had considerable experience as a mine-manager, have you not? —Yes, forty-four or forty-five years' experience. 15. In all sorts of mines? —Yes, quartz-mines, not coal-mines. 16. You thoroughly understand mining?— Yes, in all its details. . 17. Do you think it is practicable at Waihi to stack the tailings?—lf they we it to the trouble of taking the tailings out on to the plains they could be stacked, at considerable expense; but in a month or two, when the first fresh came, they would go back into the river. 18. Have you formed any idea what the expense would be?— No. It would take a good deal of time. It would have to be attended to every day to keep the water banked up, and when there was an accumulation of slimes it would burst away and carry all the slimes back to the river very quickly. 19. You think at Waihi it would not be practicable?—lt is not practicable to put the tailings on to the land. It would be very expensive, and then I question whether it would be a success. 20. How about Waikino? —It is impossible there. 21. Will you state why it is impossible?— The little bit of flat ground they have is all built over with batteries and workshops, and they would have to lift the tailings about 500 ft. or 600 ft. I question then whether they would not get into the Waitawheta Creek, and then they would go down to Karangahake. 22. Waikino is the principal battery in the district, is it not? —Yes, there are 200 stampers in the battery. 23. And you say it would be impossible to stack the tailings there?— Certainly. 24. How about Karangahake? —It is worse there, again. 25. Karangahake is situated in a gorge?— The mountain stands up, I suppose, a thousand feet above the mines there. 26. It would be impossible to stack the tailings there? —It would. 27. Is it not a fact that all the batteries are built as low as possible so as to get gravitation 2— Certainly. They take all the power out of the water they can. 28. And if they were prevented from putting their tailings into the river, would they have to shift their batteries?— Well, I think they would. 29. AVould that be possible? —I think it would be impossible for the AVaihi Company to take the tailings away from the Waikino Battery without pumping. 30. If they were prevented from putting the slimes into the river, would they be able to take out the low-grade quartz that they are taking out now? —No; it would be more expensive. If expenses are to be taken into consideration, certainly they could not take out the same grade ore as they are doing now. 31. That would mean they would employ so many less hands ?—Yes. 32. You know the Paeroa district, do you not?— Well, to a certain extent —as far as I have been up and down the roads. I have been visiting Paeroa on and off for the last thirty years. ' 33. Do you know anything of the value of land there? —No. I saw in the paper here the other