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got word that these Hauhaus were going to make another raid on tlio bench. I went along to Whakatane and interviewed the chiefs of the Ngatipukeko to get them to send down twenty men, and we all came down together. Wo came to Opotiki, and tliis was all done in tjf.erot heciinst: wo had Natives wo could not trust. I may say Major St. John was it great lighting man. lit; was a very able and great fighting man. lie told me we were to make the march about 7 o'clock at night, and go through by the foot of the mountains. 1 think the officers were Captain Skene, Lieutenant Rushton, Mr. Grant, who was killed afterwards in the Urewera Country, Mr. Lawson, and Mr. Rose. The expedition was formed; I think we were about eighty or ninety strong. We travelled all night and got down into the Waiinana Valley in high fern, and we got out our shawls and slept there, without attempting to light a fire or strike a match. We slept there till 3.30, and then we got up and we fell in, and then we marched along-until we got within half a mile of the Waimana River. We could not see anything. It was a cold wintry morning. We came to the stream, and Major St. John said, " Now, we will have to be careful." He told Captain Skene to hold his men in readiness, to extend his men along the river bank, and then we crossed the river. The Natives could not hear us ; they were fast asleep and the sentry was fast asleep. They could not hear us, because there was a rapid two hundred yards above which made a row. When we got across we saw an old fellow starting a fire. I said, "There is a light, Sir." We were right on them. They had their horses tethered, and these horses were making a tremendous noise. The horses saw us and got a fright, and were trying to. break away. We advanced quietly up and got on to the rising ground. I think there were three men killed and one wounded, and this was the payment for Bennett White's death. 192. Mr. Monk.] I think I understood from you you did not think it, likely Captain Gwynneth would give such an order as is recorded on that paper? —I would be very much surprised if he did ; and Major St. John was such a peculiar man that had anything been done without his orders he would have been very touchy about it. 193. II Major St. John had been informed of this irregularity on Captain Gwynueth's part, would there not have been a public inquiry held?—-He would have had Gwynneth before him. The place was under martial law the whole time. Well, martial law means the officer commanding that district is responsible for everything that happens there. 194. Then any special act of bravery would be a matter of common talk in your camp at that time ?—Yes. 195. You lived under a condition of military excitement ?—Yes, for two years. 196. You took particular notice at that time of special acts of bravery in individuals ?—Wβ did. 197. Your reason for doing so would he you would be so dependent upon military observance of personal bravery ?—Yes. 19&. Did you know Captain Percival?—Yes; the paymaster. He was paymaster of the First Waikatos, and used to come there monthly to pay the troops. I remember him. 199. W. H. Percival ?—Yes ; I met him afterwards. 200. What sort of a reputation did he have amongst you there for observance of his duties and personal conduct ? —Well, he had no camp duties to perform. He simply came there, paid the men, and cleared out; at least, he did not pay the men : he gave the money to captains of companies, and they paid the men. 201. Did you regard him as a man of temperate habits ?—No. 203. Do you know from your own personal knowledge that he was intemperate: would he come in that condition usually known as delirium tremens ? —He was laid up in my house for three weeks. 204. At this particular time ? —Yes ; about that time, in the year 1867. 205. Do you know Captain Simpson : the one that writes with reference to the eross —Captain Simpson ?—Yes ; Leonard Simpson is his name. 206. What were Captain Simpson's habits?—He was a jolly fellow. 207. Are they such as you would place reliance on his statements in important matters ?—Yes, I have no grounds to doubt what he said is the truth. 208. He is in the habit of living in a very irregular way amongst the Natives ? —Yes. 209. You think that Captain Simpson was not a man that lived such a strict life that you would take his evidence as being of importance ?—Free and easy, like all the rest of the fellows down there campaigning. Ido not know what Simpson said. I know when we first went down Simpson was not there; he was surveying away up Whakatane when we went down there. 210. Was Captain Simpson at Opotiki at that time when Bennett White and the mailman were murdered, or about that time?—He was not there at the ihne Bennett White was killed, to the best of my belief. 211. Did they have to swim their horses?— Yes; I had to swim my horse. There were any amount of horses down there. Fellows used to go out and drive them in in mobs. 212. Was there not a ferry at Ohiwa? —Yes, there was a ferry. 213. Do you think it was gone at the time when Mr. Wrigg was said to have carried these despatches. Was this Native, that is, the Native in charge of the ferry, away at the time ?—He was away when I got there. 214. Do you think he was away afc this particular time I have mentioned ?—He might have been. 215. Then, this Captain Simpson—afterwards he just settled with the Natives in the usuallytermed Pakeha-Maori style?-— Yes; he became a surveyor, and you can hardly separate a surveyor who has camped with the Maoris from mixing up with them. 216. Do you know who was in command at the time at Opotiki when Bennett White and the Native were murdered?— Major St. John. 217. Who was second in command ?—Major Mair, now Judge of the Native Land Court.