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7. Mr. Wilford.] Are you one of the petitioners, Captain Mair ?—No. 8. Simply interested in the cause of Volunteering, I suppose ?—Yes; you may put it, that way. 9. You litivo taken n, groat deal of interest in this matter? —To a certain extent. 10. Looked up evidence, for instance? —Yes. 11. Do you remember calling on Mr. Wood?—I do. 12. Have you seen a copy of the printed evidence taken before this Committee already ?—No, absolutely not a line. 18. This that has been printed ?—I did not know any had been printed. 14. You remember going to see Mr. Wood ? —Yes. 15. Do you remember asking him to make a declaration; —No; I did not ask him to make any declaration. I asked him to give me an account of the occurrence as far as his memory would help him. 16. Of what occurrence ?—Of Trooper McDonald carrying despatches to Tauranga. 17. Did you mention Mr. Wrigg's name?— Yes, I did. 18. Then, did you say the despatches carried by Trooper McDonald and Wrigg or by Trooper McDonald alone?—As far as I remember by Trooper McDonald alone. I never knew Wrigg carried despatches. 19. Had you heard so?—I had seen it stated in the papers recently. It was not my own impression . 20. You drew Wood's declaration, did you not?—No, I drew no declaration. I wrote from Mr. Wood's dictation the account. 21. Then, the words were Mr. Wood's and not your own ?—Yes, generally they were. He asked me to write it out, because he was an indifferent scholar. He procured ink and paper, arid I just wrote out what he told me. 22. Did he tell you, as stated in his declaration, that when they reached the scene of the murder it was then too late to do anything, so they took cover in the scrub at Waiwhakatoitoi, keeping their horses bridled and saddled, and tethered to their legs?— Yes; he told me that. 23. Are you quite sure he told you that ?—I have said he did. 24. None of these are your own words?—<No. 25. On a small detail like that you would not be making a mistake?—l was not there myself, and trusted entirely to his statement. I could never supply details of that sort. 26. How do you mean you were not there ?—I was not with the troop on that occasion. 27. Now, Mr. Wood says there is a mistake in that part of the declaration. That he never said, "the horses were bridled and saddled"?— Well, perhaps I misunderstood him on that point. Mr. Wood was very clear on that point, and said how angry he had been to find he had been holding his horse all night when a few yards away the next morning he found luxuriant grass which he might have given his horse the benefit of. 28. We have in the declaration of Mr. Wood : " The same evening it was arranged that Trooper McDonald was to go to Tauranga with despatches." Are those Wood's own words?— Yes, 29. Then he tells us here, in giving evidence, that Mr. Wrigg's name should have been put before Trooper McDonald's, that it should have been Mr. Wrigg and then Trooper McDonald ?— That may have been an omission on my part, or on Mr. Wood's part, but I read the statement over to him and he made no corrections or additions. 30. Is it not a curious thing that Mr. Wrigg's name should be left out of that particular line when it is the whole crux of it ?—No, not at all. 31. Simply an ordinary accident capable of the explanation you have given ?—I have said I never heard Mr. Wrigg had been sent to carry despatches. It was unusual to send an officer to carry despatches. They are always sent by troopers. 32. That does not apply to volunteers if they are called for?— No. 33. You are not an officer in the Imperial Forces, are you ? —I have served with the Imperial Forces in New Zealand. 34. Do you know Mr. Edwards?— Which Mr. Edwards? 35. He was acting interpreter to Colonel Lyon ?—Yes. 36. He is a very loquacious individual, is he not—full of anecdote and story ?—Fairly so. I think he is a remarkably well-informed man. A very versatile man indeed. 37. Are you aware that Mr. Edwards says in his affidavit that Wrigg volunteered to go«with McDonald?—l have not seen Mr. Edwards's affidavit. 38. Mr. Edwards made an affidavit and said: " McDonald took the lespatches, and Wrigg only -volunteered to go with him " ?—That is the first I have heard of it. 39. Do you suggest that Wrigg did not do this ride?—l believe he did accompany McDonald ; at least, I have been so informed. 40. Were you at Opotiki at the time these men left with the despatches ?—No. 41. Then, what makes you believe Wrigg did go ?—I have heard so. 42. Where from?— Well, I think I was at Ohope at the time, or Whakatane. I may have met them there. 43. I want to know this. You are satisfied Wrigg rode, but you are not satisfied he carried the despatches. Now, how do you know he rode ?—I say I heard lately he rode. 44. At the time?— Afterwards! 45. Then the subject was discussed?—ln those days we knew everybody who left Opotiki, and everybody who came into it. If anybody travelled to Tauranga it would bo known, or if anybody came from Tauranga it would be known in thu village. 46. Have you any records to show where you were in June, 18G8—any records you can produce here ?—No ; I have no records at all; because a jouriml I kept from 1852 to 1881 was burnt in Laefy and Campbell's fire in Wellington. It was a journal showing my whereabouta and work for every day.