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86. Have you any books or accounts to show what you were earning off this property? —Yes. 87. Will you produce them to the Commission /—Yes. 88. Do you keep a banking account? —All the money went into the land. 89. Have you ever kept a bank account /—Yes. 90. Have you one now? —Yes, but I am sorry to say it is small. 91. You had a flax-mill?— No. 92. That rather crippled you? —No. 93. You are not working it now?— No. 94. How much did you lose in the flax-milling business/ I hai has nothing to do with tins question. 05. Have you any land or interests at the Awaiti, on the left bank ot ihe Waihou?—No. 96. Do you run ii lot of stock on the Awaiti / -Only three bullocks. 97. These Manuka Blocks which you took up six months ago. where are they/—Close to the railway-line. 98. Those blocks that were submerged in March last/—Yes; I had some cattle there at the lime, and they were drowned. 99. The water broke away from the Ohinemuri River, and came over those blocks during the last flood? —Yes. 100. Spread out over .he railway, and washed away many chains of the line?— Yes, it washed away some of the railway-line. ' 101. What rebate of rent did you get from your landlord by reason of the silt being deposited on the laud? —Not one farthing. 102. What is the length of the lease / — Twelve years. 103. Who is your landlord?— George Cooper. 10 1. What length if lease did you get of the Manuka Block?—It was only an accommodation for twelve months. 105. You have got four months to run of Manuka?— About that. 106. And one year to run of Piraurahi? —Yes. 107. Mr. Hanna.] You say that all this block Piraurahi is affected by floods, and that silt is deposited to a depth of 2 ft. 'down to 0 in. I suppose it varies a good deal, and that sometimes there is 4ft. of silt. What becomes of the extra 2ft. 6 in. of silt —where docs it go to/ The silt is over the whole area from 6 in. upwards, but there is a large area which has only a thin coating over it. 108. You said that sometimes there is as much as 4 ft. on it, and that it varies from 2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 in.: what has become of the extra 2ft./ -has it been washed away or been blown away/ You have already heard about the big outlet drain. This silt comes in. aud when il gets dry and there comes a strong fresh il drives the dry stuff further back and deposits it further out on my property. That is how it gets all over the place. 100. Bow man- freshes do you have/- Last winter we had a fresh pretty well every week for about four weeks running. 110. Have you ever examined the deposit of silt on your land/ —Yes. 111. Wlial does it consist of? —Quartz ground up. 112. Are you sure it is not pumice sand?— Yes. 113. All that you have seen are fine particles of ground-up quartz .'—Yes. 114. Have you ever semi any of this whitewash that has been referred to on your land—the .cum mi lie- grass/ There is a kind of slime. Il is finer than the tailings. 115. Is it white/ No, Ido not exactly call i, white. 116. Does it consist of these line particles of sand/ Yes, it is ground liner. 117. You can see the particles in it/ —There are some of what I call rough tailings, and then there is the slime. 118. Fine panicles that is what it is?— Yes. 110. Mr. Mueller.] In connection with the H l-gate that has been mentioned, do you retnember any occasion on which that H l-gate was in good working-order and a couple of inches of silt was deposited on Mr. Cooper's land? —No. 120. Do you remember Mr. Buchanan having a'crop of potatoes on Cooper's hind/- Yes. I remember he had some oats. That land is between the road and the river. I remember thai Mr. Buchanan had some oats, because we chaffed ii for him. 121. Do you remember the Hood being over there during that crop, and depositing silt on the potatoes ? —Yes, I believe he did get his potatoes spoilt. I have seen that the water has colne over the bank, but it was not as bail* as when the flood-gate was not there. 122. Was the crop of potatoes taken out within the last ten years ' Yes. 123. Do you know where this new reduction plant is proposed to be ended down the river/ Yes, the silting plant. 121. Is that land where they propose erecting that plant on about the same level as your Piraurahi land/ —Itis a bit lower. The bulk of the land is a bit lower. 125. With respect to the crop of oats, is it not a fact that you cropped thai piece of land and that you have taken several crops off the land? —Yes: we drained and stumped that piece, and worked it up well. Everybody in the neighbourhood admired the crop. 120. The Chmr man'] How much of the 210 acres did you stump.' From 20 to 30 acres. We surface sowed the land, and burnt it, and laid it down. 127. Mr. Mueller.] This was not one solitary crop that you have taken off .luring eleven years?— No. 128. You have taken many crops off/ Yes; we used also to tak< hay off for the cattle for the winter.