8

[a. D. HAMILTON

I.—B.

19. You mean that you built your own house? —Yes. Then I went Home and got married. 20 What did you think you were entitled to take out of the estate as manager?—l was entitled to take £500 a year I could have got that on any large place if I had been manager I had been manager and part owner of the Tukutuku Station as well as this. 21 It was very profitable?—l had some sheep there that I did very well with. 22 How much do you think you were morally entitled to of the value of that estate at the time of foreclosing?—l was entitled to everything but the bank's debt and interest. The interest of the bank was much higher than my neighbours paid. 23 Did you at any time fail to pay the interest when due?— Being an overdraft, it was dimcult to say how this was taken. The year before the sale the bank say it was paying 12 per cent It is given in detail, and signed by Averill. It paid them 8 per cent., and there was £3,000 over (See details signed by Averill.) 24. You say you never did fail to pay the interest ?—That is so. I got the bank-manager in Napier to make up my books to show what I wanted to borrow Then I went up to Auckland with the book made up "Of course, the money could not be got in Auckland When I got back to Napier there was an entry in the pass-book, " Undercharged interest, £1,200. 25. Mr Stall-worthy] When did you first borrow from the bank?—lhe first loan was from the Loan and Mercantile. , . , 26. When did that begin?— About 1877 They had it for three years, and they advised me to try and get the money from the bank. 27 You had the money from the bank and Loan and Mercantile for fifteen years?— Just so. 28 When the bank asked you to help them to sell, could you have done so?— Not in a month, of course I got this forty-year lease, which was exceptional altogether, from the goodwill ot the Natives They said, "You will undertake never to sell this lease." I said I did not want to sell it When the bank took this action the Natives said, "We have given you this lease on the strength of your not selling it, and now you have got into some sort of mess, and you have got the lease for forty years." , - T . , 29 Your reason for not assisting them to sell was because you had promised the Natives not to sell? —That was my reason. . . 30 After the foreclosure did you offer to buy the property?—l made various offers, but they would not have anything less than the whole amount down 31 Did you go Home for the money?.-I was at Home in 1872 and 1873 when I got the money, and I got it for 5 per cent. There was no difficulty at Home, although it did not look as if there was anything to be got for New Zealand. 32 The bank bought in in 1889, in March; they allowed the account to run in youi: name until 1890; then what took place ?—Then they said that this was being transferred to the Estates Company, and that they would perhaps prefer to have their own manager, though there u> quite a different story told in the Supreme Court evidence, that I was trying to buy the property tor .Mrs. Hamilton. . . ~ ■, A ,* 33 Do you think the bank allowed the account to run in your name because they account ?-Because they knew the property would be managed by me better than by any on«s they could get, particularly with the Native question All the people knew that if they got me to manage one of the Natives' affairs it would go through. 34 You do not think the Act covered up any illegality in their purchase ?—1 think so 35 When they got the Act through in 1889 there was no longer any reason for this?— Just so • there is no doubf about that. They thought, as long as I was there there would be no trouble with the Natives, and that the property would be bought by degrees. 36 When you declined to assist the bank in finding a purchaser you knew they were sellm| you up did you not?—l knew that for some reason or other—and I suppose, for the want of money—they meant to do this thing which they had promised not to do. 37 When you refused or declined to help them to find a purchaser, you knew at that time that if you ref Jed they were going to sell you up ?-Yes, I suppose so. It was absurd, with money so scarce as it was at the time, II I°n U ce C Tou wele h before, you have been to the Supreme Court ?-Yes. £■ Tt HtmiltolT *£££*£** property passed out of the hands ° f th :2 ba it k w^Ltuderi e n r ™ro P erties handed over to the Assets Realization Boards-Yes. Si Do you know in what year the Assets Board disposed of the property to the Government? iessiiiia his evidence. Approximate Cost of not given; printing (1,500 copies), £5.

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