L—lla.

j; W. POYNTON.j

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133. Was £24,880 of that paid over on the 21st August, 1911? —I have not got the dates when it was paid over. 134. Was £70,050 approved for Blenheim ?—There was £65,000, £1,500, £1,750, £1,000, and £7,150. 135. And £21,500 to Dargaville?—Yes. 136. Of which £20,000 was paid over on the 27th November, 1911?— I do not know anything about the times. A. return is being prepared. 137. Was £13,695 approved for Devonport?—Yes, 138. £13,500 for Elthani ?—Yes. 139. Was £20,620 approved for Greymouth ?—Yes. 140. Was £78,000 approved for Hastings?— Yes. 141. Was £27,500 approved for Marton?—Yes. 142. Was £48,000 approved for Miramar? —Yes. 143. Was £30,000 approved for Mount Albert?— Yes. 144. And £31,700 for Mount Eden?— Yes. 145. Was £10,000 approved for Napier?— Yes. 146. And Newmarket £35,935 ?—Yes. 147. New Plymouth £11.225 ?—Yes. 148. Onehunga. £45,9501—Ye5. 149. Pukekohe £12,500?— Yes. 150. Spreydon £20,000?— Yes. 151. Was £21,845 approved for Taumarunui? —Yes. 152. And Taranaki £12,000?— Yes. 153. Timaru £116,970?—Ye5. 154. Waitara £20,425? —The amount finally approved on the printed return was £18,570. 155. Was £65,875 'approved for Wanganui?—Yes. 156. And East Wanganui £I,l22?—Yes. 157. Westport £10,300?— Yes. 158. And Whangarei £25,000?— Yes. 159. Now, I want to know what moneys you had available during the first year, because there is some misunderstanding about that. What were your loan authorities?— The first year, up to the 31st March, 1910, £500,000, and after that £1,000,000 a year. The first period" was only portion of a year. 160. How much did you borrow out of that year?—Up to the loth March, £400,000. 161. How much did you get rid of by way of loan that year?—l could not say without getting a return out, but we did not get rid of very much at the start. 162. How much was loaned out the first year to the 31st March, 1910 —the amount actually paid over? —£10,000 is what is shown. 163. Loans to local authorities? —Yes. "Sundry loans, £400,000; accrued interest payable on account of loans, £901 7s. 2d. : total, £409,901 7s. 2d. Advances on mortgage, £10,000. Interest receivable — accrued, £7 13s. sd. Sinking Fund Account — Public Trustee, £4,000. Profit and Loss Account, £636 3s. 3d, Cash in hand and in bank, £386,257 10s. 6d." 164. That was uninvested and costing us money?— Yes. 165. Had you power to invest it?—-We had so much money. We had power, but no opportunity. 166. I asked you whether you had power to invest it? —Yes, we had power to invest it. 167. Had you power to invest it temporarily?— Yes. 168. Under what clause of the Act?— Different clauses. , 169. Will you look at clause 27 of the Act?— Yes. It reads, "Any of the moneys in the Advances Account may, until required for the purposes of this Act, be temporarily invested from time to time, as the Minister directs, in any Government securities or in any securities wherein for the time being an}- balances in the Public Account may lawfully be invested, and all interest received in respect of any such investment shall be paid into the Advances Account, For all the purposes of this Act, and of every other Act ■ relating to the investment of moneys, the debentures or other securities issued by the Superintendent under this Act shall be deemed to be Government securities." " 35. (1.) With the consent in writing of the Minister, funds belonging to one branch and not immediately required for its purposes may be temporarily transferred to and for the use of any other branch, but shall be transferred as soon as practicable. (2.) A statement of every such transfer shall, within ten days thereafter, be laid before both Houses of Parliament if then in session, or if not, then within ten days after the commencement of the next ensuing- session." 170. You had power to invest it but did not think it necessary to do so? —The other branches were full of money. I saw the banks to see whether they would take a temporary investment, but they would not. 171. Why did you borrow it? —If we did not borrow it we would not have had it when we wanted it. The whole idea of the Act was to get the money from the Post Office. If we had refused that money from the Post Office they would have put it out, and we should not have got it when we wanted it. 172. You had then money in hand uninvested losing interest? —Yes. 173. The Department was losing money? —Yes. 174. Can you without any delay tell me the amount you borrowed within the succeeding year and the year after that ?—They are all here in the return I put in this morning. 175. £400,000 was the first year—how much was borrowed the next year? —£575,000. 176. And the next year?—£sl2,ooo.