1.—12 a.

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F. J. NATHAN.j

adopted every method calculated to effectually prevent or diminish the pollution. Proof that the defendant has adopted the method, if any, prescribed by the Department of Public Health and the Department of Stock and Agriculture and the Public Works Department shall be conclusive evidence that the defendant has adopted every method calculated to effectually prevent or diminish such pollution." That would meet your point, would it not?—l think so. Mr. Buick: Do you suggest that as an addition to the present Bill? Mr. Baldwin: No, I will suggest it later on in lieu of certain provisions in the Bill. 15. Mr. Baldwin,] Y T ou have had to do with flax-milling, Mr. Nathan? —Unfortunately, yes. 16. You know from your experience that if the tow is discharged in large quantities into a sluggish river it has a tendency to cause obstructions in the river-bed, has it not? —I should think so. 17. And if these obstructions are sufficiently serious they may tend to the erosion of the banks of the river, and also to the flooding of the adjoining low-level land ?—I am not an expert in flax-milling or river matters. James Prouse further examined. (No. 16.) Witness: I should like to make a short statement. Some fifteen years ago I was asked by the Timber Conference to write a paper on the conservation of forests, which met with the approval of the whole Conference, and was recommended to the Government. One of those suggestions was that when a bush lay r at the back of another man's property the miller who desired to mill that bush should have the right, by paying compensation, to access, in order to bring that timber out. The great question in connection with the dairy industry is the drainage. I think it might be a suggestion to the Committee or to Parliament to make provision for the protection of the industry by inserting clauses to provide for drainage in the cases that have been mentioned by Mr. Hunt and others. The dairy industry is an industry that should be protected and helped. Some gentlemen came to me and said, "We want to put up a creamery." I said, " I stipulate two things—that drainage is provided for, and the site is suitable; and you can do what you like about the rest." In a question of this kind I should say that the proposals should go before the Health Department and the Agricultural Department, and they should say which was the best site in the interests of the industry. But some man, perhaps, will not let us go there. He will say, " I have got the best of the land, and that land is worth £50 to me, but I ask £500 of you people." Should there not be some method whereby the industry should be protected, while no loss was imposed on the individual? 1. The Chairman.] Would you make a statement on behalf of the sawmillers as to whether you wish any amendment of the existing law?—l have not looked into that question. 2. You have read the Bill?— Yes, but there is no mention of sawmills in it. 3. Yes; look at clause 2—"waste products"?—l see. With regard to a sawmill, the waste product from a sawmill is generally sawdust. If it is a fair-sized stream the sawdust goes down the river—in flood-time particularly—and mixes with the soil and improves the beaches along the course. If the stream is a small one, the sawdust will fill it up, and in that case it causes an injury. We had a sawmill in a place called Whiteman's Valley, about twenty miles from here, and after we had built the mill we were told that the sawdust must not go into the stream; so we fenced in a little swamp, and we fenced it in with barricades one behind the other, and the water ran into that and went through, and that settled the difficulty. With regard to fish, it made no difference whatever. There were fish in this creek. Sinclair's mill at Wainuiomata ran for years, and the sawdust went into that stream, and I have seen the fishermen 2 or 3 chains below the sawmill dressing the trout they had caught in the stream. But you must not put in rata sawdust; if you do it will kill the trout. If you put sawdust from white-pine or red-pine or matai into a fair-sized stream —say, 6 ft. wide and running 6 in. of water —it will not hurt the fish. If the stream is a little larger than that you can understand that in flood-time it sweeps the sawdust out on either side, and it makes lovely banks and improves the land. If the stream is bigger than that it is lost. 4. Mr. Sykes.] Of course, you are aware that sawdust is really dealt with now under the Fisheries Act? —Yes. 5. When this Bill speaks of waste products in regard to sawmills it is really dealing with the bark and odd pieces of wood and one thing and another that might get into the stream?— If the stream were a small one, or if it were a crooked one, the stuff would lie. If you left it to a certain Department to say whether a man was doing injury or not, I think that would settle the question. But if you say that no man shall put sawdust into a stream you are injuring an industry for the sake of, perhaps, half a dozen fish. 6. As a sawmiller have you had any difficulty in connection with this matter, outside of the case you mentioned? —No. At Levin we ran a mill for nearly twenty years. We took all the sawdust out and burnt it. 7. That can be conveniently done, can it not? —It could there, but it could not at all places. All that las a sawmiller a.sk is that a case shall be judged upon its merits. If an injury is done, then the miller must pay or give it up.. 8. I presume that sawmillers are familiar at present with the Fisheries Act? —Yes; I know that they must not put sawdust into a stream. 9. Therefore in the erection of a mill they take that into account, do they not, and avoid the need for putting sawdust into the stream? —If a sawmill is erected on the bank of a fair-sized river, and putting the sawdust in would not militate against the fish except to a slight extent, why should the miller be penalized in the interests of sport, when perhaps the sport would be worth only £10 to the community? If you say that no sawdust shall go in, a convenient site and the advantage of making a profit for the mill, which means a profit to all the workers, are to a certain extent lost.