W. B. V. PBABOE.j

43

1.—12 a,

has taken up his place recently, and has put on strange cattle. He has only been there a month or two. He will tell you what he has lost. He has been more unfortunate than I have. Some of the cattle he has lost are some cattle which 1 sold to him; but they were not running near the river. They came from my Te Wheka property. 110. You are quite sure there is no epidemic among the cattle?— Certainly there is nothing but blood-poisoning. 111. Have you had within the hist two or three years any disease amongst your cattle? — No, none amongst my stock. 112. What is the class of cattle on. your farm?— Young stock. 113. You state it is principally young stock?—l had some breeding-stock, but some of the calves died on their mothers before they had been weaned, and 1 lost on the cows. Some of the cows I took away. 114. You told us that you bought lately about seven hundred head of young cattle. Why did you purchase these when they were dying so badly? Why did you not purchase some other class of stock?—l had reason to believe that these flax-mills would be stopped from putting the stuff into the river. The cattle were the class of cattle which showed the most profit. Even though 1 have lost fifty, and the others do well from now onwards, I will do better than if I had bought older cattle. 115. With regard to the action which you and your neighbours brought respecting the pollution of the water, was not, the judgment of the Court to the effect that it was not a question as to whether the water was polluted so that it injured stock, but that the water was less pure below these mills than above them; and that, according to law, the Judge had no alternative but to give the judgment he did. Is not that a fact? —Yes. 116. The judgment was that the water was less pure below- these mills than above them? —Yes. 117. And that he had no alternative but to grant an injunction on that account? —Yes. He gave his judgment on the analysis of the water, not on our evidence. He ignored our evidence. 118. He did not give his judgment on the fact that the water was so bad below the flax-mills that it injured cattle or other young stock? —J should say that the judgment was given on the state of the water at that time of the year when the sample was taken. The sample was taken after a Hood. It was the most lenient judgment he could possibly give on the evidence. Mr. Baldwin: What is suggested by Mr. Bollard is quite correct. The Judge did not find that it killed any cattle at all, but found that there had been pollution of the water in some respects. 119. Mr. Nathan.] Before coming down to the Manawatu, Mr. Pearce, you were a dairyfarmer in Taranaki? —Yes. 120. You were farming adjacent to the Riverdale Cheese-factory?— Yes, right across the road. 121. It is the largest cheese-factory under one roof in the world, is it not?— Yes. 122. And the water that passes the cheese-factory went through your property? —Yes, 123. Did you ever find any injury to your stock in drinking that water?— No. 124. Your stock used to drink that water?— Yes. 125. The Chairman.] You say that so-many of the settlers joined you in this action for an injunction, and we were told yesterday that it had cost so-much. Did these others join with you in the expenses? —Yes, they signed an agreement. I joined Mr. Green, and the others came in. 126. It was a joint affair in all respects?— Yes, the agreement was put in in the Court. It, was drawn up by Mr. Cooper 127. You have enumerated so many settlers, their acreages and values. Are all these people dairying, or only some of them ?—Only some of them—only the smaller settlers. 128. What proportion of the land would you say?—A. very small proportion of the land. They would be about half the settlers. The three largest settlers are not. dairying. 129. Is that a true picture of Mr. Levien's mill [showing photograph]? Does that represent his mill? —No; that is Mr. Jarvis's mill. 130. Is that mill at work now? —Yes, I believe so. I have never seen the mill. 131. Do you know Mr. Levien's mill?— Yes. 132. Is it farther away from the river than Mr. Jarvis's? —No, it is quite close on the river. 133. Is that mill at work now?— Yes. 134. Can you say of your own knowledge that the effluent from the mill is discharged as directly into the Oroua as was described by Mr. Levien in the case of his mill? —I had the information given to me by .Mr. bow on Saturday. He said that both mills were still putting it in the river. They claim the right to put it in. Two of them claim the right to put tow into the river. 135. Can you tell the Committee what artesian water is available on the properties you have described? —I had artesians in one paddock, and I found that I lost several big bullocks with bad pizzles. That is a drawback to the whole district. The water, particularly the artesian, is very bad. 136. It is bad from the artesians? —Yes. The land is saturated. The land is very porous. You can drive 75 ft. or 80 ft. and then you strike gravel; and further down, at 120 ft., you strike gravel, and even there the water you get is bad. The water percolates through the land. You can smell the water that comes up. If you let the sun on it it soon becomes stinking, and the pipes will not stand it : they fall to pieces. 137. To what do you attribute the corrosion and falling-to-pieces of the pipes?—lron in the water. 138. Not to the flax? —That, is away from the question of the mills altogether.