H. S. BILBY.]

55

F.—B.

8. Who addressed the envelope?— Some of those who addressed the envelopes in the afternoon; but I put in the tickets myself. 9. You did not address the envelope, and you do not know who did?— No. 10. And you particularly looked at the address before you posted the letter?—No; but I know it was there because I saw his name. Mr. Ostler: That, completes my evidence, sir, except that I would like to put in evidence some copies of the Tablet and the Green Ray. Roman Catholic publications, to prove the statements I opened with, and the statements made by Mr. Elliott in the box, that week by week they are making seditious and disloyal utterances in this country. 1 do not want, to read them, but I want your Worship to read them. Mr. Gray: I confess, sir, I cannot see the relevance of this. My learned friend wants your Worship to "be assured that some other publication contains seditious matter for which I suppose it ought to be prosecuted. That may or may not be true; but, after all, does not the question of responsibility for the prosecution or non-prosecution of this journal rest with the police, and how can it be imported into this inquiry? His Worship: Possibly I will forward it on. Mr. Ostler: I want to put in correspondence between the Government and myself in reference to this matter—my letter to the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister's long wire in reply, a further wire 1 sent him, and two or three letters which have passed between Mr. Gray and myself since he has come up. Mr. Gray: How the correspondence between Mr. Ostler and the Prime Minister can interest His Worship I do not see. Mr. Ostler: I presume it will do no harm. His Worship: It is personal to myself, one part of it. Mr. Ostler: That is not personal to me, you understand, sir. I was only acting as I am instructed. I would like to put it in. His Worship: I do not see the slightest objection, Mr. Ostler. Mr. Ostler: That closes my case. Mr. Gray: Before my learned friend closes his case, I want to know whether he is not going to call the witness to prove the alleged orders in the Post-office. His Worship said that evidently Mr. Ostler hoped to be able to establish the fact by the production of the order-book when the Post Office officials were examined. Mr. Ostler: I presume my friend is ready to adhere to his undertaking to call any officers of the Post Office required. His Worship: If during the progress of Mr. Gray's side of the case you want any particular Post Office official and will notify me, I will undertake to see he is produced.

Auckland, Monday, 20th August, 1917. Mr. Gray's Opening Address. Mr. Gray: May it please your Worship : In outlining the case for the Post Office I desire to express complete concurrence with the observations made by Mr. Ostler as to the importance of these charges, both in the interests of the public and for the reputation of the Post Office. The Post Office, as has been said, is an institution to which every person in the land has access. It is an institution in which it is desirable that everybody who uses it should have complete confidence, and that nothing should take place to shake that, confidence. It, is an institution which has produced honourable and distinguished men in the past —men who have spent the best years of their lives in its service, actuated by a strict sense of duty. . The Post Office has always made for efficiency, and ever since the foundation of the colony that aim has been uppermost. In the last quarter of a century its growth has been enormous. It handles very large quantities of correspondence in addition to other matter, and its operations call for considerable skill. • Nevertheless,, having regard to the magnitude of the operations and the matters dealt, with by it, the mistakes which have been made on the part of any of its officials have been comparatively few indeed. The causes of complaint have also been few in number. It is the practice of the Post Office when complaints are made to make a thorough investigation into every complaint, and to remove the cause if it can be removed, while measures are taken to ensure that there shall be no recurrence of the matter complained of. Of course, the Post Office relies upon the complainant to furnish such particulars as may be necessary to prosecute the investigation. The result of the practice has been the continued and unshaken confidence of the public—a confidence that is thoroughly well deserved, and of which the public of New Zealand have cause to be proud. It has been left to Mr. Elliott, supported by his friends, to attempt to shake that confidence by making wholesale charges against the Post Office officials in this city, of corruption and prejudice, and to engender a feeling of suspicion where hitherto there has been no suspicion. One cannot help thinking, however, that Mr. Elliott and his friends are not moved so much by a sense of grievance against the Post Office as by a desire to make that institution a sor£ of stalking-horse, and that, his attacks upon it are only incidental to his attack, upon the censorship established over his political association, and upon the activities of the Roman Catholic Church, and that he hopes by these methods to assist in the prosecution of those matters which he has expounded upon the