H.- 30.

II

(a.) The financial position of the said Poverty Bay Farmers' Meat Company (Limited) before and at the time of the said sale, and the matters and dealings which resulted in that financial position : (b.) Any negotiations which had previously occurred between the directors or any director or agent of the said company with Messrs. Armours (N.Z.) Limited, or any company associated with them, or with any company controlled by Messrs. Armours (N.Z.) Limited, or any company associated with them : (c.) Any negotiations which had previously occurred between the directors or any director or agent of the said company with Messrs. Vestey Bros. (Limited), or with any company controlled by Messrs. Yestey Bros. (Limited), or with any agent of Messrs. Vestey Bros. (Limited), or of such last-mentioned company : (d.) The state of the account of the Poverty Bay Farmers' Meat Company with the said bank : (■e.) The position of Messrs. Yestey Bros. (Limited) in Poverty Bay as the then-existing owners of other freezing-works: (/.) Whether other purchasers than Messrs. Vestey Bros. (Limited) willing to pay the price paid by Messrs. Vestey Bros. (Limited) might reasonably have been found by the said bank : 2. Whether the company could have been expected to re-establish itself in a condition of financial stability had the bank not exercised its right of sale of the company's premises, and whether the bank could have reasonably been expected to allow the company's indebtedness to it to be further increased : 3. Whether, having regard to all the circumstances, the Minister of Agriculture, in consenting to a transfer of the meat-export slaughterhouse license for the company's works to Messrs. Vestey Bros. (Limited), acted in any manner contrary to his duty or contrary to the public interest : And further to inquire into and report upon the following matters concerning the conduct of the Chairman of the Meat Export Control Board (a person appointed to that office by the Government) in the performance of the duties imposed on that Board by the Meat Export Control Act, 1921-22, that is to say, — (i.) The action of the Chairman and of the said Board in relation to the non-inclusion of the ship named the " Admiral Codrington" in freight contracts : (ii.) The action of the Chairman and of the said Board in acquiescing in the sale of the company's premises to Messrs. Vestey Bros. (Limited), or to a company controlled by Messrs. Vestey Bros. (Limited) : (iii.) Whether the conduct or action of the Chairman was contrary to his public duty or to the public interest upon all or any of the seven grounds set forth in a letter dated the fourteenth June, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-four, addressed by W. D. Lysnar, M.P., to the Prime Minister. And with the like advice and consent I do further appoint you, the said John Alexander, to be the Chairman of the said Commission. And you are hereby authorized to conduct any inquiries under these presents at such times and places as you deem expedient, with power to adjourn from time to time and place to place as you think fit, and to call before you and examine, on oath or otherwise, such persons as you think capable of affording you information as to the matters aforesaid, and to call for and examine all such books, papers, plans, writing, documents, or records as you deem likely to afford you information on any such matters.