24

PAPERS EELATIVE TO THE

D.—No. 1

and Education Board ? "We were aware that he was Treasurer of those Boards and held the balances in his hands. Were the Auditors of the Treasurer's accounts also Auditors of the Eoad Board accounts ? Tes. Several trial balances of the Provincial Treasurer's accounts were made by the Bosird of Audit. On the 28th February they found an apparent deficiency of £1037 Is. 3d. Did you determine the Treasurer's cash balance on that day, or had you any means of doing so at the time you found the above apparent deficiency ? No. "Will you refer to page 4of the printed report of the Select Committee. It is there stated in your evidence that the Superintendent told you that he had only £400 of the Eoad Board balance, the remainder being in the Treasurer's hands. Is the report correct; and have you any doubt of the correctness of your memory on this point ? On this point lam quite correct, and will adhere to my former answer. Mr. James Paterson, examined. Have you received any communication from your correspondents, Messrs. N. and N. Lockhart, advising you of the payment of £1000 on account of the railway plant for the Clutha Coal Fields ? No. Has the order been shipped, and the bill of lading and invoice handed to the Provincial Agents, Messrs. Crawford and Auld ? By advices dated 28th October, I have been instructed that the order was completed and in the course of shipment. Then your agents, the Messrs. Lockhart, could not in the usual course of business be in. the receipt yet of the £1000 P No. In giving the receipt to Mr. Macandrew for £1000, you did so on the understanding not that the money had been remitted to your agents, but that it would be paid over to them by the Provincial Agents on the due shipment of the order ? Exactly ; and we have no complaint to make, as far as the transaction has yet gone. * # * The day after the above examination, Messrs. Paterson and Co. informed the Commissioner that they had received advices from Europe, 20th November, 18G0, and that the money for the railway plant had not reached the Edinburgh agents at the date of shipment, 24th November, 1860. Extract from the letter which accompanied the invoice and bill of lading, dated 24th November, 18G0 : —" "We have again seen Mr. Auld, who has letters from Mr. Macandrew, dated September, but he never yet has mentioned the money he said he was to send, or rather said he had sent, on account of the railway plant. This is one of the worst cases we ever knew in business, and earnestly we wish we had never heard of it. "We have faithfully done our part in the full belief that we were to have been faithfully done to ; but here we are brought to lay out about £800 for goods we were to be paid for in cash as soon as shipped. They are shipped in our name, and we have endorsed the bill of lading to you, which you will only deliver to the Provincial Government when you are paid the amount, and interest from the date of the bill of lading, with three and a half months' extra interest, so as the money may reach us here." Mr. Cheyne, examined. > This is a cheque which you presented at the Union Bank, which you have endorsed : who gave this into your hands, and to whom did you give the cash ? Ido not recollect, so many cheques pass through my hands ; but on no occasion that I can recollect did the Superintendent, in the presence of Mr. McGlashan, hand me a cheque for £500 to be cashed at the Union Bank. Mr. Logan, examined. "Will you produce for my information the Superintendent's letter to the Provincial Treasurer, authorizing the issue of £400 or £500 to the Accountant of the Treasury as petty cash ? Furnished. * # * The letter directs the above sum to be retained as petty cash, to which Mr. Street was to have access. Mr. Eexnolds, examined. Does the National Bank of Scotland usually issue its Bills of Exchange in duplicate ? I believe they are always issued in triplicate. Did Mr. Macandrew state to you that he had remitted the " Gala " money to Messrs. Gladstone and Co. ? He said that he had remitted the money. I asked him then to show me the third of exchange, and I would have signed the receipt; which he declined to do. Has Mr. Macandrew, in conversation with you previous to the discovery of the defalcations of the Provincial Treasurer, alluded to Mr. J. McGlashan being in pecuniary difficulties, and of his having assisted him out of them ? No, not to my remembrance. In reference to the remittance of moneys to Messrs. Gladstone and Co. for immigration purposes, were they made by Messrs. Macandrew and Co. ? In the cases previous to the " Savilla," I satisfied myself that the moneys for immigration purposes had been satisfactorily adjusted with the ship ; but in the case of the " Savilla," I had reason to believe that a Bill of Exchange which had been shown me as a bill for remittance to Messrs. Gladstone and Co. had been sent to Melbourne for negotiation. I have not been informed that Gladstone and Co. have received payment for that vessel. It was in consequence of this that I refused in the case of the " Gala " to sign receipts until such times as I had received the money along with him, and had lodged it at the bank to a separate account. With whom did the Messrs. Gladstone and Co. correspond on the subject of the contract for immigration purposes? With Messrs. Macandrew and Co. and with myself. The ships were always consigned to J. Macandrew and Co. Messrs. Gladstone and Co. have given me instructions similar to those sent to James Macandrew and Co. respecting the payment of moneys due in New Zealand on account of the " Gala." You are requested to hand in the original letter, in order that an extract may be made of the instructions alluded to. I can give no other answer than the one I have already given. With respect to the letter of Messrs. Gladstone and Co., I have not been able to lay my hands upon it as yet. I,