P.—No. 4.

10

PROCEEDINGS OE SELECT COMMITTEE

12. In other words, you paid back the whole sum of £24,431 2s. 2d. less £31 18s. 9d. ?—That is tho case; both the similarity of the sums and the difference are accidental. 13. Will you explain what you mean by saying that the difference is accidental ? —I mean that wo did not intentionally pay back £31 18s. 9d. less than the given sum. 14. Do you desire to send in a written statement for the information of the Committee ?—I have already furnished Mr. Stafford with a written statement, my history of the transaction. On motion of Mr. Carleton, Mr. Woodward was thanked for his attendance. On motion of Mr. Carleton, Besolved, That the Chairman be directed to call for the papers furnished to the Hon. Mr. Stafford by Mr. Woodward, bearing upon tho question referred to the Committee. On motion of Mr. Carleton, Besolved, That the Chairman be directed to call for Mr. FitzGerald's present correspondence with the Government. On motion of Mr. Carleton, Resolved, That the Committee adjourn till Wednesday, the 2nd day of September, at 10 o'clock a.m.

Wednesday, 2nd September, 1868. There being no quorum, the Chairman summoned the Committee for the following day at 10--o'clock a.m. Thursday, 3rd September, IS6B. The Committee met pursuant to notice. Present : Major Atkinson, Mr. Rolleston, Mr. Cargill, Mr. Tancred. Mr. Carleton, Minutes of previous meeting read and confirmed. The Chairman notified to the Committee that he had received from Mr. FitzGerald, tho Comptroller, a letter, which the Chairman proceeded to read as follows : — Sib, — Comptroller's Office, Ist September, 1868. I beg to correct a statement in my evidence given to the Committee to-day. There is nonote upon the requisition of the 27th June. But I appear to have entered the contents of that requisition in my accounts separately from all others, under a special heading, " Permanent Charges issued under doubtful sanction of law," and to have appended to the entry the following note: — " N.B.—These sums were issued under a special requisition, in compliance with the wish of tho Colonial Treasurer, in order that tho money might bo lodged at interest at the Bank." I have, &c, To the Chairman of the James EDW rAED FitzGerald, Committee on the Dunedin Reserve. Comptroller. The Chairman also submitted to the Committee tho Assistant Treasurer's history of the transaction, as forwarded from the Colonial Secretary's Office, and read as follows : — Tho history of this transaction, as far as I am personally aware of it, is as follows:—A little before the termination of the Financial Year 1866-7, Mr. Fitzherbert determined, as far as practicable, to secure the sums deposited with the Government from being used for current expenditure by taking them out of the ordinary bank balance, and placing them where they would be available whenever they might be required. A list was accordingly prepared of the balances of tho Deposit Accounts as they stood on or about the 31st of March, which was the latest date to which they could be made up. After several conversations between Mr. Fitzherbert and tho Comptroller, this list -was reduced to tho items afterwards mentioned by Mr. Fitzherbert in his Financial Statement, the total of which amounted to £24,431 2s. 2d., and that sum was withdrawn from the Public Account 29th June, and placed in the Bank of New Zealand as a fixed deposit, in the name of the Colonial Treasurer, for three monthsThere are two things important to bo noticed here: Ist. For several years a sum of £6,000 had been placed as a fixed deposit in the Bank, to represent (especially) the Intestate Estates Account. In 1864 this " dropt out " and got absorbed with all other funds; but in January, 1866, Mr. Fitzherbert determined to replace it, and as the account was larger than it had previously been, £6,000 was placed in deposit for a year, which deposit was renewed when it fell due in January, 1867. 2nd. Under " The Comptroller's Act, 1865," it was, to say the least, exceedingly doubtful whether the= control then established had any operation except in respect of revenue (clause 8) and proceeds of loans (clause 9). The inference I draw from this circumstance is, that Mr. Fitzherbert desired to make these Deposit Accounts safe by the deposit which he made, an inference that is entirely consistent with my remembrance of what took place. The first-mentioned sum of £6,000, having been really withdrawn from the Treasurer's balance for nearly eighteen months, escaped his memory (and mine) at the time the £24,431 2s. 2d. was deposited, otherwise I am perfectly satisfied that the amount would have been reduced, and only £18,000 deposited. I know nothing whatever of the " understanding " referred to by Mr. FitzGerald, but I am quite clear that Mr. Fitzherbert considered that he was only carrying out the object with which the depositof £24,000 was made. It is undeniable that the £6,031 18s. 9d. formed part of the sum deposited; and while I would not for a moment impugn the correctness of Mr. F'itzGcrald's statement as to what he considered the " object " of that deposit to have been, I repeat that my understanding (and I think I am justified in saying Mr. I'itzhcrbert's also, as I gathered my impressions from conversations with him) was, as I have stated above, that the money should be available when required for its. original purpose, which in the case under discussion was the repayment of the rents of the Dunedin Disputed Reserves.