9

I.—2a,

191. What have you been doing lately. What has been your occupation during the last two years? —AVhat have I been doing? I have not been doing a great deal. There has not been much doing in Napier. I have been keeping boarders. 192. Have you been at any time in Mr. Eees's employ ? —No. I think I have been out in tho country three times. That is all, I think, I have done for Mr. Eees. 193. Have you received any money within the last two years from Mr. Eees on any account whatever, and, if so, how much ? —I have received some money, but it was on account of some orders I got from Natives nearly three years ago. Tho orders were got from the Natives, and were written in Maori, and were drawn, I think, upon Mr. Sheehan. It is about two years and eight months ago since I got these orders. The Natives need not have given me the orders unless they chose.' It was money they w rcre owing me. It was out of date. 194. Did Mr. Eees pay any sum of money on account of Eora Nonoi within the last few months ? —No. I have not received any money from Mr. Eees. 195. I mean, since you came back to Napier has Mr. Eees paid you any money on account of Eora Nonoi ?—lt is three years ago since I came back. How could I get the orders two years and eight months ago, if I had been back only twelve months? 196. Then you did not receive money on account of Eora Nonoi ?—I believe I received money on account of Eora Nonoi. 197. How could Mr. Eees pay you money unless he, or somebody else, had the money to meet your orders ? —The orders were drawn up, I told you, on Mr. Sheehan. It was about the time of the settlement made with Mr. Watt that I got these orders. 198. AVhy should Eora Nonoi draw orders on Mr. Sheehan. Had ho money belonging to the Natives ? —I do not know. I believe Mr. Sheehan had something to do with the settlement. 199. Do you know whether tho Natives, Eora Nonoi and others, claim that there is a very large balance which has not yet been paid them ?—I am not aware of it. 200. Has Eora Nonoi never spoken to you about it ? —No. 201. Never ?—Never. 202. Do you think if Eora Nonoi were to draw an order upon Mr. Sheehan that he would pay it ? —I do not know. She might have drawn all the money. 203. Have you received £100 on account of Eora Nonoi?—l might have received something over that on account of her. I have received that amount. 204. Did Eora Nonoi give you any written order on Mr. Sheehan for that money ? —Tbe order for the money was written in the Maori language. She can read, and she read the order, and said, " All right." She signed it, and her husband witnessed her signature. 205. There was no licensed interpreter ? —No; she read tho order herself. She can read well. 206. That order was ou account of the debt in the publichouse for grog ? —lt was for a debt contracted while I was in the hotel. Paora Nonoi was not a man who went in for much grog. The debt was mostly for goods out of the store. 207. Have you been through the Bankruptcy Court since that debt was in existence?— No. 208. Have you not made a composition with your creditors ?—I paid what I owed. 209. Twenty shillings in the pound ? —Yes. 210. Quite certain ?—-Yes; Neal and Close had to pay me when I left the hotel. They handed me over a balance. 211. You say, Mr. Davie, in the petition, that you are an executor under Paora's will ?—I believe it states so in the will. 212. Have you taken any steps to prove in the Supreme Court your position as executor ? —The first time I made an attempt was in 1873. I spoke to Mr. Sheehan about it, and I showed him the will. He said that he had not time to attend to it, as he was leaving. He would leave Mr. AVilson, the lawyer, to get it done. I did not go to Mr. AVilson. Two or three weeks afterwards—it might have been more; I am not sure —Mr. Cornford came to Napier and represented himself as the partner of Mr. Sheehan. I gave Mr. Cornford the will and power of attorney for him to get the will proved. Some little while after that I went away, and did not return for some time, and when I came back I asked Mr. Cornford about the will. He said he did not know. He remembered my leaving it. He told me to go to his office and ask his clerks if they could find it. They looked for it, but they could not find it. Some time after I traced the document to Mr. Lee's office. I think Mr. Cornford left Mr. Sheehan and went into partnership with Mr. Lee. That was how, I suppose, the will and the power of attorney got there. 213. How was it, Mr. Davie, that you did not take any steps to prove yourself the executor under the will until nearly three years after Paora Nonoi's death ? —I was not in a position to spend much money over it. Mr. Sheehan came down about that time, and was acting for the Natives. I asked him about it, and that is the way I suppose that I did not go on with it. I had not the means to spend over it. It remained unproved because I had not the money to get it proved. 214. This is also a mortgage deed, Mr. Davie. It secures payment of a large sum of money to you under the power of attorney, and is, in reality, a mortgage deed ? —1 do not know, lam sure. Ido not know whether it is a mortgage deed. It is a power of attorney. I never gave instructions for such a document to be drawn up. It rested between AVorgan and Lee, and that is how you came to know so nicely, I suppose, what kind of a document I had. 215. lam not talking about Mr. AVorgan ;I am talking about Mr. Martin Hamlin. He was the interpreter ?—He acted as interpreter. I did not instruct Martin Hamlin to act as interpreter. 216. Did you not get a power of attorney and will from Maata Kuiata, the wife of Harawira t — No. 217. You are aware, I suppose, that Eora Nonoi has been appointed by the Native Land Court to succeed to Paora Nonoi in all his possessions ? —I have uever heard it before. This is the first time I have heard it. 218. Did you ever have any conversation with Mr. Sheehan about this matter ?—I spoke to him about it, and so did Eora, in 1873. I spoke to him again about it when I came back. 2—l. 2a.

Mr. Davie.

17th Nov., 1879.