I.—ll

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that he was aware of working at Duncan's boundary. I gave him my ultimatum that if he did not at once put men on 1 should do it myself, and men would be put on by Tuesday if there was no one then on 597. Then, you say you saw Eoss on the 2nd April ?—Yes. 598. What did he say then ?—That he had put men on. 599. Did you go and see for yourself that men were put on ?—No; -1 believed what Eoss told me. It was too small a matter to go and see about after being told that the men had been put on. 600. Did Eoss tell you a week after this that he would poison the ground' after he had his threshing finished ?—Yes ; and I advised him most strongly to delay. 601. The next thing you did was to put men in charge?— The next thing was on the 19th April, when I saw Duncan in town again; and he surprised me by saying that neither Boss nor Lindsay had put men on the ground. I have no feeling against Eoss. He was a perfect stranger to me, and I had no reason for doubting his word, and I was consequently much surprised when* I heard he had no men on working after telling me himself that he had put them on. On the 22nd April—l think it was a general holiday—l sent Agent Field straight away to visit the place to examine Duncan's crops, and to report to me fully. He said there were no signs of traps, no one on the ground, and the rabbits were numerous, and nothing at all had been done. So that very day I engaged two men, and sent them away on the 24th. 602. But you did not go yourself?— No. 603. You believed what Duncan told you to be the truth ?—Pardon me ; if I had believed it I should not have sent Agent Field up to report. 604. "Was the agent acquainted with the boundary ?—Yes; thoroughly. 605. Your agent stated in Court that .the area of land was fifty acres: is that so ?—He said he was unable to state the area of Boss's. 606. If it was so reported in the ValmersLoa Times would you contradict it ?—I should be very sorry to believe all that appeared in the paper. 607. Is it not possible that when your agent went there that Eoss might have had men there without him seeing them? —It is simply impossible on the boundary in question. 608. Do you mean to say your agent went over 2,000 acres ?—I never arranged to put men over these 2,000 acres, but simply on the part by this crop. 609. Did you have any other instructions to treat any other property in the Duuback District in the same way as Boss's?— There is no other place I have put men on. 610. The only places are Boss's and Lindsay's ?—They were the only two men against whom any complaints were made that would do nothing when requested by me. 611. Now, in regard to the complaints made against you by these two gentlemen : they think .your action was done through partiality. What I want to get at is this : When you took these steps under section 11 of the Act, you did so because Duncan complained of his crops being eaten —that was your reason?— Yes ; precisely so. There was no partiality of any kind. Throughout the petition it hints to that. 612. Mr. Bell has a great deal of property ? —Yes. 613. And you are prepared to admit he has a lot of rabbits ? —Yes. 614. And it is a hard job to keep them down? —Yes. 615. Hon. tJio Chairman.] You deny the charge of partiality ?—Yes; absolutely deny it. 616. Mr. Kerr.'\ The reason you did not give others notice was because you were waiting for the June poisoning ?—Exactly. 617. Mr. Duncan.} From what I can gather from your evidence these men would not have been charged if it had not been for this crop being eaten? —Just so. 618. What is the extent of the damage done ?—I tried to estimate it roughly. There were about 2-1- acres of oats that were not worth cutting with a machine. 619. Mr. Anderson.] W Thy did you not take proceedings at an earlier date against Boss ?—lt was becaxise I wished him to do the work without taking proceedings. 620. You consider, I suppose, that you were lenient with him ?—I think I waited too long before taking action. I acknowledge the rabbits were numerous, but I had no desire to press him. 621. Mr. McKeuzic] The district was in a very bad state when you arrived there ?—Babbits were fairly numerous in patches, but greatly increased by the time I had sufficient knowledge of the district to take action. 622. You would not like to see it so bad next October?—No ; nor will it be so bad, I think. 623. Mr. Anderson.] Is it a very difficult district to manage?—lt is a very thickly-populated district; but if the people will only act simultaneously it would be easy enough. 624. How many Inspectors have been there during the last seven or eight years?— There have been five Inspectors since the passing of the Act of 1882. 625. Mr Kerr.] Now about this poisoning business: do you think the wheat is properly poisoned ?—There is a very great difference ; some men use very poor grain, not properly poisoned. There was one instance reported to me where a man steeped'his grain in horse urine simply to discolour it, so that the Inspector seeing it would imagine it had gone through the proper process. 626. Is it possible for a Babbit Inspector to see that the poison is properly mixed?— This is a very large distriot to go over. When lam inspecting the country, I always taste any grain that looks at all suspicious. 627. But there is nothing in the law compelling a man to make it the proper strength? —If I have any doubt I am very careful and examine it well. 628. It appears to me that they, in many instances, have not the appliances to do the work properly. If they just soak the wheat it makes matters worse and does no good ?—I have the greatest difficulty to see it propel ly carried out. Mr. Bell is willing to sell properly-prepared grain at cost price all over the district, and a good many buy from him.