H.—s

4

who opened it, and it was then seen by Messrs. McKenzie and Cadmanfor the first time, and handed to Sir Patrick Buckley, who gave it, with another letter, to Charles Burgess, the Premier's messenger, telling him to give the letters into Mr. Seddon's own hands. Both the letters were placed in another envelope by Burgess, who wrote on the outside of the envelope, "Letters from Sir Patrick Buckley, to be given to Mr. Seddon himself." On Mr. Seddon's return they were duly delivered to him by Burgess. Prom a careful analysis of the evidence I am led to believe that the information was given to the Evening Post between the time when the letters mysteriously disappeared from Mr. Cadman's table — i.e., about 11 a.m. —and the time when they were relaid on Mr. Cadman's table in another envelope, before 2.30 p.m. on the afternoon of the 4th April, and that during at least a portion of that time the letters were in Sir Patrick Buckley's custody, or under his control. A careful analysis of the sworn evidence will prove that the information could only have been obtained by the Evening Post from the original letters on the 4th April, and during the time specified. Herewith I beg to return to your Excellency the Commission issued to me, also to enclose the minutes of the proceedings, and the sworn evidence taken before me as Commissioner. All this is respectfully presented to your Excellency. Signed and sealed this 20th day of June, 1894. C. O'Haba Smith.

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE.

Feiday, 4th May, 1894. The Commission was read in the presence of Lieut.-Colonel Fox. Lieut.-Colonel Francis James Fox sworn and examined. 1. The Commissioner.^ I think it would be best for you to kindly give me a brief statement yourself, Colonel Fox, of the writing of the letter in question, the despatch of the letter, and anything you know in connection with it ?—The letters were written by me on 16th March. At about 4 p.m. on that day I handed two of them to Mr. Eoyal to be copied, making a fair copy myself of the third. These copies were completed barely in sufficient time to be pressed, and sent down by a messenger, and posted on board the steamer which was leaving—at 5 p.m., I think—for Auckland. 2. Were three separate copies written and three separate press copies taken? —No; the copies which were in existence were —my rough drafts, the copies which were made and forwarded to the Premier, and the copies pressed in the letter-book from those made and sent to the Premier. 3. Then there were three letters sent to the Premier?—Yes. 4. Were they registered? —That Ido not know. They were handed to my clerk, and, to the best of my belief, posted on board the steamer. 5. Were they press-copied in the ordinary letter-book of the office ?—Yes; there is only one press-copy book in the office for letters. 6. Have you the rough copies ? —Yes ; they have been in my possession ever since. 7. You had no authority from the Defence Minister or anybody else, I presume, to disclose the nature of those letters to any one?—No authority. 8. Were you ever asked for any information ? —I was asked by an Evening Post reporter for information, and I told him it was absolutely impossible for me to give him any information. 9. Who was the reporter ?—I think his name was Hoben. 10. Did he seem to be aware you had written these letters at all ?—No; but he was aware it had been published in some paper that I had resigned ; and he asked me if it was true that I had resigned, and, if so, for what reason, or under what circumstances ? I told him I could not inform him whether I had resigned or not, and that I could give him no reasons for a thing I did not acknowledge to have taken place. Those were the terms of my answer to him. That conversation took place, to the best of my belief, on the Tuesday after Easter. 11. You carefully retained the rough drafts of your letters in your own possession?—Yes; they have been locked up from that time to this. 12. I presume you have not divulged the contents of them to anybody?—No. 12a. I suppose, as is usual in the Government offices, all letters pressed in the letter-book are accessible to any clerk in the office ?—Yes ; I believe that is the case. 13. So far as you are aware, you have not given the substance of the letters to any person ?— Nobody has seen my rough copies, and I have not informed anybody that could possibly give information to the papers on the subject. The office-copies have, to the best of my belief, been kept under lock and. key, and in my opinion it is perfectly impossible that the publication which appeared in the Evening Post could have so appeared without access to copies of my letters, unless some person communicated the information to the Post or to the person who wrote the article for the Post. 14. Is the press-copy book usually kept in your own private office ? —No; it is kept in the clerks' room. They will be able to explain that. 15. So far as you are aware, you have not even inadvertently mentioned the contents of the letter to any one? —No. It is absolutely impossible for any one I have spoken to to have gathered anything like sufficient to have written that article. 16. Can you think of anything else yourself which might throw any further light on the subject ? —Yes ; if you ask me to do that, I might be able to do so. On the morning after the letters were published I saw Mr. Hoben in the Government Buildings, and I said to him, " Can you inform me how those letters or that information came into your possession?" Of course, he said,