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being procured. Thereupon the Committee asked him to name the persons who, as he had said, could tell "the real story." In reply, he mentioned Messrs. Wright, Stephenson and Co., of Dunedin, and the paid agents of Mr. Douglas. The Committee then summoned a member of that firm, and also the paid agents of Mr. Douglas, as named by Mr. M. J. Scobie Mackenzie, and took their evidence. Mr. Scobie Mackenzie attended the proceedings, pursuant to the Committee's request. He was accorded the right of being represented by counsel, which he declined. The Committee also decided that he alone, of all the witnesses, should be constantly present, and that he should have the right to cross-examine. He exercised this right freely, and also called evidence himself and addressed the Committee. Dr. Fitchett attended the proceedings, examined witnesses, and addressed the Committee on behalf of the Department of Lands and Survey and the Board of Land Purchase Commissioners, who considered that their integrity was attacked. Mr. Scobie Mackenzie, whilst stating that he made no charges, urged that the evidence showed, — (1.) That the estate was purchased at a price far in excess of its value; (2.) That one main factor in effecting the purchase was a petition falsely purporting to come from settlers, but in reality got up by Mr. John Douglas himself, urging the Minister to acquire the land for purposes of settlement; (3.) That, in Mr. Douglas's interest, undue haste was displayed throughout the whole transaction ; and (4.) That, in the same interest, the purchase was effected in the face of a recommendation of the Board that preference should be given to another property—the Conical Hills Estate. With reference to the first point, Was the price a fair one? the evidence consisted of —(1) Previous sales and subsequent sales of property in the Pomahaka and neighbouring districts; (2) opinion of witnesses; and (3) prices actually paid by settlers for the Pomahaka Estate when thrown'open by the Government. In 1889, 1,140 acres of the same estate, and not the best part of it, were sold at £3 12s. 6d., and for several hundred acres £3 was refused. Moreover, between 1889 and 1893 there were negotiations for sale and lease of parts of the property at £3 or thereabouts. This would seem to show that the estate was worth more than the Government paid for it. On the other hand, within less than a year afterwards the Popotunoa Estate, of 10,147 acres, adjoining Pomahaka, and undoubtedly a very fine, well subdivided, and well cultivated property, was sold for an average of £2 2s. It was, however, urged on. the Committee that there were special reasons for these low prices— admittedly much lower than the owners' value. The owner (Mr. J. Logan) had recently died, and his executors put all his property in the district—3o,ooo acres in all—into the market, thereby outrunning the demand for land and lowering the price. The opinion expressed before the Committee by all the witnesses who spoke to the point, except two, was that £2 10s. was a fair price. On the other hand, of these two witnesses— one, the Inspector of the Union Bank, spoke of value for lending rather than purchasing purposes, and, while stating that the bank called up an advance of between £8,000 and £9,000 on the security of the property, gave as his chief reason that it was not a banking security. The other witness, Mr. Stevenson, said the land was worth between £1 and £1 10s. per acre. Lastly, there is the practical test of value afforded by the rents paid by settlers who have taken up sections since the property was thrown open by the Government. Up to 24th July, 1894, 5,230 acres have been disposed of at an average rental of 3s. 4d., or a capital value of £3 6s. 6d. per acre; leaving about 1,800 acres still to be let. And it must be borne in mind that these rents were given in spite of much depreciation of the property in the Otago papers, and Mr. Scobie Mackenzie's public statements that the soil was cold and ungenerous, and that the rental for years had been 6d., representing a capital value of 10s per acre. After giving careful consideration to all the evidence on the point, the Committee are of opinion that the price paid by the Government was a fair and reasonable one. With respect to the petition it was admitted that it was got up by Mr. Douglas, but it was signed by 301 settlers and others in and about the district; it was presented in the ordinary way by the member for the district, who knew many of the signatures, and had no reason to doubt its genuineness; and it could have had no possible effect on the price, inasmuch as its existence was not known to the Board at its meeting in Dunedin, when the price was fixed. For these reasons the Committee fail to see how it affects the matter. As regards the suggestions of undue haste, the Committee are of opinion that no impropriety is disclosed. Mr. Barron was justified in hastening the preliminary inspection of the property as an adjoining estate, the Conical Hills, was also under offer, and it was expedient that both should be before the Board together. The telegrams about the Board meeting are sufficiently explained by the fact that the Surveyor-General had left Wellington to attend meetings in Canterbury, Otago, and Invercargill, and, to save his time, it was of importance that the Board business should be ready for him on his arrival at Dunedin. As to the suggestion that Mr. Eitchie improperly induced Mr. Barron (the Under-Secretary of Lands) to instruct the preliminary inspection without the knowledge or authority of his superior officer, the evidence was uncontradicted that Mr. Barron was not exceeding his authority. Mr. Eitchie, too, though a nephew of Mr. Douglas, and a Government officer, did not, in the opinion of the Committee, interfere otherwise than an outsider might have done, and there is nothing to show that he promoted the purchase or influenced the price. As bearing on the question of undue haste, it appeared that the offer to sell was made on the 21st August, the offer to buy on the 25th September, Mr. Douglas accepted on the 3rd October, and the purchase-money was not paid until after the 20th.

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