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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. With respect to Conical Hills, the evidence clearly shows that the purchase was impracticable at the time, and could not have been effected without beginning the whole negotiations de novo. The offer was to exchange, and there was no statutory power to exchange. The Board's recommendation was to exchange the whole or purchase a portion ; whereas there was no specific offer to sail the whole, and no offer whatever to sell less than the whole. Moreover, there were not funds sufficient to purchase the portion recommended, still less to purchase the whole. Mr. Scobie Mackenzie dwelt strongly on the fact that the correspondence between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Eitchie was not produced. The explanation offered was that it consisted of letters and telegrams between uncle and nephew, and was therefore not preserved. With respect to a telegram from Mr. Eitchie to Mr. Barron which was not on the file, the Committee accept Mr. Barron's explanation, that unimportant papers are not always filed; and, in this instance, as the telegram was sent long after the purchase was concluded, it cannot have much bearing on the matter. Throughout the whole inquiry nothing has at any time been adduced to show that the Minister in any way departed from the strict line of his official duty—and, indeed, he appears to have had Very little to do with the purchase except signing the ordinary official papers. Finally, and as the result of as exhaustive an inquiry as they could make, the Committee find that there was no ground for the grave charges made by Mr. Scobie Mackenzie, and that neither the Minister nor any member of the Lands and Survey Department, or of the Board of Land Purchase Commissioners, is in any way affected, either as to integrity or capacity. The Committee feel it their duty to refer to one other point:— In the course of his evidence, Mr. Scobie Mackenzie said that neither in his speech (quoted above) nor at any other time did he impute corruption to the Minister, and that so far as he knew no inference of corruption was ever drawn from his speech, or his subsequent correspondence in the Otago Daily Times; further, that he was not responsible for the inquiry, and was merely there because the Committee had invited him. The Committee regret that they cannot agree with him. In their opinion, no reasonable man can read the speech without drawing the inference that the speaker is intending a charge of corruption. The effect of the preliminary disclaimer is merely to put the charges in the form of innuendo instead of direct statement, and to serve as a loophole to escape the responsibility of having to prove them. There was ample evidence before the Committee that, as a matter of fact, the inference was drawn, and Mr. Scobie Mackenzie knew it and countenanced it. They are further of opinion that charges of corruption, if made at all, should be made plainly and specifically instead of by innuendo and suggestion, and that the person who makes them should when challenged either prove them or withdraw them. Mr. Scobie Mackenzie has done neither. Besolved, on the motion of the Hon. Sir E. Stout, That further consideration of these two reports, of the Hon. Sir E. Stout and Mr. Mills, be postponed till Thursday, the 11th instant, at 11 am. The Committee then adjourned until Thursday, 11th October, at 11 a.m. Thursday, 11th October, 1894. The Committee met pursuant to notice. Present: Mr. Thompson (Chairman), Mr. Duncan, Mr. Green, Mr. Hall, Mr. Hogg, Mr. Lang, Mr. T. Mackenzie, Mr. Mackintosh, Mr. Meredith, Mr. Mills, Hon. Sir E. Stout. The minutes of the previous meeting held on the 10th instant were read and confirmed. At the request of the Hon. Sir E. Stout, the Clerk laid on the table a statement showing the approximate cost of the inquiry to be £343 ss. ld.