J—6.

259. Then read on, and you will see that it provides that " the purchasing bank " —that is, the Bank of New Zealand—" shall, immediately on the contract taking effect " —and it took effect, did it not ?—Yes. 260. "Write off the amount standing in the right-hand column of the 'C list." Do you follow that ?—Yes. 261. Well, the amount in the right-hand column of the " C " list was £55,233 ?—Yes. 262. That was to be carried to the credit of the amount in such list, which we have ascertained was £98,382 ?—Yes. 263. Which was to be credited " with the amounts so written off"—you see these words?— Yes. 264. They are plain English ? —Yes. We understood that they were not to be written off as paid, but to be written to the credit of the account. 265. Then, you credited the £98,382 with the £55,233 ?—We did. 266. Leaving £43,149?—Ye5. 267. And that is how the " C " list stood immediately after the contract took effect ?—Yes. 268. That list was guaranteed to you by the Colonial Bank ?—lt was guaranteed to us as it stood in the books. 269. And in that respect it was different from the " B " list ?—lt was different from the " B " list, as we did not take the " C " account at all except as agents. 270. You took your own security in the shape of cover, and for any loss over that cover of £55,233 the Colonial Bank was responsible to the Bank of New Zealand?— That is so. 271. Mr. Seddon.] Did you state distinctly whether the Bank of New Zealand never took over the "C " list ?—We never took it into the bank. We made an engagement to work it as agents for the Colonial Bank for three months, and then we were to say whether we would take it or not. One day within the three months we informed the liquidators that we would not take any account in the " C" list. 272. Mr. Hutchison.] Then, the position is this: that you took the guarantee of the Colonial Bank for the " C " list, and you were content with £272,072 in respect of cover for the " B " list ?—Yes. 273. The "B " list amounted to £604,695, so that any loss over and above the £272,072 taken as cover for the accounts in the " B " list would be the loss of the Bank of New Zealand ?—That is so. 274. Now, when this contract took effect, and the sum in the right-hand column of the " C " list was, as you said, credited to the accounts in the same list, that transaction did not include provision for bills in transitu ? —ln reference to the " C " list ? 275. You might look at clause 25, subclause (d) of the agreement ?—Yes; there was nothing in the " C " list that I have any knowledge of that would be affected by that clause, subsection (d) of clause 25. 276. I ask you to look again at the clause 25, subclause (d) ; what is "the balance-sheet" referred to there ? —The Colonial Bank balance-sheet. 277. Then you had it before you. Have you it before you now in print?— Yes. 278. What are the items in the balance-sheet shown as in transitu ? —£548,762 4s. 4d. 279. I suppose there were bills m transitu which came in afterwards to be dealt with by the Bank of New Zealand?—l expect so. 280. But you say there was no bill, nor any bills, afterwards debited to the "C" list? —It is quite outside my knowledge of the business—all this variety of details. 281. You say the " C " list is a special list ?—I have no knowledge of anything arising from that arrangement having any connection with the " C " list. 282. I ask you to ascertain whether or not there was any bill or bills in transitu at the date of this contract which were afterwards debited to the " C " list ?—I will do so. 283. Among the reports which were submitted to you, were there any by the Colonial Bank inspectors as to the accounts you were going to take over ?—We had as far as we required the assistance of the inspector of the Colonial Bank, but we relied upon our own examination as to the accounts, and upon that of our own officers. 284. Had you any reports from the inspectors of the Colonial Bank submitted to you?— We had in the books of the Colonial Bank what amounted to a complete report from the inspectors of the bank. 285. I ask you whether you had any reports from the inspectors of the Colonial Bank submitted to you?—l think not, except so far as we found it necessary to ask for them with a view to get information which was not in the books of the bank which we were examining. 286. The Chairman.] Did you ask for any reports ?—Yes, we asked for and obtained at all times the information we wanted. 287. Mr, Hutchison.] Did you ask for any reports in respect to the "C" list?—We had no need for any report on the " C " list. 288. I ask you if you asked for any such report ? —The information we had about the accounts in the " C " list rendered it quite unnecessary for us to ask for any information from the inspectors of the Colonial Bank. 289. That is not an answer. Did you ask for any information with respect to the accounts in the "C" list?—l have no recollection that we asked for information with respect to those accounts but what was supplied to us. 290. Was the report of any inspector supplied to you inreference to the accounts in the " C " list ? —Yes. We had information supplied to us. 291. Was it in the shape of a report ?—No. 292. Verbally?—lt was written in the books of the bank; and it was verbal information supplied to us.

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