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163. You called at my hotel ? —I saw you in the Boyal Oak Hotel, Wellington. 164. You called on me ? —No, I did not; I met you in the hotel. 165. How did you come to speak to me if you did not know me ? —You spoke to me in the hotel —I believe it was in the smoking-room. 166. Did not you and your wife call upon Mrs. Cook and myself at the hotel, and introduce yourselves to us? —I was staying at the Boyal Oak Hotel with Mrs. Easton. 167. You say you were staying there—did you sleep there? —Not that night. 168. Did you not call upon me and my wife at the hotel and introduce yourselves to us ? —I met you there for the first time in my life. 169. You came and called on us?—l was in the hotel when you were there. 170. Your wife's brother married my wife's sister, and when you came out you called upon us at the hotel: is that not so ? —My wife and I were staying at the hotel. We had lunch there that day. 171. Will you say whether you called on us or not?—l did not call on you. 172. Did you purchase any mining shares before seeing me ?—I believe I did. 173. Do you not know ?—I can tell you by reference to my book. I first bought shares from you on the 10th July, and I believe I bought two small parcels from Mr. Stuart in Wellington, in May. 174. Did you not buy any shares in Dunedin?—Not a single share. Mr. Stuart bought shares for me through a broker in Dunedin. 175. Did you not buy several lots of shares down in Dunedin?—No. 176. Did you not buy shares in the Perseverance Company?— Yes, through Messrs. Quick and Smith. 177. Did you not buy some Junction Electric Company's shares ?—I had not bought them until I bought shares through you. 178. Did you buy any Cromwell shares ?—Yes, but not previous to my buying shares from you. 179. Did you not buy shares on the advice of a Mr. Hodgkins in Dunedin ?—Yes, I think he bought some shares for me, but I am only speaking from memory. 180. You resided in Wellington from April, when you came here, until August, and then you visited the West Coast: is that so ?—I did not reside in Wellington the whole of that time ; I was travelling about. 181. While in Wellington you bought and sold shares?— Yes, I bought and sold, I think, two parcels of shares through Mr. Stuart. 182. Did you not purchase some shares in the Wakamarina Company?— Yes. 183. Did this company go into liquidation?—lt did. 184. Did you not create considerable disturbance with the directors of that company?—l do not remember doing so. I got my money back. 185. Did you employ a solicitor to go to the meetings ?—No, I did not employ a solicitor. In connection with the Wakamarina Company I acted as my own solicitor. 186. Did you not go to a meeting and have a long argument with the Hon. Mr. Hislop about those shares ? —I mentioned the matter to Mr. Hislop, yes. 187. There were very strained relations over this matter between yourself and the directors of the company : you went to several meetings of the company ?—I think I went to two or three. 188. Have you not had many transactions, both in buying and selling, with several brokers in Wellington ?—I bought shares through Stuart and Mr. Harcourt, and by post I bought from a Mr. Bate. Ido not know of any other brokers in Wellington whom I dealt with. 189. Have you always been on good terms with them with reference to your shares ? For all I know, yes. 190. Have you not had serious disagreements with three of the leading brokers in Wellington? —Not that I know of. 191. Have you not threatened legal proceedings against Stuart ?—I served him with a writ for the Tucker Flat shares, and got my money back. 192. Did you not threaten Mr. Hume with legal proceedings ? —Yes, I did, and I got my money back from him also. Those were some shares I purchased through Hume in a claim that was proved to have been " salted." I had bought vendors' shares, but the scrip could not be delivered. Finding that I could not get the scrip, I threatened Hume with a writ and got my money back. 193. You stated in your evidence that "an incident occurred " when you were in Wellington that induced you to " go slow " ?—That was so. 194. What was that incident ? —I had a warning sent to me respecting the company I had been seen in, and advising me that I had better go to Dunedin and look into affairs. 195. Was that warning anonymous ?—No. 196. Who sent it ?—A Mrs. Walmsley ; she was living at that time at Totara Flat, Sullivan's Lead. 197. That was the person you called on in my company ?—Yes. 198. Mrs. Walmsley wrote warning you against my company ?—She spoke to me, not wrote, and advised me that I had better, in my own interests, go to Dunedin and examine some of the books of the companies in which I told her I had been purchasing shares. 199. She told you that when you were on the Coast ?—Yes. 200. The day you visited her with me ?—I believe lam right in saying she wrote, but I could not say definitely from memory. 201. When did she tell you?— Subsequently to the day we were there.