E. BALDWIN.]

75

D.—4.

12. Arc. there no waterways for that timber ?—There are many that will not float In the Hokianga district, rinui, for instance, where there is any distance, say, up to twenty miles, you can calculate on a 20-per-cent. loss by sending it into the creeks. Then you have matai and teraire —they arc going to be milled before very long. 13. Mr. Evans.] What is the freight by scow from Auckland to Kirikopuni ? —About l()s. a ton, and sometimes it tuns to 15s. a ton from Onehunga. We also have vessels trading from the south which give us a freight of 10s. or 15s. a ton —that is, return freight in timber-boats. 11. You are getting most of your goods by these scows '. We do not get our goods direct from Auckland, but from the man on the river, and my experience is that we are paying; the full steamer rate all the time. 15. Yon can get freight from the South Island a 1 his. per ton (-—Most of our goods come from Auckland. 16. Mr. Stailworthy.] We had it in evidence that you control 14,000,000 ft. of timber' —Yes. I hold approximately about 14,000,000 ft. in the Kirikopuni. It is mixed timber, but the bulk is kahikatea and rimu and kauri, with a good deal of totara. 17. Have you been bush contracting a good deal '. 1 am nut contracting. 1 am handling and working the timber as my own property. 18. How did you gain your knowledge of the north '.- I was born in the Hay of Islands. I worked i here at Earming Eor a matter of twenty-two years, and then I took to the bush, and I might say I have done pretty well out of the bush. But I think a man might do very much better on the river if we could get labour at a little less price. lam not saying thai the labour is higher than it should be. because it costs so much to live, but if we could get goods into our district cheaper I think we could work a good deal cheaper too. 19. Do you know anything of the country south of Tangit'eroria I I have been as far south as Paparoa and Maungaturoto. T may say there is no comparison between the eastern and western routes concerning the Tangihua deviation. I think the country itself is argument enough. 20. Do you know the point where the main line diverges east and west ?—T know where it strikes the Mangonui. 21. Do you know Waikiekie >. I have been through the district several times, but 1 do not know it well. 22. Where would you locate the border of the good land as compared with the bad land going across the peninsula south of Tangiteroria \ It is rather patchy here and there. Maungakaramea is good country, and it is also good country round to Mangapai, but there is poor country in between. On towards Waikiekie there is some poor scrub country, but on towards Mareretu there is good land, which is very rough. It- is not farming country, so far as agriculture is concerned. 23. Will you also describe the country to the west ?- Between Tauraroa and the Mangonui River to the east there is some poor country of the same description as that round Waikiekie. I cannot give the area exactly, but I should say there are possibly 2,000 or 3,000 acres of it. Outside of that patch I think the land is as good as anything we have in the country. Mr. RiddelPs estate in the Omano Block is laid down in grass. Of the Sigh School Reserve, eight or ten sections have been taken up. 24. Mr. Evans.] Is there much gum country in the district you talk about? —There are small patches of it, but it differs from the ordinary gum country. There are two isolated patches that arc dog poor, but there is some gum land on the western side that grows grass equal to the best land. There is kauri growing on real good land here black country, and that is as good as can be got. 25. Is there much Maori reserve ?—I cannot give an accurate idea of how much Maori land there is, but there is a pretty extensive area. There is a lot of Government land which is being taken up, and there are a good number of settlers on private land which has been cut up and sold. 26. Do the Maoris hold all the flat land \ —l would not put it that way. 1 think the Natives hold one of the best blocks in the north. It is only 8,000 acres, but they have other blocks besides. The Maoris undoubtedly hold some very good land. They usually hold back some of the best bits of it when they agree to sell. 27. Mr. Steadman.] What are the boundaries that enclose that 600,000,000 ft. of timber that you refer to '( —From the Wairoa River to Tutamoe, and as far out as Ngapipito, about due north from here. That is on the Kaihu line. 28. Do you know the distance between Kaikohe and Opua i —Twenty-two to twenty-four miles. 2'J. Do you not think that all that timber would go to Opua, and not to Auckland ? —I think that some of it might go to Opua. but in my opinion the bulk of it will go elsewhere, because that is a milling district. If they arc going to mill the timber outside of Auckland it will, I think, be milled on the river or in the bush. 30. Do you not think it would be milled in the bush { —Yes. 31. The best timber is exported. Do you not think they are sure to rail that timber to Opua, thirty miles, instead of railing it to Auckland I—Yes,1 —Yes, I think they would in the top end, but I think it would depend largely on the position in which they put their mills, and the position of the mills would depend on the location of the bulk of the timber. 32. How far would Tutamoe be from the central line 'I —Taking a direct line from the proposed railway to the top of the Tutamoe Range, it would run fifteen to eighteen miles. 33. Would none of that timber go by way of the Kaihu line ? —Yes, from the top. All in the Tutamoe watershed would go into the Mangakahia. 34. When you get that far above the line it makes no difference as to whether we have the eastern or the western route ? —That is so. 35. In that estimate of the land you gave did you include the land about Kaikohe ?—I should take the line pretty dose to the Kaikohe Township.