36

|T. H. JOHNSTON.

I.—lb.

38. Were you ever asked a question as to whether there was epilepsy in your family or not when you visited those five doctors in Australia?— Yes. That is a question which, considering the length of time that has elapsed, 1 decline to answer. 39. Will you tell us what you wrote to the doctor in Sydney who supplied you with the medicine that ultimately cured you? —I cannot tell you. 40. What did you tell him you suffered from?—l could not tell you. 41. Do you know what you suffered from?— The number of questions which 1 had to ansxver on that occasion is too large for me to answer. 42. Can you not tell us whether it was heart-disease, or stomach trouble, or head trouble, or what it was? -It was not head trouble. My heart was the worst part of me, as it is at present. 43. Was that the same trouble upon which you consulted the five doctors? —Yes. But 1 want it to be quite plain that it was not heart-disease. I considered that my heart was weak, as I told Drs. Craig and Galligan. 14. Did you ever tell any one of these doctors that you had to sit up all night sometimes, because you found it impossible to sleep? —Certainly not. 45. You have never made that statement? —No. 46. Did you make it to Detective-Sergeant Cooney?—No. I made it to nobody. 47. The statement would not be true if it had been made? —It xvould not be true. 48. The Chairman.] Why did you decline to ansxver Mr. Fisher's question just now?— Because the time is so long. 49. Do you remember, or do you not remember? Ido not remember at all. 50. Has anybody advised you not to answer that question? —Certainly not. 51. Mr. Robertson.] When you were committed to Avondale your weight xvas taken? —Yes. 52. What was your condition as indicated by your weight at the time of committal? — II stone 7 lb. 53. Later on, after your escape and having been in hiding for about seven weeks, you were examined by three medical men in Auckland, who gave certificates to the effect that there xvas no trace of insanity. What was your xveight then? —9 stone IOJ-lb. 54. So, if anything, your physical condition then xvas lower than it was at the time of your committal ? —Certainly. 55. Hon. Mr. Fisher] You said when you consulted the five doctors in Australia it xvas on account of heart trouble : is that right? —Yes. 56. I see that in your evidence given on Friday last you said this : " Q. What did the five doctors treat you for? — A. Well, every doctor treated me for something different. Q. What did you go to the five doctors for? — A. Because I was not satisfied with any of them. Q. What xvas the nature of your complaint? — A. I considered it xvas a severe cold and weakness." What was it—was it cold and xveakness, or was it heart trouble?— The trouble that I considered it was I decline to answer. 57. Mr. Robertson.] There has been something said about your excitement in the witness-box when giving evidence —Sergeant Wohlmann said at the inquest, but you state that it occurred in Barfoot's case. Taking your statement that it was in Barfoot's case, do you remember the defending counsel, Lundon, putting a question to you in regard to these firearms? —Yes, he did. 58. It xvas in connection with that that you became excited? —Yes, that was the time. 59. He asked you, had you used firearms? —Yes, at any time. 60. You believed, xvhen Lundon put the question, that he xvas aware of what you believed you had told under chloroform about the shooting at Kumeu?- Yes. 1 was quite convinced in my oxvn mind that he was in possession of that information. 61. And that he was putting the question for the purpose of putting you iti a difficult position as a witness ?—Yes. 62. That was the reason for the confusion you showed in the xvitness-box at the time? —If I appeared to be confused or excited that xvould account for it. 63. That evidence was given on 12th December?- —Thursday, 12th December. 64. The statement you had made to Sergeant Cooney xvas made prior to that, on the 2nd December? —Yes, it was made prior to that. Ido not know the exact date. 65. In other words, the police were in possession of the knoxvledge that you thought Lundon was in possession of when he put the questions?— Yes. 66. Why, in your opinion, did they carry out this committal? —Because the other side were pressing for a charge against me. There were many other points. The other side were pressing for a charge to be brought against me, and I could not see that they could get any charge against me. 67. In other xvords, you xvere in this position : you believed that the other side—Lundon and the Federation of Labour —were in a position to press the police to have you prosecuted for attempted murder?— Certainly, and xvould do all in their power to have the charge pressed. 68. And you believe that as a way out of the difficulty the police decided to commit you?— Yes, and also to make it appear to the public of New Zealand that they did not take sides in putting doxvn the strike at Waihi. There were various other points. 69. Mr. Dickson.] Are you axvare now that Mr. Lundon did not know anything about this shooting business when he asked you that question?—No, I am not axvare of it now. 70. Did Mr. Lundon not tell you, since that date, that he did not knoxv anything about it at the time? —No. 71. Did he not tell you that it was just a chance shot? —No. Mr. Lundon and I never conversed on that subject. 72. When you arrived in Auckland after you gave yourself up, who met you?— Dr. Beattie.