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JI4. W. MCVILLY.

58. And that is how you make up the charge?— That is why we have to make the charge 59. 1 notice the charge you made for labour one year was about equivalent to the full charge . you got from the wharfage ? — That is not all labour. 60. What is it?—£l,soo of that is maintenance—improvements to the wharf. The maintenance that year cost us £.1,792. The maintenance was replanking and repairing the wharf u( the end of 1914 or beginning of 1915. The wharf was wholly replanked. 61. Supposing you had no maintenance of the wharf to pay, the wharfage charge for labour would be about half the wharfage charge? —A little more than half last year. 62. Then if it goes beyond that it means you have got less to maintain the wharf by repairs.' —And help to pay interest on the capital cost of the railway. 63. But is the interest included? —No, it is not included in the expenditure figures. 64. All that is included are the two charges, one for maintenance and the other for labour for dealing with the goods?— Yes, the operating expenses. 65. Mr. Hannay.] The word " maintenance " really covers all expenditure of that kind 1— Yes. 66. Mr. Weston.] With the exception of Andressan's contract for the 200 ft., you cannot give us the exact cost of the wharf ?—No, I have already stated that. 67. And that 200 ft. worked out at .£4 10s. per foot? —Yes, about that. 68. Do you think the cost of the first contract in 1873 for the wharf would bo higher than Andressan's? —I could not give information on that; I do not know anything about the original cost. As a matter of fact, judging by the wharf, it would probably be higher. 69. In the big contract for the station you spoke of that £1.5,000 contract of Saunders, and you spoke of that as for the station and including portion of the wharf? —Either 200 ft. or 300 ft. Saunders's contract was to be made up to 500 ft. At the finish of Saunders's contract the length of the wharf was 500 ft. There was a portion of the old tramway wharf in that 500 ft., but I could not say how much. The plans show that a considerable portion of the old wharf was dismantled and had to be rebuilt. 70. With regard to that contract of .Saunders's, what did it include? —It included the reclamation of land, station-yard, buildings, and wharf. 71. That was the whole of the station-yard on this side of the road where the white fence in at the back? —I am not prepared to say with referring to the plan. 72. Will you contradict Mr. Hennessey if he says it included the whole of that?— Yes; 1 will put in the departmental plan, but I have not got it with me at the moment. 73. Originally I think the Foxtou Railway-station was where the post-oiiice is now in the main street? —I believe that was so. 74. It includes the deviation of where the railway was brought in instead of going down the main Palmerston-Foxton Road. It deviated at the back of the racecourse, and you had to make a, big deviation to go into the present railway-yard?—Saunders's contract did not include that. 75. With regard to Levin's wharf, the shed is erected half over the river and half on land which consisted of part of your reclamation? —The shed, as far as our plan is concerned, is standing on railway land. 76. Will you contend that your railway land goes into the river?—To the high-water mark. 77. There is a stone wall there—is that the boundary of the land?—-I cannot tell you without looking at the plan. 78. What do Levin and Co. pay you?— They pay wharfage. , v » 79. They pay rent for the land'}—-Yes. 80. How much? —1 could not tell you at the moment. 81. I understand it is £40 per annum? —I could not say. 82. Will you produce the information later? —Yes. 83. It was made a condition that although they were to erect the wharf and sheds they were to pay you wharf age/—That is a condition of the agreement. Levin and Co. pay us certain charges which are included in their agreement with the Department. 84. Are they in the same position as if they were only using your railway wharf?— The charges are fixed on the same basis. 85. What do you mean by "the same basis" : for instance, do they pay 3d. a ton? — l presume they do. They pay the gazetted rates. 86. On general cargo do they pay 2s. ?—lf they have general cargo in they would have to pay the ordinary rate, 2s. 87. Although the wharf lias not cost you anything yet they pay you the same wharfage as if it was not a railway wharf? —They do not pay us anything for the use of the wharf, but pay for the railway land, and any one using railway land which abuts on a river or harbour serving ships lias to pay wharfage rates. 88. The foreshore is not vested in you?— The railway land that Levin and Co. lease from us is vested in us, and in respect to that land Levin and Co. have to pay us a certain sum as rent and charges on goods shipped. 89. Supposing goods were brought down by punt and put into a boat at Levin's wharf, they would pay wharfage?—l am not sure that they do : they should under their lease. 90. Can you let us have in tabular form the rates of freight from Foxton to Palmerston North and from Wellington to Palmerston of the main classes of goods—for instance, coal? —If you will specify the class of goods you would like the information in respect to I will be pleased to give it. 91. Take , A, H, (J? —1 would be very pleased to give you the rales for A, B, C—that is, without specifying the class of goods. 92. Mr. Williams.] They are all at classified rates —no special rates?-—No, there are no special rates. We abolished special rates when we bought the Manawatu Railway.

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