55

H.—3o

A certain file called the " ' Admiral Codrington ' file" was referred to in connection with the evidence given relating to the matters dealt with at this period. Extracts from the notes of proceedings are as follow : — Mr. Skerrett: Yes —Exhibit le. I want to read this, and as you, sir, have the file of correspondence, I want you to ascertain whether there is any justification for this positive statement contained in the letter of 16th October, 1924. The letter is from Mr. Lysnar to the Meat Board, and is dated 16th October, 1924. It reads : " I received your letter dated 14th instant last evening, 15th instant, and I regret to note the vague and uncertain attitude your Board takes up in this matter. What the company desire to know is, Is the ' Admiral Codrington ' included in next year's contract in the usual way, and can we depend upon your Board assisting our company in getting a load of frozen produce for it if the company bring the boat to New Zealand ? We are at a loss to understand your Board's attitude in this matter, but if you wish it placed on record this company still owns the ' Admiral Codrington,' and is extremely anxious to arrange for her to come to New Zealand and take a load back to England, as she is at present tied up and idle in England waiting for the New Zealand trade. I do not know what data your Board wants as to the ability of the company to carry out the conditions of the shipping contract, but if you will define what you mean by this I will be pleased to answer it." Then follows the passage to which I ask the Commissioners' attention : " If, however, you want to know our financial position regarding this boat, I will be pleased to acquaint you with the position, which is that while all our current obligations in England have been provided for, the company has money to credit at Home, and our representatives there are prepared to arrange for the boat to come to New Zealand immediately. Your Board's uncertain position is very serious to our company and so on. You see theie is a positive statement of fact by Mr. Lysnar that the company had provided for all their current obligations in England and had money to their credit at Home. You were in England, of course, at the time ? —That is so. That is simply an unsupported statement. You have never been able to ascertain what the justification for that statement of fact was ? —Mr. Lysnar has never given to the Board, I think, on any single occasion yet, any financial data of value. The Chairman : I do not see anything on this file which throws much light on that. I am going to suggest to Mr. Lysnar that he perhaps will have a look at these letters and see if there is anything which throws any light on it. [Mr. Lysnar went up alongside the Chairman and looked at the file.] The Chairman : A cable was received on the 2nd October from Glasgow presumably that would be Arbuckle—addressed to Iceberg, Gisborne : " ' Codrington ' in excellent condition. No business obtainable at present. Can you arrange shipping pool for a voyage ? " Then, on the 9th October, the same parties : " Await reply to our previous telegram. Are working as suggested. If you cannot arrange please telegraph." And on the 9th a reply was sent to Arbuckle, Glasgow, from Iceberg : " Endeavouring to arrange pick up cargo of various materials at thence here. Telegraphing later." And it is probably in connection with that that those two letters were written which are, dated 10th October and 3rd November. That of the 10th October is, as I say, signed by a man who is personally known to both Mr. Skerrett and myself and who is a person of absolutely the highest integrity. Mr. Slcerrett: Where was it written from —outside the Dominion ? Would it have reached here by 16th October ? The Chairman: Oh, yes. It is written from Wellington. It is from a man who lives in New Zealand but not in Wellington. It shows that he " called this morning -10th October —" following advice received from Auckland to the effect that you had wired asking if 'any chance of my company providing you with freight for the ship. There is not much in sight but. business is maturing that would probably provide " —a large quantity of freight is mentioned. The letter goes on to say this : "It might be advisable for you to see Mr. —of another firm, who writes the next letter—" with a view to securing freight. If anything definite comes along in a day or two we will communicate with you." Then there is a letter from the person whom Mr. Lysnar is recommended to approach, and it says, " According to promise I have to advise you that have accepted our tender for . Freight will be required, and it might be of service to you if your London agents approach—•—various people, whose addresses are given. That is dated 3rd November. Mr. Skerrett: None of those are pertinent to the statement contained in the letter of 16th November. The Chairman : Those are. That is the gist of those. You are quite satisfied, Mr. Lysnar, with the interpretation which I have put upon them ? Mr. Lysnar: Quite. Mr. Skerrett: There is no other communication that you rely on ? Mr. Lysnar : There is another communication. The Chairman : I have left out nothing of importance. Mr. Lysnar : You have put it fairly. Mr. Skerrett asks if there is anything else. W r e had another string to our bow, in addition to those letters. We were offered a full cargo for the boat if that failed. We had another string to our bow that would have given us another full cargo if that failed.