H.-SO

The news that the Poverty Bay Farmers' Meat Company had bought the " Admiral Codrington " did not strike terror into your heart altogether, did it ? —No. It was not a matter of very great concern to you ?—No. You were under no contract, were you, with the other shipping companies not to purchase the " Admiral Codrington " ? You could have bought her if you wanted to ? —We could, but we did not desire to. I mean, it was not a matter of very great importance to you ? —No. There is one matter 011 which Mr. Lysnar, when he gives evidence in reference to the interview you had with him, is going to contradict you, and I must put it to you. Mr. Lysnar says he did not make a particular point of this interview being confidential ? —I am sorry I cannot agree with you or Mr. Lysnar. He did. I quite appreciate the attitude you took, that it was confidential, and you have taken that all through ?—All through. When did you last see Mr. Jolly in reference to this conversation ?—Which conversation ? The conversation Mr. Lysnar had with me, or the conversation Mr. Lysnar had with Mr. Jolly ? When did Mr. Jolly last see you in reference to the conversation you had with Mr. Lysnar ? — I do not think I have had Page 732. any conversation with Mr. Jolly except somewhere about the time of Mr. Lysnar's conversation with me —the confidential conversation. Mr. Jolly —I cannot fix the date —said to me, " I hear you are going to buy the ' Admiral Codrington.' " I said, " Are we ? Ido not think so." Mr. Jolly then proceeded to refer to some matters which Mr. Lysnar had told him, and I said that my conversation with Mr. Lysnar was of a confidential nature and I could say nothing. You are quite clear, are you, that you told Mr. Jolly then that it was of a confidential nature ?— Absolutely clear. That is a conversation that took place some time ago —the date you cannot exactly fix ?—I cannot fix it absolutely to a day, but to the best of my recollection and belief when Mr. Jolly spoke to me about it, and I said I could not talk to him about it, it was before the reply cable had been received from London. But I cannot swear to it. What I want to get at is, when was this matter —within the last few days —first mentioned to you again, and by whom ?—By the Commissioners here ;in fact, I guessed from what I saw in the papers that that was what I was going to be examined 011. Did any one see you about it ? —No one. Mr. Lysnar is going to say when he gives evidence that he told you to put in the cable you were sending Home that he would have to vote, or would vote, for a Shipping Bill ? —As a matter of fact, I do not recollect Mr. Lysnar saying a single word about his vote ; but I am bound to say that Mr. Lysnar appeared to reserve to himself a certain liberty of action. As to the rest of the cable that was sent Home containing this information —that information was public property, was it not, in the newspapers and in the reports of proceedings in Parliament ? I mean these terms. Mr. Lysnar tells me that all these terms about the proposed legislation were common property ? —They may have been. Ido not know. I can only tell you what Mr. Lysnar told me. I put it to you that the nature of this proposed legislation was not news to you when Mr. Lysnar told it to you ? —lt was news to me. Page 733. At the end of your cable you say that you regarded the scheme as fantastic ?—Yes. . It was not I only. It was my shipping colleagues in conjunction with me. You conferred with your shipping colleagues ?—Yes. That, I presume, would be the representatives of the other companies ?—Yes. And you discussed this proposed legislation ? —We discussed Mr. Lysnar's proposals as he put them before me. And you regarded them as fantastic ? —And, may I say, other proposals that Mr. Lysnar put before us. This is not the first occasion, is it, on which you have cabled Home about the " Admiral Codrington " ? —No. What was the price? Do you remember?—l think it was in March, 1922, that Mr. Lysnar approached me, and he said to me that there appeared every probability that the Meat Board would be taking over control of the meat in subsequent years, and in his opinion the necessity of the " Admiral Codrington " for the Poverty Bay Farmers' Meat-works had departed. He suggested that the liners, or one company of them, should buy the " Admiral Codrington " at the price of £395,000, which he stated was the value, and he said that if the liners would put forward an offer at that price the Board would give it consideration. He further, to the best of my recollection, pointed out that if the liners did not purchase, he thought perhaps the Meat Board might, but in any case we could regard it that he was giving the liners the first refusal. That was put up to London, and the liners said they were not interested. The London men refused to buy ? —Yes. That was prior to the offer made by Mr. Lysnar, to which I referred in the first part of my evidence. You did not accept that offer ? —No. Mr. Myers.] Your cablegram, you told us, was sent within a day or two, or two or three davs, of your conversation with Mr. Lysnar ?—Yes,

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