3

H.—35,

(5) Should the Commission be of the opinion that the transit requirements of the district under consideration couid be equally as well, or better, served by means of a tunnel or tunnels, then all the questions recited above with regard to the bridge shall, mutatis mutandis, be answered with repect to the tunnelling proposal in so far as applicable. And generally any other matters arising out of the premises which may come under your notice in the course of your inquiries, and which you consider should be investigated in connection therewith. And with the like advice and consent I do further appoint you, the said James Marchbanks, to be the Chairman of the said Commission. And you are hereby authorized to conduct any inquiry under these presents at such times and places as you deem expedient, with power to adjourn from time to time and place to place as you think fit, and to arrange for taking of soundings and boring in the Waitemata Harbour to the extent to which funds are available and to call before you and to examine on oath or otherwise such persons as you think capable of affording you information as to the matters aforesaid, and to call for and examine all such books, papers, writings, documents, and records as you deem likely to afford you the fullest information on any such matters. And, using all due diligence, you are required to report to me, under your hands and seals, not later than the first day of May, one thousand nine hundred and thirty, your opinion on the aforesaid matters. And you are hereby strictly charged and directed that you shall not at any time publish or otherwise disclose, save to me in pursuance of these presents or by my direction, the contents or purport of any report so made or to be made by you. And it is hereby declared that this Commission shall continue in full force and virtue although the inquiry be not regularly continued from time to time or from place to place by adjournment. And, lastly, it is hereby further declared that these presents are issued under and subject to the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908. Given under the hand of His Excellency, General Sir Charles Fergusson, Baronet, General on the Retired List and in the Reserve of Officers of His Majesty's Army ; Doctor of Laws ; Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George ; Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath ; Companion of the Distinguished Service Order ; Member of the Royal Victorian Order; Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and over His Majesty's Dominion of New Zealand and its Dependencies ; and issued under the Seal of the said Dominion at the Government House at Wellington, this nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine. Geo. W. Forbes, For Minister of Public Works. God save the King ! Issued in Executive Council. F. D. Thomson, Clerk of the Executive Council. 19/10/1929.