Appendix "A."

Horowhenua Commission.

Levin, April 9, 1896.

On the re-assembling of the Royal Commission at 2 p.m. the Chairman (Mr, Martin) said that there were one or two matters he wished to refer to before the evidence was proceeded with.

In the first place Mr. Robert Ward, the Trust Commissioner at Wanganui, had written to say that he was still confined to his room, and although moat anxious to place his evidence before the Commission, he feared he would be unable to attend for several weeks, in support of which he had forwarded a medical certificate.

Sir Walter Buller said it was absolutely necessary that he should have the Trust Commissioner's evidence. The Minister of Lands, Mr McKenzie, had in his place in Parliament, virtually charged Mr Ward and himself with a conspiracy to defeat the law, for he had broadly alleged that he (Sir Walter Buller) had " by gome means or another " induced the Trust Commissioner to grant a certificate to his mortgage without the law being complied with. If there was any truth in that charge, then neither Mr. Ward nor himself was fit to be on the Commission of the Peace, If the Royal Commission would be satisfied with Mr Ward's affidavit he (Sir Walter Buller) had no objection to offer.

[It was ultimately arranged that the Commission should adjourn to Wanganui for the purpose of taking Mr. Ward's evidence.]

The Chairman: All the other witnesses whose names have been given in have now been dealt with except the Hon. John McKenzie. Will Sir Walter Buller Bate on what points he proposes to examine Mr McKenzie ?

Sir Walter Buller : Sir, during a debate in the House on the Horowhenua Block Bill, Mr. McKenzie stated that " since he had been a Minister he had come across some disgraceful dealings but none to equal those in connection with this mock." He added that enquiry was needed into these dealings and it "would be found that all he had said was borne out by facts." I will not go into further particulars, but I will remind you, Sir, that Mr. McKenzie, in his place as a minister, made very serious accusations against me, in connection with Horowhenua, assailing my character and impugning my personal honor. He implored the House to set up a Royal Commission to enquire into all these transactions. After I had been heard at the Bar of the House he repeated his charges, but said that if I was able to justify myself before the Royal Commission he would " make a humble apology—one of the humblest apologies ever made to a man in this world." I claimed the right to meet my accuser face to face. Mr page 32 McKenzie refused to meet me in the Supreme Court, saying that "what was wanted was a Royal Commission which Sir Walter Buller could not get round and which his money could not purchase." I had nothing to do with determining the scope of this Commission, but its avowed object is to get to the bottom of third and to learn the truth about the Horowhenua Block. Mr. McKenzie has stated publicly that he knows of "disgraceful dealings " in which I have been concerned Let us know what they are. Surely I have a right to compel his attendance and to make him either substantiate or withdraw his accusations ! Before the Commission closes I shall make my statement on oath and then tender myself for cross-examination all round. When I have Mr. McKenzie on his oath before the Commission, I shall claim the right to cross-examine him upon all the statements he made in the House affecting myself in connection with this block. If Mr. McKenzie will not respond to a subpoena, then I will adopt the other alternative.

The Chairman said that the duties of the Royal Commission were clearly defined by the Commission itself. From first to last, during the whole of the proceedings there had not been the slightest suggestion of fraud or wrong doing on Sir Walter Buller's part and he did not see how the Commission could go in to any question as between the Minister of Lands and Sir Walter Buller, which was virtually a private matter.

Sir Walter Buller : No, Sir; a statement made by him publicly as Minister, and one seriously affecting my character.

The Chairman replied that in the absence of any suggestion of fraud in a connection with Block XIV—to which Sir Walter Buller's dealings had been confined—on the evidence already before the Commission, and in the face of Mr. Fraser's assurance that he did not intend to offer any evidence at all, he did not see that he could permit Mr. McKenzie to be cross-examined as to what he had said in Parliament. The only suggestion of fraud that could be raised was by a strained application of the equitable doctrine of fraud by notice in the sale of land to the Crown.

But as to the Trust Commissioner's certificate, the case was differs because that might be required in support of Sir Walter Buller's title.

Sir Walter Buller : My object, Sir, is to compel Mr McKenzie to meet me face to face, and to have his statement on oath. Do I understand that the Commission refuses to issue a subpoena for him ?

The Chairman : Yes, that is so—for the present at any rate.

Sir Walter Buller : Well, I wish to make it perfectly clear that I have exhausted every means in my power to bring the Minister before the Royal Commission—the tribunal of his own choosing—for the purpose of having his charges against me enquired into. The Commission having refused to issue a subpoena I can do nothing more.

W.L.B.