Extract from the Otago Daily Times, Friday, 30th October,

. . ."Mr. Brandon, of the Stamp Office, has been furnished with a copy of the Report of the Commission's charges against him, and the Government's decision. The Report is that all charges affecting his honesty were either withdrawn or broke down; that he had been guilty of injudicious or irregular conduct in several instances, but most of them upwards of two years ago, when Batkin was the chief of office, since which Brandon had been made acting head of the department; that one case occurred in 1873, but that latterly the Commissioner of Audit had reported a most marked improvement in the conduct of the office; that he had duties for which he was unequal thrust upon him, and that the charge of general inefficiency and negligence were not sustained by evidence. Further, that although deserving some punishment for irregularities, he had done nothing to justify dismissal from the service. On this Report the Government has reduced his salary from £300 to £200, to date from his suspension, and ordered him to hold himself in readiness to be transferred to some other part of the Colony, which will necessitate the loss of another appointment worth £50 a year. The decision is generally considered excessively harsh, and unwarranted by the Report."