206

McGlashan's accommodation, but which was
retired by Mr. Macandrew, and when?

A. The acceptance of John McGlashan to
James Macandrew & Co., £500, discounted by
me in June, 1859, and renewed in November,
1859, was the only bill transaction I have had
with the two names, and this bill was, I be-
lieve, retired on account of Mr. McGlashan.

Q. Has Mr. John McGlashan frequently
had accommodation from the Bank?

A. Mr. John McGlashan has never to my
knowledge received any other accommodation
from the Bank than the £500 bill transaction
with Mr. Macandrew, already referred to.

Q. Has Mr. J. McGlashan kept a private
account with the Bank within the last two
years?

A. He has never kept any private account
with the Bank.

Q. When foreign Bills are drawn by the
National Bank of Scotland, they are usually
issued in duplicate only?

A. This Bank being Agents for the National
Bank of Scotland, the latter generally draw
upon us in duplicate by letter of credit.
Drafts of the National Bank of Scotland on
their London Agents (Messrs. Glyn & Co.)
drawn in sola, duplicate and triplicate are oc-
casionally brought out to the colony for nego-
tiation.

MR. KILGOUR—Examined.

Q. You are one of the Auditors appointed
in April last to credit the Provincial Trea-
surer's Accounts. Will you state which ac-
counts of the Provincial Treasurer you ex-
amined?

A. We commenced the examination of the
Accounts in the month of July 1860, and ex-
amined those for the period commencing 1st
October 1859 and ending 30th June 1860.
We examined also those of the succeeding
Quarter ending 30th September 1860, which
concluded the financial year.

Q. Were you a member of the previous
Board of Audit?

A. Yes.

Q. To what period of the Treasurer's
Accounts was the previous audit and exami-
nation completed and the Accounts found cor-
rect on counting the cash in the Treasurer's
chest?

A. The previous examination of the Ac-
counts was for the period ending 30th Sep-
tember 1859, and was made by Mr. Gillies and
myself in the absence of Mr. Strode. As the
balance in the Bank was found to be in excess
of the Treasurer's balance, it was not an oc-
casion on which to examine the cash box.

Q. Were the Auditors aware at the time of
survey that the Provincial Treasurer kept in
the same chest, but in separate bags, the cash
balances of the Provincial Account, and those
of the Road Board and Education Board?

A. We were aware that he was Treasurer
of those Boards, and held the balances in his
hands.

Q. Were the Auditors of the Road Board
Accounts also Auditors of the Road Board
Accounts?

A. Yes.

Q. Several trial balances of the Provincial
Treasurer's Accounts were made by the Board
of Audit. On the 28th February they found
an apparent deficiency of £1037 1s. 3d. Did
you determine the Treasurer's cash balance on
that day, or had you any means of doing so at

the time you found the above apparent defi-
ciency?

A. No.

Q. Will you refer to page 4 of the printed
report of the Select Committee. It is there
stated in your evidence, that the Superinten-
dent told you that he had only £400 of the
Road Board balance, the remainder being in
the Treasurer's hands. Is the report correct;
and have you any doubt of the correctness of
your memory on this point?

A. On this point I am quite correct, and
will adhere to my former answer.

MR. JAMES PATERSON—Examined.

Q. Have you received any communication
from your correspondents, Messrs. N. & N.
Lockhart, advising you of the payment of
£1000, on account of the railway plant for the
Clutha Coal Fields?

A. No.

Q. Has the order been shipped, and the bill
of lading and invoice handed to the Provincial
Agents, Messrs. Crawford & Auld?

A. The letters dated 28th October, I have
been instructed that the order was completed
and in the course of shipment.

Q. Then your agents, the Messrs. Lockhart,
could not in the usual course of business be in
the receipt of the £1000?

A. No.

Q. In giving the receipt to Mr. Macandrew
for £1000, you did so on the understanding
not that the money had been remitted to your
agents, but that it would be paid over to them
by the Provincial Agents, on the due shipment
of the order?

A. Exactly; and we have no complaint to
make, as far as the transaction has yet gone.

The day after the above examination,
Messrs. Paterson & Co. informed the Commis-
sioner that they had received advices from
Europe, 20th November, 1860, and that the
money for the railway plant had not reached
the Edinburgh Agents at the date of shipment,
24th November, 1860. Extract from the let-
ter which accompanied the invoice and bill of
lading, dated 24th November, 1860:—"We
"have again seen Mr. Auld, who have letters
"from Mr. Macandrew dated September, but
"he never yet has mentioned the money he
"said he was to send, or rather said he had
"sent on account of the railway plant. This
"is one of the worst cases we ever knew in
"business, and earnestly we wish we had never
"heard of it. We have faithfully done our
"part in the full belief that we were to have
"been faithfully done to; but here we have
"brought to lay out of about £800 for goods
"we were to be paid for in cash as soon as
"shipped. They are shipped in our name, and
"we have endorsed the bill of lading to you,
"which you will only deliver to the Provincial
"Government when you get the amount,
"and interest from the date of the bill of la-
"ding, with three and a-half months extra in-
"terest, so as the money may reach us here."

MR. CHEYNE—Examined.

Q. This is a cheque which you presented at
the Union Bank, and which you endorsed:
who gave this into your hands, and to whom
did you give the cash?

A. I do not recollect, so many cheques pass
through my hands; but on no occasion that
I can recollect did the Superintendent in the
presence of Mr. McGlashan hand me a cheque
for £500 to be cashed at the Union Bank.