212

paid, and I think on the day after, or a day or
two after, the repayment.

24. Q. Mr. Macandrew gave you a cheque
    on the Union Bank for the sum of £486 13s.
    4d., dated 20th February, 1860. Did the Bank
    pay the cheque on presentation?

A. No. It was immediately presented and
the answer returned was "No funds." It was
presented repeatedly afterwards, and the same
answer given.

25. Q. Will you hand in the dishonoured
    cheque?

A. I have it not. Mr. Macandrew destroyed
it when I obtained him from a cheque for
£836 13s. 4d.; but I have a copy of it in the
handwriting of Mr. Cheyne, which I now give
in.

26. Q. The cheque being dishonoured would
    leave Mr. Macandrew indebted to you in the
    sum of £486 13s. 4d. On the 28th Feb-
    ruary, the eight days after the cheque was dishon-
    oured, the deficiency of your balance according
    to the Auditors' report was £1037 1s. 3d., or
    according to the Accountant's report, £1010
    9s. 5d., thus leaving a sum exceeding £500
    unaccounted for, besides the balance of the
    Road fund, amounting to £853 4s. 8d. How
    do you account for the deficiency?

A. Part of the £500 would be in the chest;
and it is possible that sums may have been
advanced for wages and not credited. The
result reported by the audit was ascertained
only at the date of their first audit.

27. Q. You state that the cheque drawn by
    Mr. Macandrew on the Oriental Bank for
    £836 13s. 4d. was dishonoured on presenta-
    tion. Have you any documents to show that
    Mr. Macandrew was indebted to you to that
    amount?

A. I had a cheque for £600, in addition to
the one for £486 13s. 4d. He destroyed both
when he gave the cheque for £836 13s. 4d.
I give in a memorandum made at the time he
gave the cheque last mentioned, and also a
copy, in Mr. Cheyne's handwriting, of the
cheque for £600.

Copy of mem.—Due J. M'G........£486 13 4

600 0 0

£1086 13 4

Cash ..... 100 0 0

£986 13 4

Sal.... 100 0 0

£886 13 4

Do.*... 50 0 0

£836 13 4

• The figures within the bracket are in
  Mr. Macandrew's handwriting.

28. Q. Did you retain any monies belong-
    ing to the Provincial account besides the
    petty cash of about £400?

A. I am not aware of having retained any
Provincial money except the sum to the Su-
perintendent, and about £400 of petty cash.
There may at times have been sums received
and not paid into Bank on the same day they
were received; but the cheques for such sums,
when paid by cheques, have been, I may say,
almost invariably given by me to the Account-
ant immediately on receiving them, to be paid
into the Bank.

29. Q. You state in your evidence before
    the Committee of Provincial Council, that
    in February and March last you lent the
    Superintendent £400 and £600. The £400
    was drawn from the Bank. Where did you
    obtain funds for the £600?

A. The £600 was given by me to the Su-
perintendent in cash. I recollect giving it
him from the following circumstances:—I
happened to go to his room that day to have
a conversation with him on public business.
I found Mr. John Jones with him on opening
the door, and there immediately withdrew,
without talking to the Superintendent. In a
short time he came into my office in a great
fluster, and said he was just settling a £9000
transaction with Mr. Jones—that it was in-
convenient for Mr. Jones to pay him the
money that day—that he was to do it "to-
morrow"—that he needed £600 that day—
and that, if he did not get it, he would suffer
a heavy loss—that if I would give him that
sum, both it and the previous sum of £400
odds would be repaid to me next day, when,
to a certainty, he would be in ample funds. I
believed his statement and gave him the
money; and, as it was to be repaid next
day, and that Mr. Jones was still with him, I
got no voucher for it. He did not pay it next
day, and stated to me some papers to pass be-
tween him and Mr. Jones had not been com-
pleted. This excuse he several times repeated.
Some time afterwards, I cannot say how long,
I got a cheque from him for the sum, dated
10th March, but that is not the date on which
I received it. On that day (10th March) I
observe a sum of £600 was received by me for
Educational purposes on the Superintendent's
warrant; but whether the £600 was actually
given to him on that day, I do not recollect,
although I have repeatedly reflected on the
matter since. I discovered that the Superin-
tendent's cheque and the drawing from the
Bank of the £600 for Education are of the
same date. But the impression on my mind
is that he must have got the money on the
date of this cheque, viz., 10th March.

30. Q. Did you at the time of these trans-
    actions with Mr. Macandrew keep a private
    account at the Bank?

A. No, I kept my private cash in the office,
and did so for the purpose of preventing con-
fusion by having several accounts in the Bank
in my name.

31. Q. What amount of private funds had
    you generally in the office?

A. There was generally a sum of from £50
to £100 of private money in the chest.

32. Q. Could it have been within the know-
    ledge of the Superintendent that you had no
    private account at the Bank?

A. I think he knew I had no private ac-
count.

33. Q. In your query to reply No. 21 on
    the deficient balances, you state that payments
    on account of Public Works have not been in-
    serted in the Cash-book at the time of survey,
    and you give instances in proof. On com-
    paring the Cash-book with the Accountant's
    pass-book, it is found that you covered
    credit for the two sums alluded to, with the
    exception of the sum of £212, which however
    the Accountant has allowed you credit for in
    his statement. Have you any further expla-
    nation to often on this point?

A. I referred to the two payments at the
end of March in consequence of an answer I
had received from the Provincial Accountant,
but I find he has misunderstood the question
that I put to him to enable me to answer cor-
rectly the commissioner's query. I answered
the question not from my own inspection of
the books, but from what I thought was the