Our finished report and the question was raised what should be printed. It was urged upon us that the members of Council, and the public would not be satisfied with only the Report without the evidence on which it was based.
Apart from some passages in Mr. Wise's evidence, it did not then strike us that there was anything very confidential in any of the evidence, and as we were allowed the whole to be printed naturally, as we believed what we said was to be confidential, we said many things that, although perfectly correct, would not have been mentioned had we known that they were all to be published.
That Mr. Thomson used these words or words to the same effect at the Emigration Committee, I have not the slightest doubt, as I remember very well they were said in answer to some remarks of mine about the effectiveness of the examination at the Harbour Master's office.
Mr. Thomson, instead of saying "that he had great reason for believing," may have said "that it was currently reported 'that bribery existed'" whatever he said was fully confirmed by D. Hokai, another member of the Committee, who added that it was of course impossible to prove these things.
These words can be no reflection on Captain Rumsey himself, as his evidence shows he attends at these examinations only for a few minutes and as...
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