16 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS. 



missioner would possess himself of the most competent 

 testimony ; and that, by receiving the statement in the 

 presence of other classes not having the same interests, or 

 even having opposite interests, but possessing, from local 

 connexion, sufficient knowledge of the circumstances of 

 the witnesses to determine its probability, the best secu- 

 rity possible would be obtained that each statement would 

 be worthy of credence, and that it had not been made 

 solely with a view to a sinister and class interest ; that by 

 refusing to allow any resident of the district to sit with 

 the Assistant Commissioner, or join in the examination, 

 the working classes would feel more confidence in the im- 

 partiality of the procedure, and would therefore speak 

 without restraint. By the second head of direction, we 

 hoped to provide against the possibility of misrepresenta- 

 tion through any of the circumstances being forgotten, or 

 others which did not exist being inadvertently inserted ; 

 by the words of each witness being recorded as nearly as 

 might be, to leave the evidence less open to misinterpre- 

 tation, and, in effect, to bring the reader more immediately 

 in contact with the witness ; by the list of persons who 

 attended the examination being given, to enable the public 

 to decide whether each class was fairly represented ; and 

 by the minutes of evidence being transmitted to the Board 

 immediately after the examination, and the Assistant 

 Commissioner not being permitted subsequently to alter 

 them, to obtain a sufficient guarantee that they had not 

 been adapted to the theories of the examiner. 



The Assistant Commissioners were required only to 

 collect evidence (facts and opinions), and to record their 

 personal observations on the subjects, and in the manner 

 already detailed; they had merely, in the examination of 



