H.—2

4

This water-closet and privy provided sufficient accommodation for the emigrants, even assuming the use of the water-closets on board the ship was temporarily denied them. 9. The said ship was loaded with her cargo, stores, water, baggage, and utensils, in an ordinary, proper, and seamanlike manner. The emigrants were provided with the usual and proper accommodation. 10. I say in respect to the said evidence generally, as contained in the said appendix, that it is full of gross misstatements, hearsay evidence, and contradictious ; and that those portions which relate to times, facts, and periods, of which I was personally cognizant, are generally misrepresented and exaggerated. 11. It is stated by the said Gr. 11. Harrington, in the said appendix, that the said ship was overloaded. I say that this is not true, and that the quantity of dead weight, viz., 307£ tons, was only sufficient to make the ship seaworthy, and was under the weight usually supplied to a ship of the tonnage of the " England." 12. I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the provisions of an Act made and passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled " An Act to Eepeal an Act of the present Session of Parliament intituled ' An Act for the more effectual Abolition of Oaths and Affirmations taken and made in various Departments of the State, and to substitute Declarations in lieu thereof, and for the more entire Suppression of Voluntary and Extra-judicial Oaths and Affidavits, and to make other provisions for the abolition of unnecessary oaths.' " Alex. Scott. Declared and subscribed at the Mansion House, in the City of London, this 22nd day of August, 1872, before me, Sills Jso. Gibbojts, Lord Mayor. I, William Held Sutherland, of 34, Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, clerk to Messrs Shaw, Saville, and Co., of the same place, shipowners, do solemnly and sincerely declare as follows: — 1. I have the management of the passengers' department of Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co.'s business, and have been in their service in the said capacity for the last eleven years. 2. I have been shown the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into certain matters connected with the immigrants by the ship " England," and have perused same, together witli the appendix containing the evidence taken on the inquiry referred to therein. 3. In reference to the evidence of Gr. H. Harrington in the said appendix, I say, in respect to the paragraph commencing at the foot of the third page of such appendix, that the statements contained in the said paragraph are entirely untrue. 4. I deny that I ever informed the said G. H. Harrington, or any other person, that the doctor engaged by Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co. for the ship "England," referred to, "was all right, but that he had a tile off." The said Gr. H. Harrington asked me what sort of doctor I had engaged for his vessel, and I told him that we (meaning Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co.) had engaged Dr. Leigh, whose testimonials and diplomas had been submitted to and approved by me ; and that, from inquiries 1 had made, I had come to the conclusion that he (Dr. Leigh) was a surgeon of ability considerably above the average of ship surgeons, and that the papers produced by him were unexceptionable. 5. Referring to the statement of the said (i. 11. Harrington contained on page 4 of the said appendix, which is as follows : —" On the Friday before the Sunday on which the immigrants were expected to arrive, I applied to Mr. Sutherland (Shaw, Saville, and Co.'s manager) to have lodgings taken for them, and that they refused on account of the cost, which he told me would be £13 a day, adding that I must do the best I could. He told me he had consulted the firm, and they refused to accede to it. The immigrants arrived on Monday, at which time the ship was quite unprepared to receive them, and they had no other place to go to but the ship,"—l say that the Mr. Sutherland therein referred to is myself, and that had it been necessary to provide the said immigrants with lodgings, the said Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co. would have provided such lodgings at their own expense, as is their custom when their ships are not ready to receive immigrants ; but in this case the ship was ready to receive them, and so far from Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co. refusing to provide accommodation for the said immigrants, I say it is a fact within my own knowledge, that they provided accommodation for them on board the said ship, and that they came on board and were maintained and victualled on board the said ship by Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co. from the date of their contract tickets ; and I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the provisions of an Act made and passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled " An Act to Repeal an Act of the present Session of Parliament intituled ' An Act for the more effectual Abolition of Oaths and Affirmations taken and made in various Departments of the State, and to substitute Declarations in lieu thereof, aud for the more entire Suppression of Voluntary and Extra-judicial Oaths and Affidavits, and to make other provisions for the abolition of unnecessary oaths. "William Reid Sutherland. Declared and subscribed at the Mansion House, , in the City of London, this 22nd day of August, 1872, before me, Sills Jno. Gibbons, Lord Mayor.