H.—6c.

COL. DAVIES.

152. Were the cooks for the men qualified cooks?— Yea; they had been cooking in transports before. 153. They were not " rough-and-tumble " men ?—Every one of them was a cook. I had an argument with them in the galley. Two of the cooks assured me that on all the transports they had been in they boiled the tea in the same boilers as the meat. That is how I happen to know they had been on ships before. 154. What water was supplied to the men ?—Practically, as much as they liked. 155. You are sure they had an ample supply ?—Yes. 156. Were there any complaints? —Never. 157. Was it condensed?— Some condensed and some fresh. They could get as much as they wanted. There was never any complaint about it. 158. It was good in quality?— Yes. 159. About the washing : were there any utensils for the men to wash in ?—There were four lavatories. 160. How many basins in each lavatory ?—From memory, I should say about a dozen in each. 161. Could men havewashed on deck in buckets?— Yes; they also had a sail bath on deck. I should say it was about 10 ft. to 15 ft. long by 2 ft. or 3 ft. deep. They could have had a bath as often as they had liked. 162. They had, I presume, plenty of salt water for that?— Yes. 163. There was no excuse for men being dirty personally?— Absolutely none. 164. There was no reason why they should not wash on the decks at certain hours in buckets had they chosen to?— No. 165. Did the men take baths ?—I could not say how many did. I never had any complaint whatever about the want of water. 166. How many water-closets were there for the men ?—I think there were four—two fore and two aft —and there were some ten to a dozen closets in each. 167. There were about forty seats altogether, I suppose ?—I should think quite that, from memory. I went through them every morning. 168. Do you think the number was sufficient for the men?—lt was ample. 169. There was no question brought under your notice of there being insufficient closet accommodation ?—No. I consider the lavatory accommodation was the best I have seen on a troopship. 170. There were no complaints on the subject ?—None whatever. 171. Was any effort made to increase the number of water-closets ?—There was no necessity for that. 172. It has been alleged that the men used to ease themselves in the scuppers about the decks? —I never heard of such a thing on the whole voyage. Ido not believe it for a minute. 173. You never heard of it ?—Never heard of anything of the sort. 174. Were there any urinal tubs for the men below deck at night?—l do not know that there were any. I did not see any below. Ido not think it would be healthy. ■ 175. Did you personally inspect the men's quarters?— Yes, sir. 176. How often ?—Every day, excepting when I was rather ill with a cold. 177. How many inspections did you miss?—l suppose I missed about about half a dozen on the whole voyage. 178. You yourself personally visited the decks every day?— Yes, almost everyday. I may have missed a couple of days before arriving at Albany, and perhaps between Albany and Melbourne, and between Melbourne and New Zealand, but no more. 179. Unless something specially prevented you, you visited the decks, the lavatories, latrines, &c, and you say that everything was clean?— Yes; and when I did not inspect personally the officers commanding the regiments, Lieut.-Colonel Chaytor and Captain Poison, inspected their own quarters and immediately reported to me. Surgeon-Major Pearless inspected the hospital and reported to me. 180. How many officers were on duty each day ?—There was the captain of the day, subaltern of the day, and the quartermaster for the whole force. In addition, there was the quartermaster of each regiment, captain and subaltern of the day for each regiment, and a doctor to inspect the meat, and, latterly, the veterinary surgeon also to inspect the meat. 181. Why did the veterinary surgeon inspect the meat?— Because I had a complaint after the doctor was put on, and I thought that, as Captain Young had been brought to New Zealand as an expert on frozen meat, he would be a most excellent man to see if there were anything the matter with the quality of the meat. He never reported anything wrong. If there had been anything wrong with the meat he would have ordered it to be thrown overboard. On the 18th July the following order was issued by the officer commanding the troops (Colonel Davies) : "In future officers commanding units and detachments will detail one officer per squadron or detachment daily to attend every issue of stores, rations, &c. These officers will be expected to satisfy themselves that complaints are well founded before forwarding them. The principal medical officer will detail a medical officer to inspect the meat issued for the troops' consumption at 8 a.m., II a.m., and 6 p.m. daily." 182. And in consequence of that order a surgeon did attend, and any report of bad meat was made to you ?—Yes; they were there to deal with it. 183. Did officers make written reports to you each day ?—Yes. 184. Were there any complaints in them ?—Yes. 185. Have these reports been kept ?—I do not suppose they have. They were no use when we came here. My staff officer —Captain Matthews—might have them. 186. Did the regimental officers on duty attend at each meal to see that they were properly served ?—Yes.

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