H.—6o.

15

CAPT. K. C. M. LEWTN.

519. That was on the lower deck? —Yes. 520. Iα the matter of food, what rations were issued per man? Was there a dietary scale ?— Yes. It was the Imperial Yeomanry scale. There are two scales in the Imperial service—one for the ordinary soldier, and the Yeomanry scale. This latter scale was that on which we were supposed to be rationed. 521. Is that a better scale than the scale for the ordinary soldier ?—Yes. 522. Have you any document to show what the actual scale was?—No ; I could not get one. 523. What did the men get, ?—They had a ration of baker's bread every day, and they had as much biscuit as they could possibly eat. There was a barrel standing on each troop-deck, and they could help themselves when they chose. 524. Good? —Very good. At breakfast they had coffee and stews. 525. What sort of stew ?—Meat stew. 526. Not cooked a second time?—No ; it was always fresh. 527. Was there curried hash?— Yes, sometimes. 528. Was it a fair meal ?—Yes. 529. Not such a meal as a man of ordinary taste would say was not fit to eat ? —No, especially if a man had come from the back country. 530. Did they have butter?— Yes, alternately with jam, every day. 531. Was the butter good in quality ? —Yes, very fair. 532. And the jam ? —Very good. 533. How much jam did they get ?—About } lb. per man. 534. Every alternate day?—l think they had butter twice a week, and jam on the other days. 535. What did their dinner meal consist of ?—They had baked and boiled joints, with sauce. 536. What meat? —The meat was frozen. The purser informed me it was Queensland and New Zealand meat. 537. No corned pork? —Not as a rule. I saw corned pork on one or two occasions. 538. Did you see the meat issued?—At first I did; but afterwards it was inspected InVeterinary Captain Young and Doctor Bauchop, who was responsible. 539. You have seen it yourself ?—Yes. 540. What was the quality ?—Good. 541. Was it fairly good food? —Yes. 542. Was it like meat rejected anywhere else?— No. I never saw anything wrong except on one occasion, and then it was taken back to the cook's galley and changed. 543. What meat was that?—lt was a joint of mutton. 544. Did the men ever get soup ?—Yes. 545. How often? —Several times a week. 546. Did they ever get puddings ?—Yes. 547. What were the puddings? —Generally duff. 548. Anything but duff?— They got rice occasionally. 549. How often did they get duff? —Several times a week. 550. Ever get any cheese? —I do not think so. 551. For supper what did they get ?—They generally had a small ration of meat, and they ha.d their bread which was issued in the morning, and their jam. 552. What do you mean by a small ration of meat? —I mean a stew. 553. Did they get meat three times a day ?—Generally, but not always. 554. Was the preserved meat good ?—Yes. It was Armour brand. 555. Was it of a stringy nature of our experience of twenty or thirty years ago, or was it like the good meat you could go into a shop like Gear's and purchase now ? —lt was very good. 556. And the men liked it ?—Yes. 557. Do you think the men got euough to eat? —It was their own fault if they did not. They had a liberal bread ration, and if there was any complaint the matter was immediately remedied. 558. The cooking of the meat was fairly good ?—Yes ; but the cooks worked under a disadvantage —the galleys were too small. 559. Did the food suffer from that ?—Occasionally. The ship rolled a great deal, and that made it worse ; but if ever there was a complaint of anything it was taken back and something else given in exchange. 560. Was there any complaint made to you about the quality or quantity of the food ?—Very seldom. About half a dozen times some of the men went to the chief staff officer, but the complaints were very trivial. 561. Were there more complaints on this voyage than on the other voyages you went on !—1 do not think there were so many. 562. Were the men, on the whole, fairly satisfied? —They seemed to be so. 563. Then, with regard to the bread, and the flour, and the jam, and the coffee, was there any complaint?--They found fault with the coffee because the cooks had to use the same boilers as the meat was cooked in, and there was a little grease on the top; but the tea was as good as you generally get on board ship. 564. Did you as quartermaster have any authority over the ship's cook?—No ; he was under the ship's officers. If I complained, I complained to the chief steward or the purser. 565. It has been said that there was an advertisement on board that there were meals for sale : was that so ?—Yes. I told the men that if they saw any man coming along with a meal which he had bought they could upset him and take it from him, and I told the cooks that if I found anything of that sort going on I would have a stop put to it.