TROOPEK F. E. MOOBE.j

63

H.—6c.

614. Then you had meat three times a day ?—Yes ; but not sufficient of it. 615. You say the meat, when cooked, did not smell well : what do you mean —die! it stink. or was it rotten? —Not exactly rotten, but it was not to be compared to what it should have been. 616. Was it high, like game?— Not quite that. 617. Can you be precise? These are points we want Co get at. It was not rotten, it was not gamey —what was it ?—lt was like as if it had been lying about for days and then used. 618. That is, it was kept too long ?—No ; because some meat will keep a long time and some will not. 619. You did not like it, but you cannot describe what was wrong ?—We did not like the meat at all, and in most cases it was not properly cooked. 620. You say the jam was bad?— The rhubarb-jam. 621. Anything but rhubarb?— Yes, sometimes. 622. How often did you have rhubarb-jam ?—Once or twice a week ; sometimes we had apple and plum. 623. How often on the voyage?—On two occasions. 624. What was the matter with the jam ? —lt was green, and as soon as the tin was opened a bad smell came from it. 625. The other jams right?— Yes. 626. What about the butter ?—I have no fault to find with the butter. 627. The bread ?—That was good. 628. The biscuits?—l never touched them, but they were quite tit to be eaten. 629. You say the coffee was made overnight?— Yes. 630. Boiled overnight ? — Yes, boiled overnight. It was not the same coffee as was sold by the sailors. 631. Were the sailors selling coffee to the men ?—Yes. It was not the same coffee at all. Our coffee was made overnight and heated up in the morning by steam. 632. Was there a reason for that ?— It seemed to me that they would not get up in the morning to do it. 633. Do you think that with so many men on board it was necessary to get the coffee prepared overnight?— No. 634. Did the cooks get up?—l do not know. I have seen them up at night at 11 o'clock. 635. Were the cooks then at work ?—They were sitting down, some inside and some outside. On one occasion I saw them making coffee myself just after 9 o'clock. 636. Then, you think they should have been in bed, in order to be able to get up early in the morning to make the coffee ?—That is what it seemed to me. 637. Was there accommodation in the galley sufficient to have kept boilers for making tea and coffee for over a thousand men, as well as cooking the meat for them ? —No. There were just three boilers. 638. Then, there was no blame to the cooks for using the same boiler ? —No ; you could not blame the cooks. There should have been more space. 639. Do you think they took reasonable care to clean the boilers ? —No ; I never saw the boilers boiled out once. 640. They never put in a jet of hot water to clean them ?—They wiped them with a cloth, without a drop of water, and then they put in the soup for dinner. 641. After the soup?—l do not think they used a drop of water; and I never saw them take the grease off the side of the boiler. 642. What about the latrines : were they generally fairly clean ?—Yes, fairly clean ; but Ido not know why it was the case, but in the evening they seemed to be blocked. 643. The closets or the urinals ?—The closets near where the fish was put. There was no urinal where the fish was. 644. And you saw water from the latrines overflowing ?—ln the morning I have been there when the grating has been swimming about. There was at least 6 in. or 8 in. of water there. 645. How often did this happen ?—Well, it happened while the fish was there. 646. How often ?—Five or six times. 647. Where did you have rough weather?— The roughest was between Durban and Albany. 648. Were the seas breaking over the ship?— No. 649. This water in the latrines could not have been caused by the sea?— No. 650. Then, what was it ?—The waste water from the washing-place alongside the closet. They were cleaned out every morning, and I must say that both the closet and the washing-place were well cleaned in the morning, 651. What was the height of the step into the latrine?— About 1 ft. 652. How high over that did the water come ? —I have seen the water come over it. 653. Used the men to go into it when it was in that mess?— No. Steps were taken when it was found out to rectify it. 654. You say you saw it several times? —Yes; because I went in there when it was like that, and on one occasion the water went into my boot. 655. Was that often ? —lt was when the water was there and the gratings were swimming about. 656. Was there any man in charge of the latrines ?—There was a sentry there over the canteen, but whether he looked after the latrines I could not say. 657. You say the dogs cooked their logs on the fish, and the men had to eat it ? —Yes; it was taken to the cooks' galley.