H.—6c.

64

[TROOPEK F. E. MOORE.

658. Did they eat it? —Some did, and some threw it overboard. 659. Was there anything given in its place'? —I believe there was stew given to them. 660. When you said the men had to eat it, was not that racher an overstatement ?—Well, they either had to eat it or go without, or complain about it. 661. Could they not complain about it ?—Two Australians did take it up and complain. 662. Your own men '?—I could not say. They went from the Australian troop deck. 663. You say they ate it and did not complain ?—No. 664. Did they eat it?— Very few. 665. Can you give the name of one ?—I was sitting at our table, and I knew very few on board. 666. Then, you do not know whether they ate it or not ?—I saw them eat it. 667. Men of your own squadron? —I cannot say. I was only attached to it when I came on board. 668. I understand that before you got to Albany the men who went down for the doctor's inspection incommoded the men on the A troop deck?— Yes. 669. How long before you got to Albany?—-From just after we got to sea, and it was the same all the way during the voyage. 670. How many men were there who went for the doctor's inspection?— Never less than ten or twelve men. 671. This was between Durban and Albany? -Yes. 672. And constantly ?—Yes. 673. So much so as to prevent the A deck being cleaned? —Yes. 674. Was any effort made to get the men out of the way ?—Yes ; they were told to go upstairs. 675. Was a complaint made to the hospital authorities of the number of men who went there? —A complaint was made to the deck sergeant. 676. Did he take any notice?—On two or three occasions he tried to tranship them, but it was so cold on deck the men would not go. 677. You say there was very little water to wash with?— Yes. 678. When you washed how much did you get ? —About half a basinful ; but you would have to be pretty early to get it. 679. Was that a great hardship ?—lt was not a hardship to get up early. In most cases I got up at half-past 5 o'clock. 680. When was the water turned on?—At 6 o'clock. Sometimes it was not turned on and the officer came down and had it turned on. 681. Did other men go early ?—When it was turned on there was a big rush and there was no room to wash. At first there were only three basins, and then when a complaint was made there were six basins. 682. Six basins for a thousand men ?—No ; only for tho A and B men. 683. How many would that be ?—Over two hundred. 684. Not more than six basins ?—Yes. 685. Could you gee buckets to wash in ?—No. 686. Was the water turned on at any other hour except in the morning ?—No ; it was turned off just before inspection and was never turned on again. 687. How much do you think would give you sufficient space on deck?— There was not sufficient space, because men would have to sit down while others were walking about. They could have done with twice the space. 688. Do you know the transport regulations ?—No. 689. Were you not in the position of a man of the Imperial service, and in that capacity you would come under the discipline of those who paid you ?—We were under the officers. 690. Did you get pay from the New Zealand or the Imperial Government ?—I always understood it was the Imperial service and we were under the army orders. 691. Mr. Millar.] About the latrines, which you say were constantly flooded : could that be avoided? —As soon as it was noticed that it was flooded, because the pipe was stuffed up, the pipe was cleared out. 692. Did it occur again ?—No, not in the daytime ; but in the morning when the men were there the pipe was blocked up, and that was remedied. 693. Were the latrines cleaned out only once a day ?—ln the morning, before inspection. 694. Would it be possible to clean them oftener ?—I do not think it was necessary to clean them more than once a day. 695. What caused it to flood at night-time, when nobody was using ie ?—The pipe was too small. 696. Could not some attention be given to it at night-time?—lt could have been done, but whether it was done or not I do not know. While the men were in there, and using the paper, instead of putting it on the seats they dropped it on the deck, and it went into the pipe, and that caused it to block up. There were no lights in this latrine. 697. The " Britannic " had a big deckhouse running fore and aft along the centre of the deck?— Yes. 698. You had the two alley-ways? —Yes; but there was the canteen on one side and the butcher's shop and the bakehouse on the other. 699. That was all the deck-space available?— Yes. 700. Were the latrines on the deck ? —Yes, on the troop-deck. 701. The only space you had for exercise was in this place ?—We had the space alongside the cooks' galley, but somebody would bo working there peeling potatoes and getting the water wo wanted to wash our dishes, so it was not much use to us.