H.—6c.

[TROOPER W. W t . CRAIG.

793. You say that the meat was all right, except that it wag badly cooked ?—Yes. 794. Do you think the quality of the meat, apart from the cooking, was good or bad?—lt was good. Captain Young passed it. 795. Did he take an interest in it ?—Yes, he did. 796. You have no fault to find with the way in which he supervised the matter?— No. 797. If he passed the meat it was good?— Yes. 798. You say you bought food from the engineers' mess ?—Yes. 799. Not from the engineers' mess, but from the galley ?—The engineers had a mess of their own. I bought it from the engineers' special table. BGO. Do you know who else sold food ? —The saloon galley. I got it from there too. 801. Did the crew sell it?— They did at first, but they stopped that. 802. Did the cooks in the main galley sell it ?—I do not think anybody would buy it from there. 803. How many a day do you think would buy it—2s, or 50, or 100, or 150 ?—Business was not very brisk at first because there was not much money, but when we got money it was brisk. 804. How many ?—Well, about thirty a day a meal. 805. Do you know what food it was that was sold? —I believe it was chiefly from the officers' mess —the leavings. 806. Was it ship's stores ?—I do not know whether the officers got the ship's stores. 807. Was there wholesale thieving of stores on board on the pare of the stewards and crew ?— Ido not know. They sold a good quantity of food. 808. Is it reasonable to suppose it was the ship's stores ?—Yes. 809. About the complaints to officers : did the officers pay attention to complaints, or were they indifferent? —The officers would come down and we would make our complaint, and it seemed to be noticed. 810. As the result of your complaint was there any improvement at all ?—No, sir. 811. When you made a complaint nothing was done ?—Only with the fish. 812. Tell us of another complaint made and not remedied?— There were several occasions that the food could have been better, and we did not get anything else. 813. Did you formally complain and there was no notice taken of it?—l could not say. 814. You do not remember any other particular case ?—I do not remember another. 815. There is the case of the choking of the latrine aft : how often did that occur ?—-Three times in the first week, and it was more common afterwards. 816. Were the latrines kept clean ? —They were cleaned for inspection, but they got dirty afterwards. 817. About what period of the day did they get choked?— Mostly in the evening, about teatime. 818. What was the cause?—lt wjauld get choked, and the stuff would come out and float about. 819. How deep?—lt came up to the door several times, and flooded in the alley-way. 820. How deep was the doorway ?—About 18 in. 821. Did the men go into that and use the latrines?—No, sir; we had to do the best we could. W T e used to go forward, and it came out in orders that we were not to go forward, and there were only four latrines for over five hundred men. 822. Then, the latrines frequently had a great deal of slush in them ?—Over a dozen times. 823. Was not this remedied when a complaint was made? —It was cleared out. 824. What choked the latrines? Did the closets work fairly well? —'Yes ; the flow of water was constant. 825. How were they choked?— The pipes seemed to be too small. There was something across the centre of the pipe which seemed to help to choke it. 826. You say that each particular closet worked properly ?—I do not say that. The water was always running, and you had not to draw out a plug at all. 827. Mr. McNab.] With about 1,080 men on board, could you suggest anything that could have been done to make the accommodation more roomy for the men ?—No ; unless it was to put some canvas on the upper deck, and the weather was too rough to do that. 828. Would not that have very seriously restricted the deck-space and prevented the men getting an airing?— Yes, it would; but when we left Durban there was coal on one side which took up half the ship. 829. But that would be gradually removed ? —Yes ; it was removed in a few days. 830. I understood you to say that if the food was well cooked there would be fewer oomplaints? —Yes. 831. Then, the bulk of the complaint is rather on the cooks in the galley?— Yes; we used to get pork sometimes, and it was the best meat we got. 832. In the case of the rice and the maggots was complaint made to an officer?— Yes. 833. Did you get fresh rice ?—There was no change made. 834. Did you remember the case of the men complaining about the rice ?—Yes. 835. Who were the men who complained?— There was Corporal Britson, now Sergeant. 836. He complained about maggots being in the rice ?—Yes. 837. Who was the officer to whom he complained?—l could not say. 838. What was done as the result of the complaints ?—The officer said he could not help it, and he would look into it. 839. What was done with the rice?—lt was thrown overboard. 840. Do you remember any other complaints about rice with maggots in it?— They complained about the apples having maggots in them.

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