P. N. PETTY.]

35

H.—l9b.

15. Mr. Ferguson.] The sugar is boiled with it, and if a man does not take sugar he cannot have his tea without it ?—Sugar is not boiled with the tea—merely put into all tea when made and prior to issue for drinking. 16. The Chairman!] But you think that is a very exceptional kind of man who does not take sugar ?—Yes. 17. In regard to the vegetables, do you forage for them .—Yes, sir. I think you should be supplied with the scale. 18. Well, we have that in the Army book? —But the scale here is different from that in the book. 19. Well, give us the scale here? —Bread, l-\ lb.; flour, 1 oz. a day (that is for thickening soups, and so on); fresh meat, 1 ■§■ lb. j cheese, 2 oz.; coffee, \ oz. (in (Tie British scale there is no coffee provided); pepper, oz.; salt, \ oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; tea, f oz. (the British scale is \ oz.); potatoes, Tib. (when there is fresh vegetables and new potatoes we cut it down to fib., because it is only wasted —if they want more potatoes they can get, them); jam, 3 oz.; butter, 3 oz. (I cannot say if they ate supplying that at the front : in the South African war there was no butter issued, and in the field-service book it is not provided); coal, 2 cwt, for cooker per diem; oatmeal, 2 oz. per man; onions, -jib.; wood (to keep outside fires going), 21b.; candles, one per tent, or 2 lb. per hut (the electric light is not going yet); soap (this is only for washing in cookhouses), \\ lb. 20. What do the men get in the way of soap?— They buy their own. If they want more for cleaning articles or in the cookhouses they can get it. Milk, \ pint per man per diem, or oneeighth of a tin of condensed milk; rice, 2 oz. per man per week (there is just one issue of rice per week); currants, 1 oz. per week. Then there is the forage for the horses, and also fresh vegetables for the men. 21. The supply of vegetables is irregular: what provision is there for getting them?— Practically I attend to that on my own authority—the obtaining of fresh vegetables. There is nothing laid down in the scale. 22. You would require to buy at several markets in order to supply all these men?—A man named Kells, at Taita, offered to supply me at market rates with fresh vegetables straight from his gardens. When the full number of men were in camp we used to take from him up to 120 sacks of cabbages per week- —that is, forty sacks three times a week. 23. What weight in a sack?— There would be about two dozen in. a sack. It runs about ninety-six men to a sack of cabbages. I used also to get from him half a ton of carrots about once a week, and half a ton of parsnips : that was for stew. 24. And was this supply of vegetables regular up to the time of the breaking-up of the camp? —Yes, regularly three times a week; in fact, he is doing so now, 25. And were the vegetables of good quality? —Splendid quality, sir. 26. Have there not been complaints as to lack of vegetables?— Wel l, sir, if there has it has not been the fault of the supply. 27. Do you know of any complaint about the lack of vegetables?—l have heard men talking about it, but, of course, if they cooked enough for the whole lot in one day they would not be able to make tea for them. Some of the men would complain if they saw another man having cabbages and he got none. 28. It is because you have to give the cabbage alternately that, complaints were made?— Yes; we issue it in bulk to the cookhouses, and they cook it to the best of their facilities. 29. You really want almost a separate cooker for vegetables?— Yes; it is mostly done in the trenches outside, and if you get a wet day it is almost impossible to do anything. 30. A cooker for the vegetables would be an advantage?— Yes, sir. Of course, they cook potatoes and onions every day. There is a scale laid down in the Home Regulations for active service \ lb. of fresh vegetables per day, or 2 oz. of dry : that includes potatoes and onions and other vegetables. 31. Are there any suggestions that you would like to make by way of improving the organization of the stores and the supply of food?—No, sir, I do not know of any. 32. If you got a cooker for cooking vegetables you would bo better off?— But I would like to point out to the Commission that that is out of my province entirely. lam speaking on this point as an ordinary civilian. 33. Mr. Salmond.] You said that if the troops were supplied with cabbage every day they could not get any tea: will you explain what you meant by that statement?— Yes. In a cookhouse they are usually cooking for two thousand men. If you came to cook cabbages, potatoes, onions, tea, and joints for that number the space required would be tremendous. 34. Do they boil the cabbage in the same copper as that in which the water for the tea is boiled?— Not to my knowledge. 35. You do not mean to imply that? —No. 36. Can you say whether every man gets green vegetables at least, once a week?— Well, if he does not I do not know where it goes to. 37. How many sacks a week do you get? —One hundred and twenty. 38. How many men does each sack, supply ?— Roughly, ninety-six. I have never really worked it out, but that is what I think it comes to about. 39. In your opinion there is enough obtained to give the men fresh vegetables at, least once a week? —More than once a week. —at least twice. 40. And if they do not get it it, is their own fault? —That, is so. 41. Have you ever heard of any suggestion that vegetables have been, sent into the camp with fruit as gifts, and are not cooked or used?—l have heard such a suggestion, 42. Is' there any basis for it?— Not that I know of.