THE STATE OF THE NAVY.—THE "PRESERVED MEATS." [From the Times, January 10.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 725, 14 July 1852, Page 4

THE STATE OF THE NAVY.— THE "PRESERVED MEATS." [From the Times, January 10.]

If disasters "are destined for this country in its military and navtl operations, they will, at least, not arrive without warning. The visitations of the last year have been absolutely ominous. As if to show us the futility of the resources on which we are relying, our ships have broken down, our stores have been condemned, our firearms have proved useless, and our soldiers are found incapacitated by their equipments from encountering half their number of naked savages It would be hard to overlook such tokens of evil. If, with all our vaunted wealth. and skill, we cannot send reinforcements to the Cape without miscarriages, or victual our vessels without peril of pestilence, what is to become of us in the face of such- hostilities as men now living can well remember, and may see again. The war at the Cape is, or at least v/as, reputed to be almost beneath the dignity of so powerful a State as Great Britain. It was a mere colonial embroilment manufactured between Lord Grey, the settlers, and the Caffres. Even- as things are now going, we have but 10,000 men there, and, though this is a prodigious force for its presumptive duties, yet it is not a large army to feed with men and munitions. The detachments sent to Sir Harry Smith are not above 600 or 700 strong, and these are only forwarded at intervals of some months. Certainly such duties ought not to weigh oppressively on " establishments" like ours. We have been at the monstrous expense to create a "steam navy" of , the. highest character and power. Year after year, when the estimates provoked tLe expostulations of even reasonable reformers, we were met by the assertion, that the element of steam was altogether new, and that the whole work had to be done from the_beginning. We built new steam docks, new steam factories, and new steam yards. We built steamers of wood and steamers of iron, and lavished enormous sums on experimentalising with engines, funnels, swivel guns, and fuel. At last we were told that the outlay was approach--ing its close, and that we had fairly established a splendid steam marine. We have now- put this marine to a trial, and under circumstances of the easiest kind. As we are at peace with all the world except native Africans, our transport ships are not encumbered with any means of defence or compelled to assemble in convoys. We want only a single steamer at a time, to carry about two-thirds of the living load for which she is nominally constructed, and for this purpose sbe might 'disembark those heavy guns which were invariably made the scapegoats of Admiralty mishaps. ! These 'are no very arduous duties, but such as they are^ they cannot be properly performed. It will be said, perhaps, that we are making rather too much of an accident. If the Megara did break down on Saturday, she was fii for sea again by Wednesday ; and what is there outrageous in a casualty like this ? The remark might have some force if the failure of the Megara was the only failure, or if it had manifestly proceeded from nothing but the violence of the . weather. .Bat the Vulcan fared no belter, and with, such difficulty, after all, did she make her voyage

I that, as the reader will remember, rumours were actually current of her total loss. Moreover the | condition of the Megara at starting has been described by eye witnesses as such that what occurred might almost have been matter of prediction. As if, even in this time of peace, our navy were too small for the exigencies of the service, the steamer in question was made a store i ship as well as a troop ship ; and all the space which should have been devoted to the accommodation and security of the soldiers was bespoken for heavy stores despatched by the Ordnance. Tbe vessel, in consequence, was so overladen and incumbered as to exhibit a" scene of the most perfect confusion, notwithstanding the excellent discipline of the corps, and, if she encounter such weather as seems most probable, it may be necessary to throw the cargo overboard for the sake of the crew. Such is our " steam navy" One steamer is charged with the work of two, and breaks down under the trial. Our " establishments " are even worse — worse in cost and worse in returns. Some peison or persons, not having the fear of the '• First Lord" before their eyes, have been' " indiscreet " enough to certify that a very large consignment of provisions, slowed away in our victualling stores, was absolutely unfit for human consumption. Matters bave even proceeded so far that the fact is proved beyond denial, and 6,000 canisters of " preserved " meats, laid up for the sustenance of our sailors in time of need, are found to be nothing but so 'many cases \of the most horrible garbage. No doubt the unlucky officer who made this discovery will forfeit all "claim to confidence " and be held incapable of future employment. But after the Admiralty has pronounced its own sentence the public at large will pronounce theirs, and they will demand an iuquiry upon those officials through whose neglect, incapacity, or corruption, such an abominable fraud was successfully perpetrated. Who advised or sanctioned the purchase of this "meat?" Who xer ceived it, examined it, and sent it iuto the stores ? Is there any officer whose duty it is to see that bisruit is biscuit and beef is beef ? Who compared tbe consignment with the samples-? and on whose report did tbe " contractor" receive good money for his garbage ? Tbe answer to tbese questions must be given without evasion or delay. And now that the " indiscretion '-' of this exposure has been actually committed, we must take the liberty of suggesting that the warning is too signal to be lost. Who is to certify that in our enormous accumulation of stores there are no other provisions or materials in the same state of " preservation " as these delectable " meats ?" Who will stand surety for our flour, our tea, our coffee, our sugar, or rice, our cocoa, our beef, our pork, or any of those goods which the " Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral " periodically lay in by "contract?" For the value of tbese stores we do not see that we have any other securitytban tbat which has been tested in the case of " Goldner's preserves," and we insist, therefore, that an examination of the most rigorous kind shall be instituted in the track of that which has now produced such startling results. This is not a subject on which we can afford to be lender with official dignitaries. It may involve the very salvation of the country, .for when the time of need arrives — a time which by making these very provisions we profess to anticipate — there may be little opportunity of amending an error or replacing a losa. At the present moment a stock of 100,000!bs. of meat is not absolutely indispensable to the efficiency of our fleet, but it might possibly have supplied the only stores of this kind at hand for a squadron proceeding Jo sea. Let us make tbe best of our warning, anil ascertain forthwith, by unsparing scrutiny, the actual stale of our " establishments" in all particulars. Nobody can doubt, it will be said, the merits of our superintendents. Very likely not; but nobody doubted, till the other day, that Mr. Goldner's canisters contained sweet and wholesome meats. Now that the suspicions of the country have been fairly aroused,, they must be met by a prompt and rigorous investigation. Perhaps it will be no easy matter to discover why our Government steamers are often unseaworthy and always slow ; why they always break down, and invariably are twice as long as they should be on their voyages ; but we may at any rate assure ourselves that all the articles we have bought and paid for are what they pretend to be. Not a day must be lost in extending to every department of Admiralty and Ordnance stores the inquiry which has proved so fruitful at the Portsmouth Victualling-office during the past week. Let us know our position without further uncertainty or disguise. If all is as it ought to he, well and good ; if not, let us right ourselves while yet there is time, let us punish the guilty, and exercise a greater vigilance for thefutuie.