ROTOMAHANA ROASTS

NZ Truth, Issue 72, 8 December 1906, Page 5

ROTOMAHANA ROASTS

■» - Fed to the Fish by Finnicky Firemen. Dredging the Harbor for Wasted Meat. Tbe sailor who goes down to the sea m ships amd into a court and swears that he is expected to work on tucker that would turn any hog sick, is seldom believed, no matter how earnest he is, or despite the proof he brings forward. Sailors are often treated worse than the lower j animal and when Jack naturally, squeals and appeals to Caesar he is more often than not told that he is a standing disgrace to the best traditions of Blake, Drake, Howard, Frobisher and other heroes up to Nelson, 1 who have made Dear Sold Hingland Mistress of the Seas. . Now, if there . is one . thing which the plutocratic Union S.S. Co. \ prides its bloated self upon, it is m its treatment of its sailors; It feeds them like fighting-cocks, and Jack need never, while m the Company's employ, go empty bellied en to his watch, whether at the wheel or down m the stoke-hold. If any doubt ex- i isted on the fact that the U.S.S. j sailors do not wax jolly and fat on the good things provided it was sought to ..be dispelled by certain proceedings a)t the S.M.s" Court last Tuesday, when two trimmers, both young men, named Matthew Kelly O'Brien and Frank Bell, were separately charged with having, on Tuesday, Nov. 27; damaged portions of the stores of the s.s. Rotomahana, by throwing corned beef into the Wellington harbor. These proceedings, Mr Wilford, who prosecuted, explained, were taken under the Shipping and Seamans' Act, section ;, 135, sub-section F., which provided that if any 'seaman damaged any of the stores he was liable to forfeit, out of his wages, a sum eqoial to the loss" sustained, or 12 months' imprisonment, or to be fined m a sum not exceeding £50. The case of the Company was that succulent joints had been siipplied to the seamen, who, hog-like, had their fill, had chucked the remainder overboard, down s the hold, and m other places. He instanced where a beautiful leg of mutton, out of which one chunk had ■been cut, had been cast overboard to feed any stray moki. or hapuka. or herring, or any srea monster that happened to be m the vicinity. On , the afternoon of Nov. 27 the chief steward and the chief cook of the Rotomahana were standing m an alley-way of the vessel, when they observed the two'defendants heaving tucker overboard. As the Union S.S. Co.'s monthly meat bill is an extraordinarily heavy one,, the just steward and the "fust" cook,' betas good .And faithful servants stood aghast at the strange .actions of two common sailors, and drawing operations were at once commenced for the recovery of the "chuck," and lo and behold the first piece drap-Wd on board was a five pound pjeoe of corn-beef, -of line brisket variety, a delicacy unknown to . many homes and the innards of many on shore. Now, as the steward! and the cook thought that as had to rest content with brisket occasionally the folks of , the fo'castle had little . cause to turn) their snouts to heaven, and as a ( second chunk of beef, weighing. 21b, was* almost simultaneously dragged \ from the mighty deep, " and as the fo'oastle' folk bad more than once heaved good "biled" beef overboard, they determined to report, and the result was the prosecutions mentioned. Mr Wilford further explained that since the proceedings had been initiated the sailors had behaved better and had daily returned to the cook their leavings, which averaged about 10ft of meat 1 daily, out of "which stews and curries and other delectable dishes are compounded. No vindictive penalty was sought, but the prosecution aimed to suppress a practice which meant a great loss to the Company. The sailors were well fed ; they had full and plenty and were never refused when they backed their carts up a'gatn. • A menu of the meals daily supplied to the sailors was put m as evidence, and as far as it was concerned it showed quantity, if not quality, and, moreover, that sailors on the Rotomahana fared a great deal better than many a shore working man m the Empire City After evidence bearing out the above statement of facts was given. O'Brien gave a lengthy version of what happened to a green-horn trimmer" on his first voyage. He had to | do all the dirty work after meals, and he said he had not thrown the j beef overboard. He had been hauled before the captain and to him had denied having done so. He had, he said, after .dinner on the day m qiuestion put the meat aside for a fireman named Costa and others who j ate it and enjoyed.it. Mr Wilford cross-examined O'Brien at some length, and he said that he bad only thrown bones and scraps overboard. In the fo'castle they never got enough at one go, and often had to go to the cook three or four times. If there was any meat over it was reserved for tea. When the chief cook and steward swore that ! they had seen him throw meat overboard they were telling; lies. When asked why they should tell lies about him O'Brien said he believed that a letter had been sent to Dunedin complaining about the quality of the food and those on board had consequent! v watched" the firemen, and they looked down on firemen, anyhow. O'Brien went on to say •.—"Personally I don't like the stuff that comes up for tea. God knows what it's made of. The stew might be all right, but I don't like the look of it and prefer cold meat. Besides they have sent up meat with maggots an inch long on it." Did you always have enough meat to reserve for tea ?— No. Often when we have gone back for more the chief cook wanted to know if we had boarders ur> there. (Laughter.) After other evidence had . been given by a number of firomen awl greasers, the magistrate said ]i" had no hesitation m believing what the chief steward and chief cook harl sworn to. He thought this would act as a warning to others ami inflicted a nominal fine of f>s, and £2 2s costs, or seven riavs' imprisonment. Bell pleaded guilty and was fined a similar amount.