75

D.—2

were so many light goods on the top, and the fire would run rapidly. He assented to the suggestion of counsel, that it could not be better arranged to burn, and would make a capital fire. The captain examined the ship thoroughly every day during the loading, and the stevedore only looked to the trim of the ship. He never heard that oil on coal was dangerous. He did not go down the fore hold after the provisions were put in, and he could not say whether when he last saw it the boards had been put in again at the top of the bulkhead. By looking down the hatchway he could see that there were no ropes or hawsers in the forehold. By Captain Pryce: There were no hawsers put on top of the cargo, but it was impossible to get over the bulkhead without breaking some of the cases on the top, which were worked up close to the deck, and would have made the job very difficult. This bulkhead was nine or ten feet thick. By Mr. Wood Hill: In all emigrant ships he particularly examines the bulkheads which close up the liquor and the gangways between hatchways. McDonald, recalled by Mr. Cohen, repeated in contradiction to the last witness, a statement he made on Wednesday, to the effect that on the forward side of the air shaft there was no partition to prevent any one going forward into the boatswain's locker. Anything could be thrown through the grating of the single-men's compartment across the shaft into the boatswain's locker. There were some hawsers in the after part of the fore hatch, and piled right across the ship on top of the cargo, so that if they were all unwound there would be a space of about six feet. Under the hawser there was a tier of varnish or some fluid, and the beer was in the next tier aft. Coals were got up in the morning and afternoon, and about half of the quantity in the fore hatch had been consumed by the 17th November. Provisions were got up once or twice a week. They would be got up by going down the fore hatch. The third mate and emigrants got the provisions up. The hawsers were put there a month after they sailed. The two boards which were taken out were at the bottom of the hold, and that was to allow the coals to run in. The boards were taken out before loading, and the boards were put in again when there were enough coals in the after part. The fore peak was then filled with coals. There were two perpendicular boards, six or seven feet in height Mr. Carter recalled: The beer readied up to the deck. He saw that from the main hatchway, He believed the boards were taken out of the bottom first, and after that out of the top, when the coal-hole was full. He looked through the hole above. He was quite sure two were taken out atop. McDonald recalled: Did not see the two boards taken on top. By Mr. Wood Hill: You could go from the forward bulkhead along the hold till you came to the beer, and then you could not go along, for the beer itself was built up to the top. This bulkhead was composed of beer and light-measurement goods. From the other side it could be approached from the main hatchway. It would be quite easy to get to the beer, but not to get past it, on getting into the fore hold. He afterwards, on his deposition being read, added that the hatches were kept locked, but admitted that men could get in by removing a board in the bulkhead. But the hawsers, together with the wooden fenders there, were closely packed, although (he assented to Mr. Cohen) when the provisions were removed there would be a space. Mr. Wood Hill proposed to call stevedores to prove the mode of stowage was proper, but Mr. Patteson said the Court was convinced the cargo was properly stowed, though they expressed no opinion as to the nature of the cargo being proper. Mr. William Barclay Foulger, of the firm of Foulger and Sons, proved that their firm supplied ships' stores to the " Cospatrick," including 20 gallons of Young's patent paraffino oil, in 4> 5-gallon drums ; 14 gallons of colza oil; 30 gallons of raw linseed oil, 30 gallons of boiled oil, all in drums ; 5 gallons of turpentine, in 1 drum ;20 gallons of black varnish, in 4 5-gallon drums; 1 barrel of bright varnish, containing about 30 gallons; 1 barrel of tar containing about 28 gallons ; and 3 cwt. of solid Stockholm pitch, in 1 barrel; a -^-barrel of resin, 11 cwt; 2 cwt. of oakum, in bales; 99 lbs. of ground oil paint, in iron kegs ; 28 lbs. of cotton waste, in a bag ; and 20 lbs. of tallow. The inquiry was then adjourned till this morning, for the presence of Capt Forster, the Emigration Officer of the Board of Trade, the Surveyors who assisted him in inspecting the " Cospatrick," and the foreman of stevedores. Thied Day. The official inquiry into the loss of the " Cospatrick" was concluded yesterday at the Greenwich Police Court, before Mr. Patteson, assisted by the Board of Trade Assessors, Captain Price, Captain Castle, and Mr. Turner, Principal Shipwright Surveyor to the Board. No report or judgment was delivered by the Court, but they were asked by the counsel for the Board of Trade, in his concluding remarks, to recommend fire drill and the carrying of smaller numbers of emigrants in the ships. Mr. Arthur Cohen, Q.C., and Mr. F. Hargrave Hamel appeared for the Board of Trade; Mr. Dennistoun Wood (with whom was Mr. Watkin Williams, Q-C.) for the Colonial Government; Mr. G. Wood Hill for the owners. James John Bolt, examined by Mr. Hamel, said he is a Shipwright Surveyor to the Board of Trade, and surveyed the " Cospatrick," officially visiting her several times in Green's dry dock. The first visit was on the 21st of July, 1874, the last on the Bth of September, in the East India Dock, when she was nearly loaded. She was then undergoing repair, it being known that she had touched on a reef. The after and foremost part of the keel were removed and repaired. All the necessary repairs were instituted. He had seen her orignally building at Moulmein, and now he examined her and found her thoroughly sound. There could have been no better ship employed for the purpose. He was not concerned with the cargo. Samuel Thomas Cornish, another Board of Trade Surveyor, examined by Mr. Hamel, agreed with Mr. Boult's evidence. Ho saw the vessel three or four times. Mr. Wood Hill proposed to ask questions about other ships of Shaw, Savill, and Co. Mr. Patteson : Nobody doubts that the " Cospatrick " was a splendid vessel. Captain John Thomas Forster, examined by Mr. Cohen, said he had been an Emigration Officer since 1852, and Chief Emigration Officer for the last six or seven years. The Emigration Officers have about two years since been placed under the Board of Trade, having been until then under the