H.—6c.

TROOPER FARROW.

99

284. Was every hook, as far as you know, taken up?— Not every hook every night. At our particular table there was room for about seven or eight to hang their hammocks, but there were twelve at the table. 285. You do not think that, had every man desired to sleep in a hammock, there was room in the ship to swing them all ?—No, sir. 286. Was it very stuffy down below ?—Yes, sir, very. 287. What deck were you on? —The upper troop-deck. 288. And it was stuffy in the upper troop-deck ?—Yes, of a night. We had to keep the portholes closed. 289. How many windsails had you ?—There was only one wmdsail, and that went down to the lower troop-deck. 290. You had none in your deck at all ?—No, sir. 291. Was there sufficient room to put another windsail ?—Yes, sir. 292. And there was only the one there, as far as you know, during the whole voyage?— Yes, during the whole voyage. 293. You said there was no bath accommodation —there was no chance of getting a bath during the whole voyage ? —Yes, sir. 294. Was there any canvas bath?— For the first two days. After that there was no sign of it. The men started painting round the side of the ship which held the canvas bath and they took it away. 295. And you never saw it during the whole voyage after that?—No, sir. 296. Did you hear any one suggest that it should be allowed to remain there ?—-No, sir. 297. Do you think it would have been in daily use had it been left there?— Yes, sir. 298. And you had no other place or means of taking a bath or a wash ? —We had wash-bowls for the ordinary morning wash. 299. But that was the only thing you had ?—Yes, sir. 300. Did you find much difficulty in getting a wash in the mornings ?—Yes, sir ; every morning there was a big crowd there. You had to wait your turn for a quarter of an hour at least. 301. Do you think that every man could have got a wash had he wanted to during the hours the water was on ?—Yes, sir. 302. If he got up at reveille he would have time to wash before 8 o'clock?— Yes, sir. 303. So that you do not think there was an insufficiency of water provided for washing ?—No, sir. 304. You generally complain about the food?— Yes; the coffee was undrinkable at any time. I always drank water. 305. Do you think that it was owing to the coffee itself? —No ; it was the way it was made. They must have used dirty water. 306. Now, the meat, taken as a whole: was it good, bad, or indifferent ?—lt was not good. I would not eat the meat, except the bully-beef, we got. 307. You never ate the other stuff ?—No, sir. 308. How were the potatoes ?—They were frostbitten sometimes. 309. And on those occasions you did not eat them ?—No, sir. 310. Was anything else given in place of them ?—No, sir. 311. You got nothing else ? —No, sir. 312. Was the butter all right ?—lt was not. 313. It was not good ?—No, sir. 314. What was bad about the butter?—lt was always salt. 315. Was that your only fault with it? Was the quality all right ?—The quality was not too 316. Was there sufficient of it issued ?—Well, no; we used to run short of butter. We got butter one day, and then we would get jam for two days, and while having the jam we always ran out of butter, and jam also. 317. The Chairman.] Do you mean that they would not give you enough to eat butter and jam together?— Yes, sir. 318. Mr. Millar.] I suppose you mean that the butter they gave you would not last three days ?—Yes, sir. 319. But they gave you jam during the other two days?— Yes, sir. 320. Did your officers neglect you in any way during the voyage ? —No, sir. 321. Did you see any drunkenness on board the ship?— Well, I have seen one or two cases, but it was seldom. . . 322. Did you see what you would call any quantity of drunkenness on board ! —JNo, sir. 323. Was there much gambling going on ?—Yes, sir. 324. All through the ship ?—Just the forward part of it—just the forecastle. 325. Mr. MoNab.] Do you remember how many men used the bath when it was on deck ?— No, sir ; there were a good many. , 326. How many men would get into that bath in one day ? Would a hundred or two hundred or what ?—Oh, yes, a hundred or two. 327. Did you get any rough weather after leaving Albany ?—No, sir. 328! Then, men could very easily have got up on deck at any time after leaving Albany ?— Vpn QIF ' 329. Then, men should not complain about not being able to go up on deck on account of the decks being so wet after leaving Albany ?—We did not get rough weather, but the wind would send the spray over the decks and make them wet. 330. Did the weather get worse after you left Albany ?—lt did not. I did not notice it. We always used to have a very cold wind.