110

'TROOPER MURRAY.

H.—6c.

50. Was this every day ?—Yes, nearly every day. You might strike it good one day. 51. There were complaints, you say, at every meal, and they were never remedied? —Yes. 52. Did you know that of your own knowledge ?—Yes ; I never made complaints, but when the orderly officer came along there was a complaint made. 53. Did you ever make a complaint yourself ?—No ; I did not personally. 54. Wilfyou give us the name of a man who made a complaint ?—Yes ; Mick Mulhern. 55. To whom did he make the complaint ?—He went to the mess-galley, and then we went to the officers. 56. What was the name of the officer ?—Captain Pookes. 57. Did he make a complaint to Captain Fookes ?—Yes, he did, because I saw him go into the saloon. 58. Did you hear him ?—Yes. 59. What part of the voyage was this'?—l think it was before we got into Albany. 60. What was the complaint about ?—About the meat not being cooked. 61. And you say the complaints were never remedied ?—Yes, sir. 62. No notice was taken at all ?—There was no notice taken. The officer said it was all right, and the man said, " If it is all right I will give it a wide berth." 63. Was any other food served out after complaint had been made about it being insufficient or of bad quality?— Sometimes. The day they complained about the fish they got bully beef. That was the only occasion. - 64. How often were the apples maggoty ?—Once ; they were not supplied very often. They were only supplied once or twice. 65. How often did they have ground rice?— Pretty nearly every day. 66. And it was musty and maggoty?— Yes, always musty and maggoty. It was not always maggoty, but it was always musty. 67. How often was it maggoty? —Once. 68. Was that the occasion when it was mixed with the apples? —No, it was not when the apples were mixed with it. 69. Was complaint made about that ?—There was complaint made to the orderly officer of the day. 70. Who was he?—l do not know. 71. Was he an officer of the North or South Island battalion? —Well, we used always to have an officer of the South Island. 72. Was he an officer of your own regiment? —No, he was not. 73. What regiment did he belong to? —I do not know. I did not take particular notice. 74. Was he or was he not an officer of your own regiment ?—Yes, he was an officer of our own regiment. 75. Was he a captain or a subaltern ? —He was a lieutenant. 76. Can you tell us who the lieutenant was ?—I cannot. 77. Is it that you will not tell us, or cannot ?—No, I did not take particular notice. 78. Are you certain that he took no notice of the complaint ?—I am certain that no steps were taken. 79. Did he refuse to listen ?—All the officers always listened to the complaints that were made, but they were never remedied, just the same. 80. You only saw the ground rice maggoty once, and the apples maggoty once : do you think there was a remonstrance made by the officer, and therefore that kind of food was not served out to you again ? —Well, if that was so, we would not have got the musty rice we were getting. 81. Was it always ground rice ?—We got tapioca sometimes, and it was bad too. 82. How often did you get it ?—Twice or three times a week. 83. How often did you have ground rice ?—Well, it was pretty nearly every day, and tapioca two or three times a week. 84. Did they ever give you any duffs for Sunday ?—They used to give us duffs on Sunday, yes ; but not every Sunday. 85. Was it as often as once a week?— No. 86. You are certain of it ?—Yes. 87. Did you get some form of pudding every day?— Yes. 88. You stated you sometimes only got half a pint of water to wash in ?—The taps were turned on and if you happened to be late you could not get in at all. The water was scarce. 89. Was it always turned off at 8 o'clock ?—Yes, every morning regularly. 90. And you knew that if you were not there before 8 you would not get any ?—Yes. 91. And was there an effort made to get there before ?—Yes. 92. And you mean to say that sometimes you could not get half a pint of water?— Between a pint and half a pint of water. That was about as much as you could get. 93. You swore just now that you could only get half a pint: do you wish now to increase that amount to a pint?—No, I do not wish to increase the amount. 94. Half a pint was all you could get ? —Yes, sir. 95. What time did you wash, as a rule? —We used to wash, as a rule, before breakfast. Breakfast was at 7 o'clock. 96. And you went before then? —Yes, sir. 97. How did you get that half-pint ?—Out of the tap. 98. And the tap would run only a half-pint of water ?—Yes, sir. The next man might come along then, and he might manage to get water. 99. Supposing you ran it dry one minute before ? —Well, not always. 100. On the occasions that you could only get half a pint was there any left in the tank ?—I know sometimes two or three men washed in the same dish.