[H. F. DAVID.

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126. The hold is kept well ventilated? —Yes, all our ships are fitted in much the same way: the ventilators go up and down and bulkheads, and they extend from the top into each deck. They are always kept shipped at sea except in very abnormal circumstances, which seldom arise. I mean abnormal circumstances in regard to weather. 127. I suppose one turned to the wind and one from it?—Yes, of course, with exceptional weather and sea, but particularly in moderate weather they are controlled to form a current of air passing through the hold, the lee one towards the wind and the weather one away from it. 128. Do you think there is any possibility or likelihood of sparks getting down the ventilators sometimes from smokers or the funnel or anything of that sort? —It is possible, of course, but we protect the mouth of the ventilator with a wire covering. 129. All of them?—Those that are in the ordinary reach of the passengers and crew are protected in that way, and if we have any inflammable cargo underneath the mouths of the ventilators we take some precautionary measures, and I have even put sawdust underneath so as to prevent the sparks getting at the cargo. 130. Do the electric wires ever run through any part of the hold so that there may be any danger of one of them fusing?—We have none. All our cargo circuits are above the deck, and we lead down a line into the hold with portable wires. 131. Have you ever found bales of wool or flax heated much?—ln my experience I cannot recollect any. 132. Mr. Foster.] With what has come under your notice, did you form any theory as to the cause of these fires? —I have thought over the matter a good deal, and judging from the average period which seems to have elap.sed between the ships leaving New Zealand and the outbreak of fire, it seems to me to be from some unusual cause, something which has not occurred in the usual running of the Steamers. I have been on this trade both as officer and master of a ship for some seven or eight years, and I have no recollection of an epidemic of this sort before, and the reasonable deduction from that experience would be that in this particular instance or instances it must be due to some abnormal circumstances, either in the wool itself or the handling or packing of it in the colony. I was in the " Gothic " for some two years or so, and we carried many bales of wool and flax during that time without any outbreak of fire or any damage. 133. The Chairman.] Would you say that the cause is something outside the ship itself? —I should say so. 134. Not connected with the stowing?—l should say not. Of course, you can only generalise on the subject, and it would appear now that, having carried wool to and fro in these same ships of the company without any epidemic of fires such as have occurred recently, you could look to other causes than to the ship for it. Ido not mean to say that it is impossible for the cause to arise in the ship, but it is certainly abnormal. 135. Mr. Foster.] You have seen heated wool?—I have seen it, but not coming out of a ship. 136. I do not mean at the end of the journey; I mean some may have been found hot and rejected ?—Those instances have occurred on the wharf from time to time. 137. Do you think wool in that condition at the start would take so long before getting sufficiently hot to catch fire: for instance, the " Gothic " was practically right Home when she fired? Yes. Well, I can only speak from my own experience, and I have never come across a similar case. If a bale was discovered on the wharf in a heated condition, it would not be shipped; it is obviously unfit for shipment. 138. If damp was the cause of it there must be something approaching that hot condition which would not be detected? —I can quite understand that it is possible for a bale to escape notice and be heated internally without there being an external evidence of it, and going into the ship in that condition. 139. That being so, it would surprise you that the outbreak of fire would be so long delayed as in the case of the " Gothic " ?—Yes, for the experience is certainly abnormal. 140. Captain Blackburne.] Do you think it is at all likely that the wool got wet on the latter part of the voyage by bad weather —down the ventilator ?—ln that case I think it most improbable. You see, for at least three weeks prior to the outbreak of fire she would pass through the tropics, where the weather is never anything more than moderate. For water to break on board ship in that part of the world .is almost next door to impossible. 141. Say within three or four days of her arrival in England?—Well, you see the fire occurred in the " Gothic " in the No. 3 hold, which was about as well protected as it possibly could be from weather-conditions. It is improbable for water to have found its way there. 142. No likelihood of a pipe in the hold? —Well, that question can only be reasonably answered by the people on the spot. There would be no reason for the crew to have access to that hold. Of course,- it is possible. The ship called at Teneriffe, and something may have occurred which we know nothing about, but in the ordinary way I should think the theory of its being set fire to by some cause in the ship has not very much to support it. 143. I mean through a considerable amount of wet having got into the cargo through some accident or bad weather. We have heard of rats gnawing pipes, and that may occur?—All those things are possible. 144. We cannot get any information about that yet?—No; you would require, of course, to come into contact with some member of the ship's crew who was there at the time. 145. Is the wool stowed so closely together that there is no chance whatever of its creating friction through the heavy rolling of the ship ?—But I think, generally speaking, wool is packed so tight that the probability —you mean such as sparks from the bands, and so on? 146. I mean the heavy rolling of the ship might set up a certain amount of friction?—But it would have to be very badly stowed, in my opinion, to give you any uneasiness on that score. 147. You do not think it would? —No; as a rule, it is stowed rather too tightly to anticipate that.