G.—No. 8

4

EEPOET OE COMMISSIONERS UPON MATTERS

to have had considerable experience in the conveyance of emigrants to different colonies. A duly qualified surgeon was on board, and an interpreter for the foreign emigrants had been provided, as required by law. Early in December the vessel was cleaned and painted, and surveyed by the Government Surveyors, while lying in the East India Docks, and then the spaces were measured off for the bunks, and these, with the other fittings and requisites, were erected by the charterers, Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co. The spaces allowed for the bunks, as well as the passage room and the spaces devoted to the hospitals in the 'tween decks, were sufficient to comply with the Act. About the 4th December the emigrants began to arrive, but as the fittings were not completed and the cargo not taken in, they were subjected to inconvenience and hardships, to which reference will be made more particularly hereafter. _ The completion of the fittings appears to have been delayed till close upon the period of sailing; and as the formal inspection of these required by the Act did not take place till the afternoon of the day preceding the sailing of the ship, it seems clear that scant time was afforded to permit of defects bein^ rectified. In proof of this we may refer to the evidence given by Captain Harrington, where he complained to the charterers of the defective construction of the sky-light to cover the main hatch, and which was insufficient for the purpose it was required to serve, viz., to afford light and ventilation to the deck below, and at the same time be open in all weathers. This was also pointed out to Mr. Morrison, but it was not remedied. The sky-light actually used is said to have been of so flimsy a character that it was dangerous to the ship to carry it (see Daniel's evidence, Appendix, page 11). The absence of a properly constructed sky-light had an injurious effect upon the ventilation; and as the'ship had cargo between decks, stowed between the single men's compartment forward and the space allotted to the married people, it was not easy to maintain efficient ventilation, because in bad weather this sky-light had to be closed, and consequently a thorough current of air could not be maintained. Upon this defect being discovered, the captain did what could be done to improve the ventilation, by keeping a large wind-sail down the main hatch, but this could not be always there, for the reasons mentioned before. The effect of this defective ventilation in a space crowded with people, many of them young children, and where a great deal of sickness prevailed] requires no further comment. During the voyage it was also found that the bunks were boarded un so as to obstruct the ventilation, and the steps taken to remedy the evil will be found in the evidence of the carpenter (Daniel). The after hospital was situated on the port side of the ship, in the midst of the people, and was badly ventilated and lighted. The only means of lighting was from a scuttle in the ship's side—a small aperture under the most favourable circumstances, but at times, when the ship was on one tack, wholly ineffectual for the purpose; while the hospital was rendered still more useless for its original purpose by being closely boarded up, so as to prevent the free circulation of the air. The 24th section of "The Passengers Act, 1855," is specific as to the nature of the hospital accommodation to be provided, and although the space allowed was in accordance with the law, we think greater judgment should have been exercised in the position chosen. A properly secured deck-house would seem to be the most advantageous for such a purpose. Proceeding with the other requirements of the Act, we have been unable to get any evidence as to the inspection of the stores and water supplied for the use of the passengers. The third officer of the ship (Cullen), whose evidence will be found at page 14 of the Appendix, received the stores at the ship's side, in dock, as they were delivered by the carrier, but he is positive in stating that no inspection of them took place then nor at any time afterwards; so that if any inspection was made, it must have been made before the stores reached the dock. The captain, in one part of his evidence, states that the stores were inspected, but he afterwards explains that by this he meant that Shaw, Saville, and Co. told'him they had got them passed. It is however right to add here, that there does not appear to have been any well-founded complaint made as to the quality or quantity of the provisions supplied.