CONNECTED WITH THE SHIP "ENGLAND."

17

G—No. 3,

Officers before an entry could be made of the circumstance. I know the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts respecting entry of any illness of the crew in the official log. These should have been entered by the mate, whose duly it was to do it. The reason why these entries were not more closely looked after by me was, that I had my hands full in consequence of the unusual amount of sickness, and the anxiety consequent thereon, and I was unable for the greater part of the voyage to keep up my own private journal. When I was laid up, the chief mate had a double duty to perform. The entries made have not all been signed by me ; they ought to have been, but, for the reasons given above, I did not attend to the entries made in the log. I left it entirely to the mate. I was looking after the active duty of the ship—attending to the sick, and navigating the ship. Soon after leaving the longitude of the "Capo, nearly half the crew were disabled by sickness, and I had to put the emigrants into watches. At that time the nearest place to make for was Wellington, our destination, and I did not consider the sickness of the passengers at an earlier period so important as to cause me to deviate from my voyage. We were in the longitude of the Cape about the beginning of February. At the time when I was ill myself, I gave general directions to the chief officer what to do in case of my death, which were to keep the ship before the wind, and make for Wellington. Owing to the sickness of crew and immigrants, I could sometimes only muster five or six hands in a watch —I mean of the immigrants ; and I have been reduced to two seamen in a watch, besides the man at the wheel. I have had to carry sail at a great risk during some portion of the time when I was down south, because I had not hands to take it in. The dietary scale to which I have referred as having been, furnished to me on this voyage, is in every respect inferior to tho dietary scales issued for emigrants to Yietoria and New South Wales—l mean both as to quantity and quality. The difference in the cost of maintenance is £2 to £2 10s. more per head than the cost of those which I brought out in the "England." The cost of the latter per head, including fittings, medical comforts, and provisions, I estimate at £6—l mean for each statute adult. The sum of £1,600, mentioned in my charter party as paid to me by the charterers, represents about four-sevenths of the net receipts for freight and passage money received by the charterers. In the eases of the Colonies of Victoria and New South Wales, there are no middlemen. The agents for these Colonies charter the emigrant ships, and obtain the ships by public tender, so that the Agent of the Colony deals directly with the owners of the ship. I consider that this course obviates many of the difficulties in giving practical effect to the Passengers Act which 1 have experienced this last voyage. Emigrants to Victoria and New South Wales are always received into depots, either at Birkenhead for Liverpool ships, or Southampton or Plymouth for Loudon ships, where they are kept at least a week in the depots. These depots are specially fitted for the reception of emigrants, there being a master and matron specially appointed to take "charge of them. They are medically inspected there before embarkation ; the inspection is a thorough one ; the doctor who is to go out with them resides with them for two or three days before departure, and they are then finally inspected on board before leaving. This last inspection "is made by the Imperial Emigration authorities, and is a mere formal one, to which I attach no importance. The surgeons employed are continuously engaged, and are termed " Surgeon-Superintendents." They are paid by the number that they land alive, and receive an increase of Is. per soul (including children) for each voyage they have made. They commence at 14s. a soul, and rise to 215., and they also receive sixty guineas for their return passage to England; and they are only employed again on the production of satisfactory certificates from the Immigration authorities at the port of discharge as to the manner in which the Immigrants were landed. The payment is called a " gratuity," so that the payment is completely in the discretion of the Immigration authorities. I speak from my own personal knowledge as to the mode adopted in conveying immigrants to the Colonies referred to, and as to the mode of their treatment and the medical provision made for them. I know several medical men who are regularly employed in this duty, who have made several voyages, and are now employed in it; I mean extending over"a period of several years. I have been told by some of them that they make as much as £600 or £700 a year, and I. do not consider they are at all over paid ; they are very attentive, incessant in discharging their duty. Under the system adopted by the Colonies referred to, the mortality in emigrant ships has been reduced to a merely nominal rate. I have never known the mortality to exceed 1 to 2 per cent., and have known it as low as -} per cent. I have carried to Victoria 450 souls with one death, and the like number on another occasion with three; and these were carried under the system I have referred to. I have never known the mortality at all equal to what it was this last voyage, we having lost nearly 20 per cent, by deaths. Ido not think such a mortality could have occurred under the system I refer to, as disease would have made itself known before departure by means of the more perfect arrangements for medical inspection. The ships employed by the Colonies of Victoria and New South Wales are exclusively devoted to immigrants. Cabin "passengers and second-class or intermediate passengers are not carried. By having only one class of passengers, facilities are given for preserving discipline which cannot exist in a mixed passenger ship. I do not think there should be cargo carried between decks, because it impedes the ventilation, and to obviate this the emigrants should be taken in greater numbers in one ship. In the " England " this last voyage, the passengers were shut up as if in wells, and there could be no thorough current of air, the cargo intervening. In all cases the dead weight in the lower hold of emigrant ships should be limited. It was the neglect of this which led to the rolling of the "England," and endangered the safety of the ship and people. James Badland, being sworn, saith as follows; — I was cabin passenger on board the " England," and joined the ship on Thursday, 7th December, at the Docks. I had every opportunity throughout the voyage of seeing what transpired, so far as a cabin passenger could do. I have to explain that I objected to the accommodation on board ship, on account 5