D.—3.

5

on board with their baggage by the Company, and the victualling of them shall commence, the Queen being allowed two clear days, besides the day fixed for embarkation, to provide passengers ; and the ship shall proceed to sea on the day after the completion of the embarkation, or so near thereto as is possible. 13. In the event of the ship not being ready as before described, of which the Queen shall be the sole judge, the Company shall pay demurrage at the rate of £25 per day for each noon that may intervene between the time appointed for the ship to be ready as aforesaid and the time at which the vessel is reported ready by the officer of the Queen; and the Queen may in her discretion provide the Surgeon, Matron, and passengers with board and lodging on shore, until all preparations shall have been completed to her satisfaction, the expenses of which shall be repaid by the Company, and the Queen may deduct the expenses so incurred, as well as the demurrage, out of the first moneys becoming due, as hereinafter described, to the Company. 14. The Company, or some member of their staff duly authorized by them, shall provide, fill in, sign, and issue all contracts required to be given to the passengers by the law for the time being in force relating to emigrants. 15. The Company shall provide a passengers' steward, whose duty it shall be to issue to the passengers daily the provisions and water to which they are entitled according to the underwritten dietary scale. 16. The Company shall also provide, for the exclusive use of the passengers, a competent baker and a cook, and sucli an additional cook, if any, as required by " The Passengers Act, 1855." 17. The passengers' steward, baker, and cook or cooks shall be approved respectively by the Queen. 18. The Queen shall appoint a Surgeon to each ship. The Surgeon will be an officer of the ship, and be borne on the articles. Instructions will be issued to him as respects the Government emigrants, and the Company shall stipulate expressly with and obtain an undertaking from the Captain that those instructions shall be respected and carried out. The Surgeon shall be provided by the Company with a separate cabin, properly fitted up to the satisfaction of the Queen, and a first-class passage, with iO cubical feet of space in the hold for luggage, and shall have an allowance of one bottle of ale daily, and three bottles of wine weekly for his personal consumptiou, or the Company may agree with the Surgeon to give him a sum of money instead of any allowance of wine or ale whatever. 19. The Queen will not interfere in the appointment of the Captain, or any of the officers or crew of the ship ; but it shall be competent to her, if she should have good and sufficient reason to do so, from time to time to direct the removal of any or either of them, and the Company shall remove them and appoint others. The Chief Officer must in all cases have a Master's Certificate as well as the Captain. The Queen will also issue instructions to the Captain as respects the Government emigrants, and the like undertaking shall be taken by the Company from him, that they will be faithfully observed. 20. The Company shall place on board the ship, on the embarkation day, a competent person, approved of by the Queen, whose duty it shall be to assist the officer appointed by the Queen in the embarkation arrangements, to put the passengers into their proper berths, to see that efficient provision is made for victualling them, and generally to do whatever is necessary for the comfort and convenience of the passengers, and shall remain on board until the ship is cleared for sea. He shall see that the arrangements for messing the passengers are properly understood and acted upon, both by the officer charged with the serving out of the provisions and the passengers' cooks, as well as by the passengers themselves, and shall do generally what is necessary for the establishment of order and regularity in these respects. These arrangements for the messing and general management of the passengers, as well as all others which concern their convenience and comfort, shall be completed to the satisfaction of the Queen before the ship sails from the port of embarkation. 21. When the Queen shall have signified her approval with regard to the matters referred to in the preceding section, and with the general equipment of the ship, such ship shall proceed with all possible despatch to her destination, and shall not touch at any intermediate port other than that to be designated by the Queen, except from urgent necessity. 22. Pull rations, according to the scale mentioned in Schedule A, shall be issued during the voyage, and until the passengers are landed at port of destination in New Zealand, to each male and female passenger of twelve years of age and upwards, and half-rations to children of one year and under twelve years of age. The water and all articles of food shall be of the best quality, and shall be shipped in not less quantities than mentioned in the same Schedule, and shall be in sweet and good condition when issued for the use of the passengers. Children between one and twelve years of age shall receive preserved meat instead of salt meat every day; and, in addition to the articles to which they are entitled by the scale in Schedule A, a further allowance as set forth in Schedule B. Children under one year of age shall receive the rations specified for them in Schedule B, which shall be shipped in not less quantities than therein mentioned. To infants under four months old, such nutriment shall be issued as the Surgeon may consider necessary. An additional quart of water shall be issued daily for the use of each person sick in the hospital if the Surgeon shall so order. While in any port of the United Kingdom, or in any port into which the vessel may put before completing the voyage, and for two days after leaving it, and while the emigrants remain on board in port of disembarkation, two-thirds of a pound of fresh meat, one and a half pounds of soft bread, and one pound of potatoes per statute adult, shall be issued daily, with a suitable supply of vegetables, in lieu of other rations, except tea, coffee, sugar, and butter. Children between one and twelve years of age, in addition to the rations provided for in this scale, shall have a pint of fresh milk daily. Children under one year and above four months of age shall have the same rations as detailed in Schedule B, substituting fresh milk for preserved, and children under four months of age shall have such nutriment as the Surgeon may consider necessary. All or any of the children shall be messed separately if and