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121. Was there any application by you during the camp to the Defence Storekeeper for more utensils?— They were not for me. They were buckets for the horses. I had nothing to do with provisioning the horses at all. That was not in my contract. 122. We understand from you that, so far as the men were concerned, they had an ample supply of rations the whole time; that they had nothing to complain about in the cooking, except on one occasion, when the fires were put out owing to the wet weather ; and that, as to the alleged shortness of provisions, you say that the full quantity of rations had been delivered, and that was acknowledged to be so by Colonel Sommerville ?—Yes. 123. Colonel Davies.] Can you tell us how many cooks there were ? —I had ten. I had two head cooks, to whom I paid £1 a.day. The pay of the others ran from 15s. to 10s. 6d. a day. 124. You say you had a head man in charge ? —Yes. 125. Then, if Colonel Sommerville had any complaint to make, he was the man to go to?— Yes. 126. Did you see Colonel Sommerville every day you went there ?—Not every day, but several times. 127. And you say that he never made any definite complaint to you, except that the provisions were short one day, and then acknowledged he was mistaken?— Yes ; he rang me up about it. 128. Was milk supplied to the men ?—Yes, of course. 129. Major Hnvkius.] Do you know who was camp quartermaster? —No. 130. Apparently you only knew Colonel Sommerville in connection with the camp? —Yes. I knew several of the officers who were there, but not the quartermaster. I looked upon Colonel Sommerville as being the principal man in the camp. 131. The Chairman.] You heard of a complaint that was made about some meat that was bad having been cooked at X shed for the Nelson men ? —Yes. 132. Can you account for that happening? —The men were expected on Sunday, and I made arrangements for them. They did not come when expected, but were there for tea. On Monday morning, at 7 o'clock, I was up at the X shed when the men came and rushed the kitchen. I went for an officer to take charge of the men, but could not find one. Then I turned into the kitchen and found that the men had taken away all the milk that was supplied. I said, " Boys, help yourselves, but don't destroy anything. I will stay here and see that you get all that you require." When the breakfast was over I went down to the Murphy Street School and saw Captain Coleman. I said, " I want you to send two responsible men in future to attend when the rations are being served out. If you do not do that I shall shut up shop and report matters to headquarters." I had no more trouble with that shed, because two men were sent there. That same morning, while I was looking after an officer, there was a roll of beef of about 20 lb. weight thrown right down on to the floor. I asked the cook who did it, and he pointed out three Volunteers outside, and I attacked one, who happened to be the wrong man. The cook pointed out to me a man in his shirt-sleeves, and said he was one of the greatest scoundrels who ever put a coat on his back. 133. Do you know the man?— Yes. 134. Is he a Volunteer ?—Yes. 135. What is his name ? —I forget his name just now. 136. You know that the medical officer in charge of the X shed men reported that some meat that was cooked there was bad: what I want to know is how that bad meat came to be cooked for the men? —I have not had a report made to me about that. I heard that some of the men had made a demonstration about it, but there was never a report made to me about it. 137. Did you not hear about a complaint being made [report read] ?—I heard that there was a complaint. 138. How did that arise? Had you too much meat there, or was it all piled together?—lt was all piled together. We had no proper place to put the meat in owing to the number of men there. The meat was of the best quality, and had all come from the hands of the Government Veterinarian ; and, the weather being cold, I did not think anything would happen to it. Every bit of the meat was inspected before it went to any of the places where the men were. I might say that every defect was immediately rectified; there was no continuation of it. 139. Colonel Davies.] With reference to the water-supply at Newtown Park, did you find any difficulty about that? —Yes ; that was one of the greatest difficulties we had to contend with. We had surface-pipes that led up to the cookhouse. The horses must have damaged these pipes, and caused them to break on two occasions, and considerable delay took place in locating the damage. The result was that the water ran over the ground, and made the park like a quagmire. Then, the pressure of the water was insufficient, and caused a shortage. In fact, I had to put two men on to carry water. The quantity that came through the pipes was not sufficient to fill the tanks. 140. Where did your men carry the water from ?—From the top of the park, where the men got water for washing. 141. Was the pipe that carried the water to the kitchen the same that carried it to the horsetroughs ?—Yes. 142. And when the water was used for the horse-troughs it was cut off from the kitchen ?— Yes. But that was not material, because they always made provision for that at night or early in the morning. I might state, to show that there was not much wrong with the camp after all, so far as the cooking was concerned, that a comparatively large sum of money was subscribed by the men before the camp broke up and distributed amongst the cooks. 143. From what corps ? —There was a large number of corps which subscribed. A silver-mounted pipe was also presented, and the officers also subscribed. The larrikin element that took part in the procession in the street was a very small one indeed. I took it as a huge joke at the time, although it reflected somewhat on my character.