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144. Was there no officer present ?—I did not see any. 145. But you would have seen him if he had been present, would you not ?—Yes. 146. There was no orderly officer of any kind present?—l did not see him. 147. What were the arrangements for the cooking that you saw—how was the food cooked? —I did not take much notice of it. - 148. What convenience had the cooks ?—I thought they had none at all. They had ]ust the ordinary rails, with the fire underneath. _ 149. Whatever the conveniences were, you considered them insufficient ?—Yes. 150. What do you think they ought to have had?— More cooks and more cooking-places. 151. Supposing they had more like those they had, would they have been sufficient ?—Yes. 152. Were the cooking-places covered in any way ?—Not those I saw. ,■ „ 153. Did the fact of their not being covered interfere with the cooking?—l think so, decidedly, in that weather. 154. On what day did you go into camp ?—We arrived there on the Saturday morning. 155. And when did the mud in the camp become serious?—On the Monday it began to be very bad in our lines. 156. After a day or two what was the state of the place ?—lt was worse than any stockyard I was ever in. , ; . . . 157. How long have you been a Volunteer ?—lt is about sixteen years since I nrst joined. 158. Have you been a Volunteer ever since ?—No. I was nine years in the Rangitikei Royal Rifles. , n , , 159. Do you think Newtown Park was a fit place for men to be camped in, and tor horses?— Not for horses at that time of the year. 160. Was anything done with your troop—were you shifted at all ?—We shifted our horses up under the trees. , . , , 161. Did you make any complaint about your men not getting their rations, and the tooa not being properly cooked ? —No. , . , , , i v *. 162. Did any one in your corps make complaints ? —They complained amongst themselves, but I heard no complaints made to an officer. 163. Was any officer told off from your company to inspect the men at meal-times ! —les. 164. What officer inspected them ?—Captain Dove went round on one occasion, and also Lieutenant Meldrum. . . 165. Did an officer go round at each meal, or only occasionally ?—Occasionally. I tmnk tne captain himself went round. 166. Was any alteration made in the cooking?— No. 167. Do you mean to say that this insufficient cooking of the meat went right on to the end ! —Some days it was better than others. 168. Did you tell off an orderly sergeant from your corps ?—Yes. 169. Which battalion did you belong to ?—The 3rd. 170 Who was the commander ?—I think Captain Dunk was in charge. 171. How often did you get orders from the Brigade Office—from Colonel Sommerville ?—I got orders every night from my own captain. 172. What orders were they ? —Orders of the day for the whole camp. 173. What did you take them in? —In the company's order-book. 174. Did your corps go to Christchurch ?—Yes. 175. What did you do with your horses? —Sent them to the Hutt. 176. What did you do with them there? —Paddocked them. 177! Whereabouts at the Hutt ?—At the Lower Hutt. 178. Where the horses were turned out could a camp have been formed ? —No ; there was not room enough for that. , 179. Colonel Davies.] Do you know how the forage was issued at Newtown .Park I —ihe quartermaster-sergeant attended to that. 180. Did you always get plenty of forage ?—With the exception of one day. It came to hand all right after we had bought our oats. 181. Have you been in many camps since you have been in the New Zealand Volunteers '.— ■ Yes, five or six. This is the first mounted camp I have been in. '182. How does it compare with the others with regard to feeding the men?—l do not consider the Newtown Park camp much worse than the New Plymouth camp. 183. The Chairman.] You are speaking of the big camp at New Plymouth ?—Yes. 184. Colonel Davies.] Do you know anything about the procession that took place in the streets here ?—That was the day when our men went out to the Hutt with the horses. None of our men were there. 185. You do not know any of the men who were there, I suppose ?—No. None ot our men saw it; but I believe one of the men said, when asked, that he belonged to the Hunterville Mounted Rifles, although I am certain that is not so, because none of our men were there. 186. You do not know the name of any man who took part in the procession ?—We were told that one man named Patrick Sheehan, of Wairoa, was there. 187. How did you get that information?— Our quartermaster-sergeant told me, but who told him I could not say. Sergeant Burr told me to say, if anyone said any of his men were there, he was prepared to say they were not. 188. Major Hawkins.] Did you see the forage-wagons going in at any time?— Yes. 189. Did you ever see men from the various corps rushing the stuff?— No. 190. How do you fall-in ration parties in your company ?—I tell off two men from the tents, and place them in charge of an orderly sergeant or corporal, and give instructions to have the men formed up at the cooking-place.