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396. What were they on the first aay ? —I wrote them out, but I have not kept a copy. They were written out on a piece of paper, which I sent back. 397. You aia not get any written battalion orders issued to your company as part of the whole battalion ?—No. I remember there was a battalion sergeant-major told off, for one thing. 398. Was there a battalion adjutant ?—I do not think so. 399. Or a battalion quartermaster ?—I do not think so. 400. Have you got a company order-book ? —Yes. [Produced.] 401. You issued orders every day to your company ?—Yes, except when we were on board ship. 402. These notes are taken from the quartermaster?— Yes. 403. They did not come from the battalion commander to you?— No. The battalion commander was not in the camp then. 404. The companies had not been formed into battalions ?—No. 405. For instance, when you had to mount guard, how did you know it ? —I think it was Lieutenant Fitzherbert who told me verbally. 406. What day was that ?—On the Saturday night. 407. Had the battalions been formed then? : —No. 408. How did you know what Lieutenant Fitzherbert was ?—I gathered it in conversation. 409. You never saw him put down in the brigade orders ?—I do not think so; but I could not be sure. I knew what his position was, but I have no recollection of his appointment coming out as a brigade order. 410. You know that there has been a great deal of talk and complaint about the camp, one way and another? —Yes. 411. What do you think is the principal cause of the trouble? You have been to many camps in New Zealand ? —I have just seen six. 412. How does this camp compare with the others you have seen? —It is difficult to judge. 413. You have had experience of camps in England?— Yes. 414. How did this one compare with them ?—I should say it was a general muddle. 415. What was the cause of it?—l should say absence of staff supervision, and ignorance on the part of many officers. They did not seem to know their duties, or to go round among their men. . 416. Major Hawkins.] Your company has been nearly twelve months in existence ?—We formed it last September. 417. What previous experience had you as an officer?—l was a lieutenant in the Ist Herts Battalion in the Bedfordshire Regiment for twelve years, during half of that time commanding a cadet company, and I was signalling officer to the Home Counties Volunteer Brigade. 418. You had two lieutenants here : had they any experience ?—One had some, but the other had scarcely any. 419. Had they passed the examination ? —The written examination, but not the practical. 420. When did you receive orders for parades whilst in camp ?—They were mostly given out to the orderly sergeants some time on the evening previous. I cannot tell you the exact hour. 421. Are you referring to the company orders?—-To the orders given by Lieutenant Fitzherbert to my company orderly sergeant. I got them some time during the course of the evening, and put on any additional company order I wanted to. 422. Were you present on the morning that Colonel Penton visited the camp ? —Yes. 423. Did you go round your own company with a view to ascertaining the names of any of the men who took part in the procession ? —I knew that, as a matter of fact, none of my men had been there at the time of the procession. I was about to go down the lines when the officers were called for, and I had not time. 424. Colonel Penton made some remarks both to the officers and men : will you give us shortly what he said, and the impression that was made on your mind?—He said he considered the officers were very much to blame. He told the whole battalion—these are not his words, but the substance of them—that it had been a somewhat scandalous affair at the time that Royalty was present; and then, when he heard from the reports of the officers that no names had been given by any of their companies, he said that the particular four men who were afraid to come forward and give their names were—l think he called them curs ; but what he meant to say, I think, was that they ought to be ashamed of themselves. This is my observation on the speech : that it has been very much distorted in the Press, and that a tone has been given to it that the speaker never intended. 425. The Chairman.] I take it that you gathered from the Commandant's remarks that they applied to the men who had taken part in the procession, and those men only ?—Certainly. 426. Did you see anything of the procession ?—No; I was away at the Hutt at the time, taking my horses there. 427. And you are not aware of any one who took part in it?— No. You asked me just now whether there was any complaint with regard to the management of the camp. I think it was not satisfactory that the men should have been kept about the whole of Wednesday morning waiting for orders as to the disposal of the horses. I did not get off my horses until 2 o'clock that Wednesday afternoon from the camp. 428. What orders did you expect that day ? —That we should get leave in the course of the morning to take our horses away to paddocks which had been arranged for. 429. Who led you to believe you would get that order?—l cannot exactly remember which officer it was, but it was one senior to myself who told, me that Colonel Sommerville had stated that he would find out and let us know when we might go that morning. 430. Was it Captain Dunk?— Very likely it was; but lam not sure. It was either Captain Dunk or Captain Winter.

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