67

H.—l9a

33. How often did you see the meat when it was not properly cooked?— Almost every day. The last lot of meat in the morning was not cooked, because the men would not wait for it. 34. Is that your explanation as to why it was not cooked?—No ; I have seen lots of meat that was not cooked. 35. Were there any days in camp on which the meat was properly cooked ?—I should say not, from memory. 36. Did you tell that to Colonel Sommerville?—l mentioned it to him. 37. More than once? —Yes, two or three times. 38. What did he say about it ?—He said he would see about it. 39. Do you know what he did ? —No, I do not. 40. How were the vegetables cooked?—l could not tell you about them. 41. Can you tell me anything about the tea and coffee?— Yes, and the tea in particular was very bad. Some of the men used to say it was the dirty water they were using which was the cause of it, but I loooked round and saw that it was clean water they were drawing. On two or three occasions the water was turned off altogether. 42. Did you taste the tea ?—Yes. 43. Was it bad ?—Yes. 44. How were the men off for straw ? —When we went in first on the Saturday it was fairly good, but on Saturday night or Sunday morning several companies arrived, and we ran short. On Sunday we had to send away for two loads. 45. Did you go into the tents at all? —Yes. 46. How were they affected by mud and water inside ?—They were very bad. The men used to come and take the straw out of other tents. 47. Do you think that more straw would have remedied it ? —No. 48. How did the horses fare ?—I might say badly, but there were some who did not shift their horses even when the corps got instructions to shift them where they liked. One battalion never shifted their horses away from the lines. The other three battalions shifted both horses and tents. 49. You think the place was not fit for any horses to be in ? —No. I wondered why the order did not come sooner to shift the horses to the higher ground. 50. When was the order given ?—I think it was on the Sunday evening. 51. For how long after that did the horses remain on the flat ?—I should say they were there until the Tuesday or Wednesday morning. 52. Was not Captain Dunk's battalion there until the Wednesday afternoon ?—I think it would be about Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. 53. Did you issue any ration indents to any of the corps ?—No. 54. Were there any in camp?— Not at this camp. 55. You have seen them at other camps ?—Yes ; Christchurch and other places. 56. Did you yourself complain personally to the contractor about the way in which the cooking was carried out ?—No ; I never saw the contractor. I asked two or three times if he ever came on the ground, and they told me he had never been there. I got Colonel Sommerville to go to the telephone and tell the contractor that we had not enough cooks. 57. You have attended a great many Easter and other camps as a Volunteer, and at the annual training ?—Yes. 58. I would like to ask you if you consider Newtown Park a proper place to take that number of men and horses? —Not with their horses. We were all confined in a basin. The ground was too low, and the water got into the place and remained there. I had a man with a long-handled shovel trying to get the water away. 59. Do you know whether the water on the flat was caused in any way by the pipes bursting, or was it caused by the rain ?—Mostly the rain. When the pipe burst we got some sacking to repair it, and the water did not extend for more than a chain round. 60. Colonel Davies.] Can you tell us who was on Colonel Sommerville's staff ? —I could only say Lieutenant Fitzherbert for certain. ,He said he had others appointed, but they did not arrive when I was there. I understand that Lieutenant Blair was appointed, but only Lieutenant Fitzherbert was there that I saw. 61. Was Lieutenant Fitzherbert in uniform?—He was in undress uniform. 62. He was not in ordinary plain clothes or mufti?— No. 63. You have seen him in plain clothes? —Yes, on two occasions. I think he always put on his uniform to give orders : at any rate when he came to me he did. 64. Had you any state given to you showing the number of men and horses that would receive rations ? —No. I went to Colonel Sommerville two or three times to see if he could let me have it some time before the men were arriving. He said on the Tuesday there were 774 horses. 65. As camp quartermaster, you had no means of knowing how many horses were entitled to fodder ?—No. 66. Or how many men were entitled to rations ?—No. 67. You never had statements given to you? —No. 68. If fifty horses had been taken out at night, you would have had no means of knowing there would be so much less fodder required ? —No. 69. Or if the men had been taken out or left the camp, they would have been charged for, and the money paid for the rations ?—Yes. With regard to the water, it was a very bad arrangement. The pipes were some 3 in. or 4 in. out of the ground, and the horses when going up and down were continually breaking them. On two or three occasions the water was cut off from the cooks in consequence of this. I asked Colonel Sommerville to have guards put on for the purpose of preventing this, but they were not put on. Sometimes the men would wash with soap in the horse-