73

H.—l9a

274. Did you pass the complaint on to the superior officers?— Yes, to Colonel Sommerville. 275. Were you in charge of the company?—l was part of the time. Our captain was away as adjutant of the battalion. 276. Who was your battalion commander ?—Captain Izard was acting-major. 277. Did you complain to him?—No, I went to Colonel Sommerville. 278. How often did you complain to Colonel Sommerville ?—I frequently complained, and I heard other officers do the same. 279. And what was done in reference to your complaints ?—Colonel Sommerville spoke very strongly about the arrangements and complained repeatedly to the cooks—l am satisfied of that, because I heard him—but without redress. 280. Did this state of things continue to the end of the camp, or was it improved in any way ?—I saw no improvement all the time I was in the camp. 281. Were your horses removed?— No'; they simply stood in the lines allotted to them, and they were standing the best part of the time very much in the mud. 282. Were your men moved to the hill?—No ; they remained on the flat. 283. Had you any orders that you might go on the hills ?—We heard of none. 284. Had the horses sufficient fodder?—-The supply was very intermittent; sometimes it was fair and sometimes bad. On one occasion the horses had nothing but straw chaff. Sometimes there was a glut of oats for the time being, and then again there was a famine. 285. Did you yourself inspect the cooking conveniences there ?—I did. 286. What did you think of them ?—I thought they were simply disgraceful. fjpj2B7. In what way? —I thought they were not kept clean. 288. I mean the cooking conveniences ?—I think the arrangements were very bad, contrasted with the way in which we were treated in Christchurch. In fact, there was no comparison. 289. Things were very good down in Christchurch, were they?— Yes ; no one could possibly complain about them. 290. Colonel Davies.] Which battalion was your company in at Newtown Park?—l am under the impression that we were in No. 2 Battalion. 291. Whom did you take your orders from ?—From Acting-Major Izard. 292. Did you see any written orders?— No. 293. Were you in command of your company ?—Partially; but when we went into camp Captain McDermott was in command. 294. What became of him ?—He was appointed to the battalion to which we were attached. 295. Did you not get orders from him afterwards ?—Yes, principally. 296. You never saw any written orders?— No. 297. You never saw orders detailing the position of the battalions, and who was to command them ?—No. 298. You never heard who was the staff?—l heard some conversation occasionally, but had nothing in writing. 299. You did not know whom to go to ? —We simply conferred with the captain. 300. Suppose you had to apply to some one in a difficulty for anything you wanted, whom would you apply to ?—Colonel Sommerville. 301. Did you do that because you did not know who was your battalion commander?—l had not been instructed otherwise. 302. The Chairman.] Is there anything you wish to tell us about the camp that we have not asked you ?■—Yes ; I would like to say it was not possible for any of our men to take part in any of those disgraceful proceedings in connection with the meat procession, because all our men were on escort duty all that day. We escorted the party to Government House, and were very late in returning to camp. We heard then that the procession had taken place. 303. You saw nothing of it yourself?—No; I saw nothing of it, nor did any of our men. 304. Do you know of any man who did take part in it?—No ;we questioned all our men as a matter of form, but we knew it was not possible for them to be there. 305. You heard Colonel Penton's address to the men the next day at Newtown Park?— Yes. 306. Whom did you understand him to refer to when he used the expression, " infernal curs"? —Those who took part in the mock procession. 307. You have no doubt about that ?—None in my mind. 308. Is there anything else you would like to say to us ?—No; I only thought I would like to tell you what I thought of the cooking and camp matters generally. 309. Did you come down to Wellington for the purpose of telling us this ?—I conferred with our officers, and they thought our company should be represented, and that we should exonerate our men as far as lay in our power. I would like to say that some of our men are hardy bushmen, but since they returned from the camp they have been laid up, and they ascribe their sickness to what they had to suffer at the camp. One man has been laid up for six weeks ; another man has been laid up with scarlet fever, and he ascribes it to having lain in the mud in his tent.

Thursday, 15th August, 1901. Captain James Paton Watt examined. (No. 38.) 1. The Chairman.] You are captain commanding what corps?— The Alexandra Mounted Rifles. 2. Were you with your corps at the camp at Newtown Park in June last? —Yes, I was present with forty-three members of the company, including myself. 3. On what day did you go into camp ?—We arrived at the park on Sunday night, the 16th June. 10— H. 19a.