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107. The Chairman] Did they assign such an unusual number of fires to cases of incendiarism, or to unknown causes in the cargo?—There were, a great many of them, fires in the ships were lying alongside the wharf, and there are a lot of up-river steamers passing all day. These steamers have four funnels, and burn no coal; they burn wood. They carry passengers up and down the Mississippi, and, owing to the fuel, they discharge great quantities of sparks through the great number of funnels, and the bales of cotton lying along the levee —as they call the wharves —are likely to catch the sparks flying with a brisk wind. But 1, should imagine that if these sparks were in the cotton they would show themselves before it got into the ship. 108. Captain Blackburne] They would not smoulder for days?—No. 109. Mr. Foster] The matches you said were in the bales —they did not cause the fire?—The matches were intact almost in the centre of the bale, and very little damaged by fire or water. These were the common American matches, not in boxes but in cones. When you want to use one you break one off. They will not strike on any hard surface, only on soft fabrics, such as your sleeve. And in the interior of this bale was the handful of these lucifers. The man to whom the cargo belonged in which the matches were found ran away, but 1 believe he was secured and severely punished. 110. Captain Blackburne] Where was the ship?—She was lying alongside the levee in New Orleans. ill. She had not started on her voyage? —No; nearly all the fires took place in the Port of New Orleans. 112. Mr. Foster] Have you formed any opinion as to the causes of fires on wool-ships—that which we are inquiring into now?—l have formed none, and I should not like to be dogmatic about it. 113. 1 do not think any one can be dogmatic about it, but have you formed any opinion yourself ?—1 do not think there can be two opinions as to the loading of textile cargo. I think a fruitful source of the trouble is the fact of damp being in the material, and when this is put into the ship it generates heat; then there is the friction. 114. You consider that these fires on the steamers which we are most concerned about —do you think the weather they encounter is sufficient to cause this friction ?—There is always bound to be a certain amount of friction in a ship's cargo, no matter how tightly it is stowed. 115. Yet in the case of the "Gothic" it was not during any bad weather that-the fires occurred; she was either in or had passed through the tropics?—lt is very hard to tell at what time the iguition took place. 116. Would you expect that friction at one time set up heat, and yet if the vessel lay quiet for a considerable time that heat would be maintained? —I think it would depend upon the force and direction of the wind on board. Of course, if there was a great quantity of smoke in the holds it would indicate itself through the deck ventilators. 1 remember the case of a sailing-ship, the " Rackney," of Liverpool, in which the whole cargo was found to be afire on the way Home, and before they got round the Cape of Good Hope they decided to run for St. Helena. They got there and then decided to take the ship on to Liverpool. They got there safely by keeping the fire in check by pumping water into the holds. When they took the hatches off in Liverpool the flames shot up as high as half-way up the mainmast. George Mayo Kebble sworn and examined. (No. 12.) 117. The Chairman] What are you, Mr. Kebble? —I am a settler. 118. I understand you wish to give some evidence? —I am going back to the times of 1860. A ship was wrecked in Wellington here, and she had a cargo of wool on board. The wool was got out after it had been in the water for some time, and it was sold to George Moore. We had a flour-mill down at the fresh-water stream at the time, and we gave him permission to dump down the wool in the paddock so that he could wash it with the fresh water. It had remained there about a week, and, as they did not want to open it up until they were ready to wash it, they allowed it to remain there on the paddock where it was carted, but they found it was so hot that they had to cut it open and strew it about, or it would have caught fire eventually. The salt water has some effect in heating wool. 119. Captain Blackburne] Were those bales charred inside?—You could not touch them, they were so hot. The whole bale was hot right through. Another case 1 remember about some tow. We had some tow stacked in bales alongside the wall. When I came into the shed in the morning I noticed a peculiar smell, and again during the day. We eventually made search, and found one of the bales alongside the wall was smouldering. One of the millers acknowledged after that on the previous day at lunch-time he had dropped a match down between the bale and the wall. So, you see, that bale had been smouldering for twenty-four hours before it was discovered. 120. There was no access of air to where it was? —No. It was well down in the stack. If there had been access of air it would have flamed in no time. 121:. Mr. Foster] Have you formed any opinion as to the probable cause of the fires on the wool-steamers'—Ever since seeing that wool will get so hot I have had the opinion that it is due to the wool having been wet. i-:::.12%.: The Chairman] Being shipped when damp. From that you conclude that the probable cause, or one of the causes, was that the wool must have been shipped damp?—Yes, it is always liable!to get damp, being shipped at these out-of-the-way stations. 123. Mr. Foster] Do you not think that fresh water would have the same effect as salt water? notgive;any opinion about that. 124. Captain Blackburne] There was only one bale of that tow which you say was smouldering ?_Only one, and that one was against the wall, and it had almost charred the boards through.