581
I
Amongst other people interrogated, we asked the Doctor
of the ship whether he considered that there was any justification !
for the complaint made. He has informed us that he heard of no
complaints and that he also had personally inspected and tasted
the food supplied and that there was no just cause for complaint.
We submit to you, Sir, that, as the Military Commanding Officer,
and those under him, who it is proved attended to their duties,
did not draw the attention of the master to any breach of the
regulations or to the quality of the food supplied, there can
have been no cause for complaint. We again beg to remind you,
Sir, that as stated in our letter of the 30th September last, the
Military Commanding Officer in his report gave the answer "No" to
question 9 which reads:-
"Has there been any cause of complaint of the Provisions or Medical Comforts, either as regards quantity or quality, "or any inattention in their issue.
We hope that the additional information given in this
letter considered in conjunction with the report made by the Military Commanding Officer on board will enable you to decide that the complaint pade as regards food was not justified.
As regards the alleged "bleeding of the men by the Chief
Steward on board the "MANITOU", we would like to draw your atten-
tion to the wording of the paragraph dealing with this subject.
It reads
am o
"I also know that the Chief Steward of a Troopship can "clear a certain amount through "bleeding" the men. "the opinion that the Chief Steward of the "Manitou" was of "this sort.
It will be seen from this quotation that there is no direct accusation against the chief Steward but only the opinion of the brother of a man on board the "MANITOU". He does not say
that
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7. A.
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