"THE GREAT TASMANIA."—QUESTION. (Hansard, 23 March 1860)

§ CAPTAIN ARCHDALL

said, he would beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman, 1154 Whether his attention has been called to the Verdict given by a Coroner's Jury on the bodies of the unfortunate Soldiers who had died on board the Great Tasmania during the voyage home from India The paragraph in the Verdict to which he referred was as follows:— That the provisions supplied by the Government as stores for the use of the troops were bad and unfit for human food, with the exception of the tea, pork, pickles, and rice. That there was an entire absence of proper disinfectants, and that the lime juice had lost its medicinal properties when put on board. That the officers who signed the General Inspection Report' are the culpable parties, so far as the quality of the stores is concerned. That the captain and officers of the ship are entirely free from blame, and that the ship's contract was satisfactorily fulfilled. That the military officers and the surgeon did their best, under the circumstances in which they were placed, to promote the health of the men under their charge. He would also beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether any steps have been taken to prevent the recurrence of such treatment as those men have received, and for which the Indian Executive were, he apprehended, responsible; and whether the right hon. Gentleman is prepared to order the immediate dismissal of the officials whose conduct was declared to be culpable, and through whose neglect of duty this lamentable loss of life has arisen?