§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether the crews of the Hospital Steam and other Transports engaged in the late Abyssinian Expedition are not entitled to receive the donation Batta for their services; and, if not so entitled, whether he would state the grounds for such refusal?
§ MR. CHILDERSsaid, in reply, that on the 15th of June, 1868, the Treasury informed the Admiralty that a six months' Batta donation would be granted to the troops and naval forces engaged in the Abyssinian Expedition. No authority, however, was given to give Batta to the merchant seamen. The charter parties under which ships were engaged as transports contained no stipulations as to the wages of their crews, which were paid by the shipowners, Government having nothing to do with them.