§ MR. KAVANAGHasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, With respect to Her Majesty's ship "Megæra," the number of officers and men, also the quantity of cargo or stores, it has been 50 found necessary to land at Queenstown; whether it is not true that, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Captain of the vessel, the Admiral, on the report of a carpenter who he had sent to see to her defects, ordered her ports to be closed, caulked, and pitched, with a statement that they might be opened when the ship got into the tropics; with regard to the over crowded condition of the officers, it is not true that the fact of landing stores or cargo did not improve it, as the vessel has only berth and mess accommodation for 22 officers, whereas there are 33 on board; whether the three medical officers on board the vessel had not stated in writing that the ship, in her present state, was unfit for such a long voyage, and whether he will produce the statement so made by them; and, to ask who is responsible for this ship being allowed to leave with defective ports in such an overladen and overcrowded state; and, if he has taken into his consideration whether in future Her Majesty's Troop Ships, when embarking men for Foreign Stations, might not be submitted to the survey of the Government Emigration Officers as to space and condition of ship and outfit?
§ MR. GOSCHENsaid, he had got most of the information required to answer the Questions of the hon. Member, but in one point it was still deficient. He had telegraphed to-day to Queenstown on the subject, and if the hon. Gentleman would be so kind as to put the Question to-morrow he trusted he would then be in a position to answer it.