§ CAPTAIN NORTONI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether it has been brought to his notice that the 3rd Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment was recently conveyed to Malta in a vessel which was in many respects unsatisfactory; and whether he will make inquiries as to the statement that the captain, a German, was only prevented from wrecking the vessel by the timely action of the first mate, and that the captain afterwards attempted to commit suicide; also as to the statement that the provisions were scanty, and the prices of provisions at the canteen belonging to the ship exorbitant.
MR. GOSCHENA report has been received that the captain of the "Golconda," the vessel in question, was incapacitated from continuing in command of the ship owing to an accident and the after effects of an attack of influenza, and that thereupon the command devolved upon the first officer. The captain subsequently committed suicide on the arrival of the ship at Malta. The captain had been twenty-two years in the service of the British India Company. No complaint has been made by the officer commanding the troops as to the quantity or prices of the provisions.