No. 112.] 263 ^_^ ' 



cer^ainiug wliat the loss in the meat was at different times and 

 at different ages; and I find from the report that was then made, 

 that meat which was only cured a few days, lost a third in weight, 

 and according to the time that it remained in pickle it lost in 

 proportion. I have here a statement of different experiments 

 which have been made for the purpose of ascertaining what the 

 meat really did lose. According to the present regulations, when- 

 ever the meat loses one-half in boiling, the men are supplied with 

 an additional half-pound. Now we find that that is subject to 

 very great abuse j in the first place the object of the cook is to 

 boil away the meat as much as possible, because he obtains a lar- 

 ger quantity of what is termed slush, for whk*h he is paid, and in 

 some ships he is paid a very large amount, sometimes as much 

 as .£125, and £150, for his slush. On the other hand the 

 seaman if he finds the meat boils away to half a pound, claims 

 the additional half pound, but in fact he does not take up this 

 half-pound, he saves it, and is actually paid at the rate of 4d. a 

 pound for it, and the result is, that during the last two years we 

 find that we have paid the seamen upwards of £50,000 for their 

 savings in salt meat alone. 



I have also pamphlets which were published by Mr. Cooper, 

 and by Messrs Donkin, Hall and Gamble, in which they state, 

 that on careful experiments the loss of the meat is exactly that 

 which bears out the various experiments that we have made. 

 They say the first experiment was made on the 27th of May 1S13, 

 on a fifty-six pounds keg of captain's beef, which had been about 

 a month in pickle, weighing 5G pounds, It was then boiled by 

 steam and the bones were carefully separated. The meat was 

 suffered to cool and it was then found to weigh 35 pounds, defi- 

 ciency 21 pounds ; being, viz: bones 5 pounds 6 ounces, waste in 

 boiling 15 pounds lU ounces, total 21 pounds; being about iO 

 per cent loss. Tli6 second experiment was made on the 24th of 

 July, 1813, on a half barrel of prime mess beef, weigliing 100 

 pounds net ; which was salted in October 1812. On weighing the 

 t^ame prior to cooking it was 103 pounds. It is presumed that 

 this increase of 3 pounds, arose from the meat being saturated 

 with the pickle. It was then boiled as in the foregoing experi- 

 ment, the bones carefully separated, and the meat suffered to 

 cool, it was then found to weigh 17 pounds 8 ounces, deficiency 



