The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-10 00:00:00

PROVISIONS ISSUED IN THE NAVY.

Many complaints having been made by various ships'
companies regarding the quantity of meat they receive
daily from the coppers, including bones, for the supply
of their respective messes being' insufficient for such
messes, the present Admiralty regulations now provide
that the salt beef and pork provided for her Majesty's
ships are always to be, the former in 81b. pieces and the
latter in 41b, pieces, and no unusual parts, such as leg
bones, shins of oxen, ox heads, cheeks of hogs, &c., are
ever allowed to be put up with the meat.
Should the pieces, however, prove short of weight, the
deficiency is to be made good, as directed in article 88,
--namely, if, on opening a cask of salt beef or pork for
expenditure, it should be found short of the proper num-
ber of pieces, but evidently deficient in weight, the
paymaster is to apply to the captain for an circler to sur-
vey all the casks of salt meat of the Caine supply that
may be remaining on board, as they become opened for
expenditure; and the whole of that supply which may
subsequently become issued is to be served out to the
crew according to the actual weight of meat found in
each cask ; and further, that in the event of a complaint
being made by any of the officers or ship's company that
the salt meat supplied to them has, from its age or from
any inferiority of quality, lost in boiling more than one
half of its original weight, the captain will order inquiry
to be made by the surveying officers of the ship into the
circumstances, and whether the meat has been properly
cut up and cooked ; and if it shall be proved to their sa-
tisfaction that the daily allowance to the officers or the
ship's company, or the portion supplied to any particular
mess, has fairly lost by boiling more than one half of the
original weight of the meat when put into the coppers,
the captain will, should he consider an extra allowance
necessary, direct the paymaster to issue an additional
quantity of raw meat of the same species equal to half
the original allowance complained of, placing his initials
in the proper column of the statement, form No. 8, as
an authority for the total extra issue on that day.
In case of the surveying officers having any difficulty
in deciding on the claims for such extra issue, a fair se-
lection of pieces of the meat are to be weighed before
being put into the coppers and also after being cooked.
And it is further provided that not any provisions or
stores in the paymaster's charge are to be issued on shore
or taken out of the ship, for any other purpose than for
victualling portions of the crew when absent on duty or
on other public account, and are never in any way to be
deemed to have become private property; and, further,
as regards the supply of fresh beef, by the terms of the
present contract for this
,port (that is to say, between
Gillingham, in the river Medway, and the Great Nore),
it is stipulated that all the beef that shall be demanded
for the use of her Majesty's ships shall be delivered in
kind within 24 hours after each respective demand being
made ; that not money or other considerations shall be
paid or given in lieu thereof; that all the beef that shall
be supplied under the contract shall be good, fat, well-
fed ox or heifer beef, in all respects fit for her Majesty's
service ' • the whole of the beef from time to time de-
manded and supplied to be such as the commandingoffi-
cer of any of her Majesty's ships, vessels, or hired trans-
ports shall approve as in all regsects fit for her Majesty's
service, otherwise the said officers, or any or either of
them, shall be at liberty to reject the same, and that the
cattle from which the beef is to be produced shall be
slaughtered at Sheerness, and that no part of such beef
shall be the flesh of any bull, bull stag, or cow, or any
heifer exceeding four years old, or of any beast what-
ever that shall have dropped on the road ; nor shall any
beast or cattle of any such prohibited descriptions be
brought to the premises of the said contractor or his
agent to be slaughtered for her Majesty's service ; and
to provide against the same it is expressly declared and
agreed by and between the parties so contracting that the
bringing of any such beast to the premises for slaughter ,
as aforesaid, or the supply or tender of any beef that
shall be found on examination to be unfit for her
Majesty's service, or contrary to the terms of the con-
tract, shall be deemed a breach thereof, and the
said contractor shall pay to her Majesty the sum of 101.
for every beast which may not be of the said descrip-
tions • and also a further payment of 2s. for every round
of beef of unfit quality supplied or tendered as aforesaid,
which hall be paid in addition to any excess of cost,
should the beef be elsewhere purchased, as provided for
in the contract.

The contract imperatively directs that the contractor ,1
or his agent shall exhibit a copy of the contract to the
commander-in•chief or senior officer• for the time being,'
and to the captains or commanding-officers, and to the
paymasters of such of her Majesty's ships and vessels, and
also to the agents for transports and masters of such
transports, as from time to time he or arrive within
the limits to which the contract extends, in order that
they may respectively know such contractor, and be