Cross-examined by Mr. Smyth: Exhibit No. 10 now handed in is a certificate granted by the Marine Board, based on my declaration and that of Mr. McLean. He is engineering surveyor to the Marine Board, and has the machinery and the whole of the iron-work in his department. I have the whole of the wood-work and the deck-work. In my declaration two life-boats are described as being in good order on the _Alert_. If it is said there was only one life-boat and a dingy, then I say it is false. One boat was slung in the starboard davits on the foreside of the bridge, and the other on top of the engine room skylight. There was a difference in their size. One was twenty feet long, and the other fourteen feet. The fourteen-foot boat was not whale-boat form, and some people might call it a dingy. There was cork padding in both boats. The top of the skylight is a very fit place for a life-boat. It would not make the vessel top heavy. In a small ship like the _Alert_, it is hard to find a place to carry a boat, and you have to do the best you can. She had not two life-boats when in the Bay. They were not required in the Bay traffic. She had boats then but not life-boats. I was appointed shipwright surveyor when the retrenchment business began, nearly two years ago. I am not a shipwright. I did not want the assistance of a practical shipwright surveyor in the case of the _Alert._ I am perfectly practical enough to carry on that work. I know there is a rule to the effect that iron gratings over stoke-holes must be protected with iron plates fitted with hinges, or otherwise, in a manner satisfactory to Lloyd’s surveyors. On the _Alert_ the protection consisted of canvas covers, which were kept ready on board for immediate use. They were not tarpaulins, but just ordinary canvas. I think they were brought out for me to see. There were no cleats to fasten them down, but they could easily be lashed down to ring bolts on the deck. The canvas might in time tear away from the grating—say in about three years. The wooden awning was put on a few years ago for the Bay trade. _Q._—How was the pantry window protected? _A._—It could easily be protected.