ALEXANDER WILSON, examined by Mr. Purves, stated: I am engineer in charge of ports and harbours in the employment of the Victorian Government. I am by profession an engineer. I have no other qualification. I have had experience of the sea for seven years in the capacity of a marine engineer. I consider myself competent to give an opinion as to the sea-worthiness of ships. The steamer _Alert_ has been under my observation ever since she arrived here. Up to 1881 I surveyed her every six months. My opinion is that she was a good sea-worthy boat. I recollect a small pantry window she had in the poop. I don’t think it affected her sea-worthiness. I don’t think it would be possible for green seas to find their way down the grating on top of the stoke-hole. Ring bolts at each corner for the purpose of fastening a tarpaulin would be quite as efficient as cleats. The bunker lids rested in the ordinary way. I never knew of lids being washed off. I don’t think they made the ship unsea-worthy. Assuming that the wooden awning was made of right material, it would not affect the ship to any great extent. If she laid over it would rather have a tendency to raise her again. Wood instead of canvas would not in the least make her unsea-worthy. There is a wooden one on the _Lady Loch_, and she goes anywhere. The old steamer _Western_ had a house on deck with a wooden awning. The _Alert_ had watertight bulk-heads. She was divided into one, two, three, and four compartments when I knew her. These bulk-heads would prevent water going from one part to another. The ship in my opinion had sufficient stability. Cross-examined by Mr. Smyth: I am not a shipwright, but I have designed seven ships. The _Lady Loch_ is one. She does not carry her awning the whole length of the poop like the _Alert_. The length of the _Lady Loch_ is one hundred and seventy-five feet, beam twenty-five feet, and depth about twelve feet. She has only a small portion of awning aft. Her freeboard depends upon what she is carrying. I should say with nothing in her but coal and her machinery it would be about four feet. The _Western_ was not far different in dimensions to the _Alert_, but was a different class of vessel. The _Western’s_ length was one hundred and eighty-three feet, beam, twenty-three feet, and depth, twelve feet six inches. I agree with Mr. McLean that an iron casement outside screwed down would be a good protection for the pantry window, but whether it was necessary is another thing. The water would not have got in if the window had been shut; and if the window was burst open, it would be a matter of five minutes to put it right. It could be barricaded from the outside. I would find my way there with a piece of timber and shove it up against the face of the window. As for the gratings, if green seas came down, the only thing the men could do would be to spread canvas and lash it over the gratings.