"A Father of Cadets" writes: "I have been informed that for about sixteen years--_i.e._ since the ships have been at Dartmouth--the sewage has been discharged from the vessel into the river, where, though it is mostly washed away by the tide, part must sink into deeper water." This is certainly a very ill-informed parent, who should have applied to his sons for some information before taking up his pen. In the first place, the _Britannia_ had, in March, 1901, been, not sixteen but over thirty-seven years in the Dart; and where, in the name of common-sense, did he expect the sewage to be discharged from the ship except into the river? This is obviously a case of "any stick is good enough to beat a dog with." A refreshing contrast is presented by the letter of another father of a cadet, Mr. N. C. Dobson, _emeritus_ Professor of Surgery, who says that he has been on board several times, and is quite satisfied that the condition of the ship has had nothing to do with the outbreak. In this he is confirmed by the official report of Professor Corfield, a hygienic expert, who was requested by the Admiralty to investigate the causes, and who speaks most highly of the sanitary condition of the ship, and says, in effect, that the disease got on board in some manner which it is impossible to detect. Another writer attempts to put the blame on the food, and sundry allegations are made against Dartmouth itself, which draw forth a reply from the town clerk, who produces official statistics to disprove the statements. Nothing, in the eyes of some people, can be commended in the poor old _Brit._ or the place where she is moored. The captains are all incapable, the officers and masters are worse, the position is insanitary, and nothing is right, in short, except the excellent officers which this dreadful institution turns out! It would not be precisely fulsome if some credit were accorded to the captains and officers for this result, and a small share to the Admiralty for selecting, as a rule, the right men for the post. However, to quote our friend the editor of the _Britannia Magazine_, "it is not well to be cynical!" At Easter, 1902, the _Britannia Magazine_ says:--"Rumours of an increased number in the next entry of cadets are rife, which intelligence, while possibly gladdening the hearts of some hundreds of parents, who are naturally selfishly interested, brings to the authorities' notice that the additional number have somehow to be accommodated. Various suggestions have been made, but none, to our mind, feasible. A third term cadet has it from the best quarters that a brig is to be moored astern of the _Britannia_. Another has heard that the senior term captains are to relieve the marine orderlies from their tedious night watch keeping in order to save hammock space." The rumour was not without some foundation; but, fortunately, none of the drastic measures alluded to above were found to be necessary.