APPENDIX 427 ' horses.' On the 28th: 'Our horses are dyiug fast, but until ' we are sure that we can feed them, I would not recommend any ' addition here ; ' ' our artillery horses are suffering much from ' exposure and hard work, as well as want of food. ' January 23, 1855: 'I did not, after the storm, attempt to get fresh horses, ' for the Coimnissary-General did not encourage me to hope that ' he could feed them, and there was no use in buying horses and
- letting them die of starvation and want of due care. I got
' some from Eupatoria for the Commissariat, and they, like the ' snow, have melted away ; and I now have sent for some to Con- ' stantinople, but they may share the same fate if the forage ' which should have been sent from England does not arrive.' January 29th : ' Mr Filder complains sadly of the non-arrival of ' the supplies of hay which he was led to expect he should receive ' from England periodically.' Note 28. — The exceeding scantiness of the ' hands ' that could be obtained made it specially difficult to land such a thing as chopped straw. There were times when, from this cause, the famishing beasts were prevented from getting the chopped straw which lay on board ship in the harbour. Note 29. — A vessel of 600 tons measurement can only have, besides her ballast, 50 tons of M?zpressed hay stowed on board her, whilst of pressed hay she could carry, it seems, 120 tons. The supply of forage was a matter so vital to our army, that the mere question of cost became reduced to insignificance ; but one may mention — for the fact seems curious — that the plan of resorting to England for pressed hay proved not only much more sure and practicable, but even cheaper than importing chopped straw from Constantinople or the ports of the Black Sea. — Rep. Seb. Com- mittee, Question 13,756. The cost of supplying a ton of English hay to our army in the Crimea was about £20 — viz. : Cost of ton of hay, . . . .£500 Preparing, packing, carriage, . . 2 13 4 Freight to the Crimea, . . . 12 Sea-risks and demurrage, . . . 6 8 £20 — Chelsea Rep. , p. 545. Note 30. — ' Before Sebastopol, IWi September 1854. ' Sir, — Referring to my letter of the [blank], I have the honour ' to report for the information of the Lords Commissioners of her ' Majesty's Treasury, that the contractors having failed to provide ' the quantity of hay therein adverted to of proper quality, and
