 At the beginning of 1855, when the Crimean disasters had roused public indignation, McNeill and Colonel Alexander Tulloch, an officer of great administrative experience at the War Office, were sent to the Crimea with instructions to report on the whole arrangements and management of the commissariat and the method of keeping accounts, and to the causes of the delays in unloading and distributing clothing and other stores sent to Balaklava.The commissioners started at once for the seat of war.They took no shorthand writer with them, as the remuneration sanctioned by the Treasury was insufficient to secure a qualified person.