LIFE ON TROOPSHIPS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 186, 7 August 1902, Page 5

LIFE ON TROOPSHIPS.

ANOTHER SERIOUS COMPLAINT

STATEMENTS BY THE ORIENT'S

TROOPERS

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, this day,

The troopers of the Ninth Contingent who returned by the s.s. Orient on being interviewed had no hesitation m expressing their disgust at the accommodation and commissariat on the troopship. They complain of the revolting conditions under which they Fiad to eat and sleep. The favourite dish served out was fish cooked whole as it came from the freezing chamber, with the entrails, still intact and the scales and heads on. One sausage per man was considered ample. This state of affairs could be remedied ri! the unfortunate troopers chose to buy private supplies, and notices were posted about the ship , bearing the legend "xUI meals a shilling."

The sleeping accommodation was very" bad, and the men had to sleep where they lould. Men were packed away in the hold, and had to eat and sleep in the same place. The bedding- was inconceivably filthy.

What made the discomforts particularly irksom* was that the oflicers appeared to have every possible luxury, even down to orchestral accompaniments to their meals.

There were sometimes as many as fifteen cases of measles daily.