THE RETURNING TRANSPORTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16398, 18 December 1918, Page 9

THE RETURNING TRANSPORTS.

SYSTEM OF DISCHARGE

DESCRIBED

Tho following official i-tatement in regard to returning soldiers has been supplied to us: — Over two thousand New Zealand invalided soldiers are nearing the Dominion on-transports, and* will have the pleasure of spending Christmas among their friends, unless their, ailments are too serious to permit discharge before hospital treatmont. First for return are the hospital cases and convalescent?. Then will come the men who are still fit. At present, the Defence Department has to prepare for the invalids, and for this reason the new svsteiu of facilitating discharge straight from the ship's side will not be possible. , , So tho friends of the men who are returning between now and December 22nd will have to exercise a few hours patience after the transport's arrival, to enable soldier relatives to be properlv equipped with warrants for their privileges, and to be medically and dontallv overhauled Wore returning to civil life. This process in some of the Dominions involves a stay in a demobilisation camp, or leave with the obligation to report to a Defence office for in I'd <ca I hoarding, a procedure which will be completed in c9nnes.ion \vith men returning here this month on board, the vessel upon their arrival. But an improved svstem is adopted n men can be worked when the lit men commence to return. Captain i3artlett, formerly of Baso Records, Wellington, who recently returned to England for further active service, and Sorgeant-Major Gardmei, who for several years was the N.C.VJ. in charge of the medical boarding or returned soldiers in Wellington, are to be at the disposal of General Richardeon in London for the purpose of instructing staffs which will be sent out with each transport to deal with the returning soldiers en route, enabling them to disembark on arrival without any delay whilst boarding arrangements aro being carricd out as at present. As is the case at present, it will not, under this system, bp necessary for a returned man to again go near a Defence Office a iter leaving the vessel. I-fe may have to return certain articles of kit which he will want ior a tililo, but. he can send' them back by post. The new scheme provides tor the i holding of Demobilisation Boards on returning transports prior to arrival m New Zealand. Detailed instructions have been printed and sent to England, showing how the soldier's medical papers have to _be prepared, how his dental examination nnd treatment is to I>o undertaken, tho medical boarding, issue of hospital treatment certificates for use after arrival, discharge of fit men, tho provision of leave on pay,. and a four weeks' free railway uass, notification to next of kin that he is about to arrive, and preparation of pension claim where this is necessary. There is a good deal to do for each individual soldier, but under this system the staff will have the whole period of the voyage for the work, and will be detailed specially for it, with no other duties to distract them. . .

It' is intended' to establish a training school in England for the instruction of suitable men, who will come out as the Demobilisation Staff, and be discharged with the other soldiers on the transport upon, their arrival. No expense will thus bo incurred in sending staffs of trained men backwards and forwards, doing nothing during the journey to England. An experiment was made to ascertain if an officer used tp military form couid pick up the klutie.s from the printed instructions. He did so in a, few hours, and carried through a sample demobilisation' quite correctly. Thus St is assumed that only a few djiys'. training wili be~ needed to make the Demobilisation Staff efficient.

But there is an important element which has needed special attention — that of the medical standard to be observed in classifying the roturned men. "Doctors differ," it is said, and this must he recogniscd. "Where one medico would discharge a man with provision for out-patient treatment at a hospital, another would order him to become an in-patient. ' And there are differences of practice or oninion in regard to the. degree of disability. For theso reasons it is highly important that each transport should have on for purposes of medical classification, medical men who are familiar with the New Zealand standard of treatment. There has nob yet been sufficient time to arrangp for the supply of medical men with this experience,' but before the. fit men commence to embark, this will have been arranged, and the system of returning our men- who have so worthily done their part in the victorious struggle should he smooth-working, * and free from delay when the men come in sight of home.

VIEWS OF SOUTH AFRICAtf VETERANS. (press association telegram.) WANGANUI, December 17. The "Wanganui Borough Council resolved to-night to endorse the recent resolution of the South African Veterans' Association, urging that tha Government should take timely steps to ensure the proper transport of returning soldiers, in order that cases like that of the troopship Britannia at the end of tho South African war should be avoided, and in particular that the overcrowding of the transports, should be strictly, avoided, notwithstanding the extra expense such a policy might entail. , The Council also agreed to a request to circularise local bodies, asking them also to endorse tho resolution. The resolution has also _ been submitted .to the Returned Soldiers' Association, which has forwarded it to headquarters in Wellington, strongly recommending that the representations of the South African veterans be endorsed, and pressed upon the attention of the Government. HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION. During the recent session, Dr. Thacker, M.P., asked the Minister of Defence when it would give back, for their origiual purposes, certain institutions Tvhich liad been commandeered for use as military hospitals. Dr. Thacker mentioned the Victoria Ward, Wellington, which was established for chronic invalids. This hospital was commandeered in 1915 by the Defence ment, and the aged patients were moved on. j The subject was mentioned to Sirj James Allen on Monday. He replied j that within the next two or three months the Department would have to deal with almost 10,000 sick and wounded men. There would be a certain amount of accommodation at Trentham and elsewhere, but there would be a! certain proportion of difficult surgical eases, which should not be sent to Tren-! tham. The best available hospital accommodation was necessary for such men. Sir James evidently held a be- J lief that in the interests of sick and I wounded soldiers, during the busy time I of demobilisation, the Defence Departinent should be allowed to retain the I Victoria Ward. !