A RETURNED SOLDIER'S COMPLAINT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3141, 20 July 1917, Page 7

A RETURNED SOLDIER'S COMPLAINT

b jSilV—<A paragraph appeared in your stating a leply given fin she House 'by Sir James Allen regardant a returned soldier who could not yet ( ®,ecessary medical treatment. As the rcfply seems to blo-mo the soldier for having w Complaint at all, and as (as is common proi offioial explanations) tho reply mispfiadingly states only "half truths, t)io KoWier concerned, for honour's sako, doiSues to give full facts. The facta are ghesa: Tiio soldier arrived back by «.liosqpital ship just over two months ago.. He jSnad had two operations oji tho voyage England, and these, togethdv with "the inferior, ind at tijoes putrescent, jtfood supplied on hoard, had left him on jjdifismbarKing in a. «ht\ky condition. His hvound was still discharging, and was ■"troublesome. At Wellington he was given *s.n out-patienfs certificate, and had his $arm dressed daily; at the whero %he doctor-tdd him aii operation would !we necessary. In. a fortnight's time. Ijhowever; the limb' fed , swelled, had Sgrown inflamed, and had gent the man's J-faanperature. ii® to an vnoomfortable - sjoint. Oh being examined- by two doo?itora they raid that tho opening of the plarm was at once necessary, and the 6olfrjier was kept for four hours at the hoSr Spital to have it done. ' What was done! 1 except this: he, was told finally ptn get out, to come up again to bo dress>'ed, and the arm : would he opened up jlnext day. The man, in'short, was to i-patrol up and' down between home and / iHospital, and let the poison in his wound Hcontinue to fever hig whole body. Did ■' pie complain? No! he didn't. Duringtha wight the arm burst liko an overoharg'©d balloon, and reliof was thus secured. [But not until two. weeks after this was gained to the Hospital, and Hhen only by extraordinary means. Massage was (jiven the arm on tho boat, but fall the time the soldier was an out--patient Don? was given him. It was : -over a month before anything was done tfor this returned man, yet men from tho ffcamps got immediate attention. The Soldier maintains that" lin would be jusJtified in complaining at the above treatment,' but whero' he does complain is 'jlhei'ei a. returned' soldier is ' disoharged the Forco three months aftor. lits in New Zealand, quite regardless 'of his condition. Tho ; writer knows of iia soldier who was on the iH'erge of death, and • who did eventually 'Jdie. Well, then, heing discharged' the i_Eoldier has to maintain .himself and any 'iidependants on what penaon tlio generous (boards are pleased to givO him—pensions .iwhich the Second Division have eo fcii(l--'Henly found out. aro quite inadequate— ■and, therefore, when tho. returned soldier {'cannot get immediate attention to his /fmedical requirements,, his precious three [months are soon gone, and he finds himiself nnable tQ work,, still hanging on to 'the Hospital for the required treatment.. This is not as it should be. for as tho Second Division well know, "a man canmotlive on pensions alone, nor on eyeryitMng which, proceeds, out of the, months of politicians." In conclusion, tho treatment which is often .being moted out to Returned soldiers is so oh as to fill them : (the soldiers) with disgust, and indigna- . Hon.—l am, etc., THE MAN. : [The paragraph referred to by our cortrespondent was as follows"Speaking •in the House- of Representatives -a few ' days'ago, Mr. A.-H. Hindmarsh rated , ;the Defence authorities soundly for their . tomtment'of a returned soldier whoi, it was alleged, could not get admission to 'the Wellington Hospital, although he was 'in sore need of'hospital treatment. The 1 Defence Minister gave the -House tho ■facte of the case yesterday. Tlio. soldier lad an injured a.rm, and Uio medical recommended liim for treat'ment as an out-patient of the Hospital. He was so treated for a time! It \ ! ns j.then decided that an operation was neees-!-sary, and the man was informed that •he would.he admitted to the Hospital a<j .. Teoon as a bed was available. Tlio man Vaa apparently under _ tlio impression ■that he should be admitted af once and ifelt "aggrieved becauso tlio Hospital authorities would, not take him in. A.t t lio time the. Hospital was full, and tiiero •were numbers of. operation'cases awaiting . admission.] •