EPIDEMIC ON A TRANSPORT

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 141, 11 December 1918, Page 7

EPIDEMIC ON A TRANSPORT

THE STRICKEN 40ths

INQUIRY OPENED

BY A PARLIAMENTARY COM-

MITTEE.

The Parliamentary Committee constituted to inquire into the outbreak of influenza on the transport which carried the 40th Reinforcements from New Zealand commenced its sittings in Parliament Buildings this morning. The Committee consisted of the Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen), Messrs. R. M'Callum, G. Forbes, A. S. , Malcolm, W. A. Veitch, W. H. Held, R. Scott, and J. P. Luke.

Mr. Malcolm was elected Chairman. Mr. M'Callum said he did not see how the Committea could code to any reasonable decision or report until the transport returned. Mrs. J. R. Gibbons was the first witness, and asked whether the Committee would accept as evidence letters written by her son (the late Gunner Huon Gibbons) and other privates. The Chairman said they- would take such evidence as was offered.

WAS THERE OVERCROWDING ?

Mrs. Gibbons) continuing, said the transport carried 1117 men and nurses, and was shockingly' overcrowded* The ship (was never intended to carry so manyJ men. She added, inoideiitallyj that ihe Defence Department had afforded her every mea-ns of obtaining information. The result was that there was a complete floor of hammocks, and no Toom to move between. The tables were a permanency, and the hammocks were slung over the tables. The hammocks touched everywhere. The men's quarters were ventilated sufficiently for fine weather, but when the vessel ran into bad weather there was no ventilation whatever, aa far as she could ascertain."" There were no ventilation fans, though she had letters to show that the fans could have been obtained at Auckland if application had been made. She gave, on the evidence of letters, a distressing account of the result of the seasickness that occurred among the men shortly after leaving Wellington, and of the results of the shortage of lavatories and latrines. It seemed an awful thing that a man should have to sleep with other men within 16in on each side of him., They had been told that the transport had, carried 1288 men ort a previous trip, but on that trip the ship had carried no cargo. When the transport left here with the 40fch Reinforcements she carried 60,918 oubic feet of cargo and a large quantity of spare stores and Red Cross gifts. There was no covered-in space. What there Was was reserved for officers and 'airmen, who* had comfortable quarters'.on the ship. Witness went on to read letters of complaint from soldiers on the ship regarding the food on the ship; soldiers were starved, while officers were being fed as if in a first- . class hotel.

SUPPLY OF DRUGS.

Witness's next point was that the ship left New Zealand with a suply of drugs only sufficient for normal times. The medical officers were inexperienced and youthful. AnotheL 1 suggested cauSfc of the trouble was vaccination in the tropics (besides bad air and"bad food), which rendered the men too weak to resist the outbreak after the ship left a port of call.. ■

TREATMENT'OF OFFICERS AND MEN CONTRASTED.

Another point was that men who had undergone vaccination were not in a condition to be capable of bumping up against the men in contiguous hammocks. All the lettejs she had received spoke highly of the nurses, but not one said a good word about the officers. The doctors went down.as soon as the outbreak occurred. One man from the ship wrote: "The condition of the men's sleeping quarters is awful. . . . One would think the officers were wealthy saloon passengers, while the men below were convicts or slaves." Her own son wrote: "We have fairly comfortable quarters, but the conditions of the in-' fantrymen is something dreadful. I thank God that I am not Private H. C. Gibbons, but Gunner H. C. Gibbons." In ,another letter a soldier, whose temperature had been up to 104, wrote: "They don't give you a darned thing to eat, except a big ship's biscuit, which we don't eat at the best of times." "Really, things are in a scandalous condition," said a soldier in another letter. "You couldn't realise what an awful time we have been having. ... Our doctor has been no damned good. We might just as well have been without him. . . . Deaths are caused through starvation, lack of medicine and attention. We can't get a square feed at any price. Last night I had a bit of potato and meat, which was rotten." "I don't know how tho3e sisters stick to it as they do," said another soldier on board. One soldier who wrote said he had been told by an African doctor that the disease was dengue fever. ' There was no medicine to treat them with and next to nothing to feed them with, while "the bally officers are feeding on poultry, jellies, etc., arid doing nothing to get the boys better." Men died from lack of nourishing, wrote a soldier, and the same writer referred to the fact that many jumped overboard . in delirium, most were recovered, but five were recorded ac "died at sea," and otherwise not accounted for.

'■'There was hardly any medicine aboard. What they did have ran out in a couple of days. I reckon some of them who died, died of starvation," was ■ another extract. And again:

"When we went on to the boat it was not fii for a pigstye."

OVERCROWDING DENIED,

Captain Post was the next witness. He said his duties comprised the necessity of seeing that the ships were fitted up to carry the maximum number under Admiralty requirements. The ship was on this occasion making her tenth trip, and she left under better conditions than she had ever left New Zealand previously. He could not admit she was in any way overcrowded. The ham. mocks'were sixteen inches between hooks, according to Admiralty instructions, and there were hundreds of ships carrying troops on the same lines. As a resuli of having hammocks there was more air space, and the Transport Board had no suspicion of any shortage in that- respect. The lavatory accommodation was beyond Admiralty instructions. In any ship there would .he trouble in bad weather. Other ships had been filled on the same scale, and there had been no complaints. The ships that came out with returned troops wrt fitted up on tne same scale.

Mr. Veitch : Have any ships come out from Britain fitted up in Britain? Witness: Yes ; they were fitted up in exactly the same way.

To Mr. "Field, witness said that receptacles were provided for sea-sickness. DISTANCE BETWEEN HAMMOCKS,

Colonel Roberts, senior embarkation officer, said he was not responsible for the supply of food. There was a misunderstanding on the subject of hammocks. The regulation was misleading, because the,hammock was only shown stretched to "its width of 9in. He. had gone into the- question carefully, and had

drawn up a plan showing how the \ hammocks hung. If the hammocks were j .fully extended they must toucjh, and he j had always corrected such defects. He j had quartered the artillery and the spe-"j cialists in the cabins, giving the senior J branches of the Service the quarters they| preferred. The O.C. artillery thanked '\ him for putting his men in cabins." Wit-| ness told him: "Perhaps one of theses days you may be sorry," and that had • been proved, because 'the losses ,'iii the I cabins had been very much greater thaii \ in the hammocks. Hammocks could'bo; taken out during the dtty and the deck~l space made available. Exactly the same i cai-go space was occupied as on the pre--'----vious voyage. Only a few days before it 3 ! departure the ship was taken/over by/the Imperial authorities. She was loaded by ' witness on the previous trip,' and he supplied the loading accommodation to tho ■ New Zealand and African-Steamship Co. When the transport. left, with; the 4OtK Reinforcements her accommodation was % -. very great improvement, on that .which had existed on her previous voyages. Slwiwas "a. much more aii/y ship thaiifsli* had ever been." As to the food supplied to officers, he was very much surprised to hear the evidence that had been given.. Colonel Allen, the O.C, showed witness' the instructions he had given to hisfmen. The day the ship left, witness went on board when the ship was in the stream, and he and Colonel Allen went into the saloon, where the officers \vere sitting -'at lunch. Colonel Allen told the Cofficers that they were not to have them lunch until the men were served. "It showed he had the interests of his mea,at heart. It was an hour before they gut back to their meal, which was cold by that time. I would: be sorry to hear that Colonel Allen did not carry out that practice ,to the finish."

"tfnder ordinary eonditione," eaidthe witness, "a troopship cannot be a passenger ship. Under epidemic conditions it must necessarily be a helL You "cannot transport troops under passenger conditions. We have sent away;'lll transports, and the; men have beeli carried exceedingly -well, from the'medical point of view, _except on this occasion." Mr. Field: Haven't we run grave risks? ■'. ■■ • :'...

Witness: We have only "fallen in* once. I suppose we must be prepared to run grave risks under war condition's. FOOD ENTIRELY SATISFACTORY.

Major NutsforcT said no 'troops, were accommodated ia the vessel's hold, and the number in the cabins were reduced. Proper provision was made- for ventilition. The food provided was of the highest quality, and the scale of the most liberal description. That had b.eeit borne out at the enquiry in England;' The ship was chartered to the Imperial. Government, and there was no limit'.'.£<> the amount of food that could be put, on board. Captain Kirkwood, his "assistant saw to that when the ship w.as in port. If the O.C. of the ship M>X the food was not sufficient, he couja,: demand any necessary change. One of the instructions was, that, no officercould get his meal until he had seen > that the men were properly looked after.. There . was no reason why the food on the ship should not have beertus good as on previous ships, and the Court of Enquiry at Home had foulid that the food was entirely satisfactory! The outbreak of influenza would naturally cause great trouble hi the stewards, and cooks' ranks. It was a marvel tot him that the people in charge o.f :$U.e ship had managed to control the disease as well as they did. It was singular that the percentage of deaths iii the occupants of cabins was 15 per cent, as against 6 per ce-nt. amongst ordinary troops quarters. Colonel Allen, O.C. of the ship, had been all. through the war, and had had previous considerable experience of transport work. The Court of Enquiry at Home found that every officer ori Board had been mbai.'atteiitive and did his duty to the utmost. They could go round the world and not find a ship so well rationed as our tranS-- , To Sir James Allen witness said theofficers' food had been cut dWn very much since' he had come here. Thel officers did get a little better? -food, but the difference was limited. In any case,^ the Government paid first class fares for officers, and they got food according topthat scale. ■■ . "':..'■.'..

QUESTION OF THE HAMMOCKS,

In answer to Mr. Field, the witness/ said on every man-of-war throughout the Empire the hammock hooks were only 16in apart. If they, were further apart they would bump. If the transport in question had been fitted with berths there would not have been a 'man alive. The hammocks were cleared awaj during the day time—and an open 'space. provided. JSven in bad .weather,' .lie! added, th«e was sufficient ventilation' on the ahip. As to food, it was impos4 sible to provide luxuries, bui there was no stint, though. it was impossible to get rid of the monotony. He had voy-; aged as "an officer, and- had felt the same j thing. There was no reason why tho, meat on the ship should have bee*bad.,' "An angel from heaven could not proi vide accommodation good enough to pre- \ vent complaints," added witness. Itwas,.he continued, a most difficult thing,, to cope with such an epidemic; that ha<t been proved by the recent happenings itt New Zealand. In provisioning ■ a ship they could only provide for anything' that might happen in an'ordinarv way. Captain Kirkwood produced the bill \ of fare provided for the troops—-a mini- ' mum scale, which must be provided,: and' varied according to the discretion of the* O.C. The design was, to'get the oiggesfc' variety possible, and to prevent the men, being victimised. The transport in question took a full six months' supply of food. Some meat, taken, on ! board in South Africa, went bad, but it was dealt with in the ordinary way. '•■■■•' • -r To Sir James Allen, witness said .that there was no country in the world which" gave a greater sameness between the food provided for officers and that provided for the men. Butany man.who'was sick, could get anything that the medical offi- < cer required him to get, provided,' of course, that it was on board.. The usual supply of.such things was on this'ship..,-,-In/answer to Mr. Field, the witness said he did not see how the food could; be improved. If there was any basis for. the complaints someone on the ship must 'have been to blame. The food was there, if there was anyone capable of cooking and supplying it.

THE MEDICAL ATTENTION.

Colonel Macgill, Assistant-Director of Medical Services, said* he had been 20 years', as a sanitary officer, and had studied his profession in that respect in Egypt since the war began. The proportion of officers who died on the shipwas practically the same as the proportion of men. The two medical men lon board were fully qualified. The. senior officer had been two or three voy'-' ages on troopships. Both were amongst the first to go down when the outbreak occurred. At the inquiry in England, it was given in evidence th^t "Captain. Simpson, senior M.0., worked, all dayi when miserably weak." Btitli doctors risked their lives in "carrying on." He/ ■ thought that reflections on the doctors should be withdrawn. He quoted the evidence of Sister Maxfield., Sister-ii}'-charge, given at Home. She saM that, the arrangements, in the.^ . hospital, were satisfactory. There was iplenty of milk food supplied, and it was well prepared. ' Stimulants were ordered and :

givcii. There'was sufficient organisation to ensure that patients received what they had been ordered. In his evi-' dence at H»me Captain Simpson 'siid the men were not vaccinated until after: leaving Capetown, because it was hope' 4 <

haU-weather.. .conditions ,-woold-improve. Ajjio.tHelinhalation chamber, it was ». hewsthinsi'.-only- introduced about two: .yGars age?, and some medical men hadr riot much faith in it.. _ Now all 3PiM.o.'a on troopships received special instructions as to the use of inhalation, chambers.

% WHAT WAS THE DISEASE? JJ?;"Wbat waa the disease?" asked the> Chairman. : I [Witness said the report of the inquiry "Showed that there were some complaints 3l to food and' accommodation, but the ■Gpmmittee of Inquiry did not think they affected the-resisting powers of the men. Tho disease was practically, the same as that which had affected New Zealand. The mortality, on the ship was due to;, the violent nature of the infection and j .the large number of men massed to- j fjether.- -Everything possible (except the j lifse of the inhalation chamber) was done ttj check the disease. The' -supply ofId rugs and stimulants was ample-for nor-j jninl conditions. Men on tho ship gave I Evidence at tho inquiry, but there was nothing to show , what opportunity was | 'jfiven to";-,call,': evidence The Committfte •jdi Inquivs^wss set np by Brigadier-Gen-eral Henderson >

J; FIGURES. ■■''Replying I'to Sir James Allen, witness Ts4id that th» report of the inquiry at Some showed that the infection on the •ship was introduced from another ship Jtj the convoy,, which had recently arrived tflom Europe. The captain of the New s&aland transport was the first to bo in-serted.:,;-There vm no evidence that tho nnfectionVame from the 6hore The mor jtality ton the other ship, which earned the infection, was 38.1 per cent. (38 out •<>f 269), arid 6; 6 per cent. (74 ont of 1117) jjh the New.'Zealand transport. jJ:.Th« .Chairman complimented Mrs. Gibbons on the lucid and concise manner in which she had given her evidence bef<ire the Committee. ■ , '•-Mrs. Gibbons asked Colonel Makgill if 'M was not a fact that many of the 'deaths among the soldiers were due to *heir youth. ... .. •.? ' -," . ■;■ !1; Witness'said he-did ;übt think: that had ityeen a factor. He -had been informed ih'at the men who suffered most severely Sji the camps were men in the late 20's jjjid 30's. In tho epidemic generally the more matrfcre men seemed to have suffered most; .j'Vyitnese further stated- that 7tjse' accommodation on the transport •worked oiit at 98.5 cubic feet per man; 'Admiralty regulations went as low as 58 ■cubic'feet. In some parts of the transport the spice went up to 121 cubic feet. •sits'-to the supply of drugs, the evidence ;at the Home inquiry did not reveal any ■shortage. The men did not complain about 'not: receiving: treatment. "As a ihatter'of fact;" said the witness, "you can J^brk through this disease without any iu!?ug3 at all." What did inn short was 'stimulants;"" According to the evidence, they had to fall back .on rum. In, any case, the supply was in excess of the . Admiralty regulations. '"Committee then adjourned,