ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 11455, 24 January 1901, Page 5

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES

[Feou Otra Special Correspondent.] LONDON, December 14. THE ILL-USED AUSTRALASIAN SOL- j DIERS.—DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—CANADIANS ' DO NOT GRUMBLE. hough the colonial (Australasian) Soldier* invalided home have undoubtedly and justly some things to growl about, I am dubious, as Lord Stanmore (Sir Arthur Gordon) said in the House of Peers on Monday evening, whether the best of them will thank their champions for squeaking so shrilly and so their grievances. Already folks’ lips begin to curl a little when the sad case of these colonial heroes is mentioned. We have, for instance, heard quite enough of the third class passages on the Ormuz. The Yeomanry and idolised C.I.V. have had to put up with precisely similar accommodation, and in the former are “ Dukes’ sons, Lords’ sons,” etc., who may even venture to rank with the scions of the “ best families in Australia,” concerning whoso anguish at having to " rough it ” a bit there has been such a hullabaloo. In the House of Lords on Monday Lord Carrington brought forward the Ormuz grievance, but it fell flat. Lord Raglan, for the War Office, contended that the troops were not in the steerage. The expression “ steerage ” was a somewhat unfortunate one, for he had to point out to the House that the men had a third class passage on board these steamers. Every man had a bunk in a cabin, and the dietary was plentiful and varied. He was informed that the third class passage on these steamers was extremely comfortable. | These men had been brought home as in- [ valids from South Africa in order to re- [ lieve the pressure on the base hospitals and the convalescent homes in South Africa. | Wherever possible, the men had been sent straight from South Africa to their homes, } hut where this course was not possible they jj had been brought to England. The men jj were not really invalids; in far the greater | majority of cases they had recovered their I health and strength, and if they had not t entirely recovered they were at least far ad- [ vanced towards convalescence, and there- [ fore it was no great hardship to ask them | to travel third class. Where a man was ! considered to be in a delicate state of health and needing more attention. Mid perhaps more luxury, he was provided with a second class | passage. If these men, on account of their superior social position, were to be given a second-class passage, the same reason would apply to the men of many other corps, such as the Imperial Yeomanry and the City Imperial Volunteers. There were me in the ranks of the army of a superior social position, and it was impossible for anything to be taken into consideration except the rank of the men in the army. The men, therefore, for whom the noble earl had pleaded had been sent home in the class of rank to which they were entitled; and lie did not see any reason for an alteration. Lord Tweedmonth thought tie Under-Sec-retary for War unsympathetic, and told a damaging story of the condition in which they discovered the Hawarden Castle, which brought the Household Cavalry home. He said the Hawarden Castle was not a new ship, neither was she a large one; but there were, in round numbers, 1,500 men on board, packed like herrings in a barrel. What was the boat accommodation for these men in case of accident? Avowedly there was accommodation for 400 to 500 only. In the course of the boat drill provision was made so as to allow the married men to go on board the boats first,, because there was not room for the larger proportion of men on board. The condensers of the ship broke down in the course of the voyage, and the men had to fall back on the supplies of mineral water on board. The electric lighting apparatus also broke down, and for ten days the only way of obtaining light was by means of small candles. In his judgment this was not a very creditable state of things. He was sure that it only needed the attention of the authorities to be turned to a state of things like this to ensure that there would not be a repetition of what took place on board the ship on other ships carrying colonial and British soldiers. Lord Lanadowne accused Lord Carrington of misleading and highly-colored statements. Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, with a rather grim smile, said there had not been more than one or two grumblers amongst the Canadian troopers. Everybody knew

there had been shortcomings. It was inevitable where a large number of men had to be provided for. On the whole, he could Say the Canadians certainly did express saticfaction. This was a nasty jar for Lord Carring- \ ton, and he lost his temper and angrily accused the Government of lack of sympathy for unfortunate invalids. Lord Raglan dryly affirmed that though “ these gallant men” were “technical invalids,” they left us, he rejoiced to say—most of them—in robust health. Where this wasn’t so the sick men were suitably cared for. \ Earl Carrington now began to cool and to f climb down. He said he and his friends |

had never claimed a monopoly of sympathy for these gallant men. He believed that the fault was to be attributed to departmental mismanagement, and not to the Government. It had been far from his intention to use misleading language, but he was so disappointed with the answer given to his question, and he knew that it would Lave' such a bad effect in the colonies, that be should move on an early day—“ That this House disapproves of the arrangements made by Her Majesty's Government in sending back invalided and wounded colonial soldiers ” ; and he should certainly take the sense of the House on the motion.—(Hear hear.) Lord Stanmore said that he was not sure whether our gallant colonial troops would thank the noble earl for the advocacy which he had put forward on their behalf. To require special treatment for the sick was one thing; but to complain that the colonial soldiers were provided With third class passages Was quite another thing. The colonial troops would hardly thank the noble lord for demanding that they should have totally different treatment from that which Her Majesty’s regular soldiers and volunteers and Yeomanry received. Finally Lord Strathcona sensibly said there ought to have been no necessity for supplementing from private Sources, or from any funds, what was required for the proper accommodation of colonial forces returning to their homes. He hoped the Government would see that, there was no ground for complaint in the future. And then their lordships (it being 5.30) went home to tea. THE WAR SECRETARY EXPLAINS.—A PLAIN STATEMENT. I In the House of Commons on Tuesday this business of “ ill-treated colonial soldiers,” cropped up, and was thusiy treated by Mr Brodnck (Under-Secretary). “The allegation,” he said, “has been made that, after accepting the services of the colonial troops, - mi, i

the Government sent them home in a niggardly fashion. The arrangement lifts been as follows :—All soldiers, whether they bo long to the British Regular Service, the Imperial Yeomanry, or volunteers from this country or the colonies, have been treated according to the ranks in which they undertook to serve. That, I believe, was an absolutely universal military practice in all countries in the world. Certainly it was accepted both by our own volunteers and colonial troops without a murmur, and the Committee will not ask me to make any change in the ordinary treatment of those who undertook to serve under those conditions. I do not think, moreover, that the accommodation which has been proided for those who have gone back to Australia has been accommodation of which any complaint could be made by a private soldier. There are five different-rates at which you can take a passage to Australia —first class, second class, and third class (with closed cabin), and two other classes below. The rate adopted by the military authorities was the intermedi-

ate one, with two classes below it, and two better. The cabins were closed over, and no complaint whatever, I believe, was made as to the sleeping accommodation. As regards the dietary, the bill of fare was—for breakfast, porridge, fish, chops, steaks, sausi ages, Irish stew, curried meat, marmalade, jam. tea and coffee.—(Laughter). The other meals were on a similar liberal scale.— (Laughter). For dinner there was soup, fish, roa-st meat, fresh vegetables, puhding, stewed fruit, and cheese.—(Laughter).” Mr Healey: Who were the warriors who complained of this fare?—(Much laughter). Mr Brodrick : Serious complaint has been ' made on the assumption that the Government have treated the colonial troops illiberally. He gave instructions for three things [ —that as many as possible of these troops should return in such a way as not to mix [ with the other passengers, and should be 1 entirely under the control of an officer, who would specially look after them ; that every man who was ill should bo sent by second jj class ; and that there should be a careful in--13 spection of the ships by which these troops !I were scut. Some officers, medical officers possibly. might not have been careful in sending men recently recovered from enteric fever home by the lower accomodation. He had now given instructions that all sick, whether partially recovered or not, should, 1 if sent home in mail steamers, be given the higher rate of accommodation. If hon. [ members sent him the particulars of any i serious grievance, he would undertake not only that it war. investigated, but if it was the fault of any individual, of whatever rank, ho would lake care he. was visited with adequate censure. It had been said he had given a lugubrious picture of the war. That was not a fair description of his remarks. He should be’astonished if the picture which he drew in January or February was not much more satisfactory than that he had now given.—(Ministerial cheers). LIVERPOOL AND AUSTRALIA.— WHITE STAR DIRECT STEAM SERVICE. The last launch of the year, indeed of the century, from Messrs Harland and Wolff's yard was not the Celtic, the leviathan steamer for the White Star Line that has excited so much interest being over 20,000 tons gross, or 5,000 more than the Oceanic. The Celtic has been reserved for inaugura- j ting the new century for the - White Star 1 line. The launch of the Suevic, however, which took place last week at Messrs Harland and Wolff’s yard, Belfast, is still a notable event, for with the addition of this steamer the new Cape and Aus- I tralian service of the White Star line will be completed. [ The Suevic is identical in dimensions and | tonnage with the Runic, which was launched j in October, -and which is to be despatched | on her first voyage on the 3rd of January, j Her length (over all) is 565 ft, breadth 64ft, gross tonnage 12,400 tons. The White Star Australian fleet will be a remarkable one, inasmuch as it will consist of live highclass steamships of the same dimensions (among the largest afloat), all propelled- by twin screws ; and also because it marks the introduction of an interesting experiment in ocean-passenger travel. The latter consists in the accommodation being arranged for one class of passengers only, at moderate fares, instead of the usual separate classes. The Suevic will be fitted with refrigerated capacity for 100,000 carcasses of mutton, and in addition will be able to carry 20,000 bales of wool. The advent of the Suevic will bring up the total tonnage of the White Star line engaged in the trades between Great Britain and tlie colonies of Australia and New Zealand to 80,000 tons.