TROOPSHIP CONDITIONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 September 1945, Page 3

TROOPSHIP CONDITIONS

MR. FRASER'S WELLINGTON, September 12. Conditions on the troopship Orion were the subject of an urgent question in the House of Representatives this afternoon, when Mr. Combs (Government, Wellington Suburbs) asked the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) if an investigation had been made into the conditions which lea to the refusal of a considerable number of men to travel on the Orion. Was it a fact that the men who refused to sail were punished by orderly room procedure, and penalties up to £lO imposed? Ii that report was correct, would the cases of such men be reopened on their arrival in New Zealand?

Mr. Fraser replied that investigations had been made into the incident referred to, and a number of reports had been received regarding conditions on the Orion. • After reading the cabled report obtained at the time from Britain, he felt that further explanation was called for, and the impression left on his mind was that there were some grounds for the men’s complaint. Mr. Fraser said that while the ship was not overcrowded according to Ministry of War Transport standards, and would not have been overcrowded' had the men remained on board, these standards were, in his opinion, not adequate for our men. He therefore made representations to the United Kingdom authorities urging that the matter of accommodation be rectified, and that special consideration should be given New Zealand troops in view of their long journey home. Mr. Fraser said that conditions which might be tolerable for a short voyage across the Atlantic, or even to the Mediterranean, were inadequate for the long journey to New Zealand, with several weeks in the tropics. Mr. Fraser said the. Government was in somewhat of a dilemma, because a series of telegrams had been sent to the Allied shipping authorities urging that more shipping be made available to enable our mon to come home ahead of schedule. Mr. Fraser said he had been in touch with Mr. Attlee himself on the matter, and had expressed his disappointment that more ships were not available to bring New Zealanders home. Our Minister in Washington had had consultations with the Joint Chiefs of Staff concerning shipping arrangements. The dilemma was that it was difficult to ask for more ships and at the same time ask for better standards of accommodation on them, with more space and more air, to bring them up to New Zealand standards. The Government would, however, do everything possible to obtain accommodation facilities on the return journey comparable with those obtaining on the voyage to the Middle East, but the difficulty was that the Orion, which took only 1500 men away when she was trooping from New Zealand, had brought 4000 back. I Mr. Fraser said Army headquarters had no knowledge of any punishment having been imposed on the men who left the ship, but in the event of the information given Mr. Combs proving correct, the cases would be reopened on the men’s arrival in New Zealand.