TROOPSHIP INQUIRY

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12265, 11 October 1902, Page 3

TROOPSHIP INQUIRY

THE DEAVION GRANGE. Stdnst, Friday. The Drayton Grange Commission find that there was no organisation of the medical service before departure from tenth Africa. Under ordinary conditions the staff would have been ' nmole, bat with the epidemics which occurred only a careful apportionment of the work could meet the heavy demand. The medical officer in charge did not utilise the services of the other officers to the best advantage, and a lack of concord apparently existed. No isolation hospitals wore provided. With regard to the troops no rigid discipline wto attempted, and the officer commanding was ondoly lax. The captain and officers of the ship are commended for having readily responded to the requests cf the military officers. Discussing tie responsible officers the report says“ The officer commanding the troops, while possessed of a desire to dohisbsst in the trying position, seems to have decided that the bast way was to accept things as they were rather than make strenuous efforts to improve them —to endnra rather than to overcome. As an officer cf long standing in the Imperial and colonial forces, he cannot be excused on the grounds of inexperience. " The medical officer in charge never sufficiently took charge. He did not spare himseif, tnt the other medical officers, though willing to take up additional work, were not fally occupied, owing to a faulty division of labor. He withdraw himself from them and by an oversight failed to give attention to remedial measures which should have removed or mitigated some of the unwholesome conditions. A* the youngest medical officer with the shortest term of active service, he appears to hare felt dimdease in exercising his fusi authority. Considering the number and description of troops on board and the grave questions liable to arise, it w.nid have been batter if a medical officer with larger experience and well versed in organisation had been placed in charge. “ With reference to the men, though by no means all of them contributed to the troubles from which they and others •united by their own acts, habits, and negligence, very few took effective steps by representations to the officers to have matters altered for the better, even where an alteration was manifestly possible, and the majority seam to have frequently submitted to discomfort or worse when a little arrangement or exertion on their part weald hare provided relief." The commission finds that the responsibility (or what under the cireumstances —troops and nature of the voyage—was undue crowding cf the vetasl, for isiuScietcy of the hoipitsl accommodation, and for defects in the deck eheathings, teats with the Imperial embarkation authorities in South Africa; for the non-landing ef the sick with the authorities in Western Australia; and (or failure to improve any unnecessary aigravatien ef undesirable conditions in the vessel on the officer commanding the troops and the medical offiser in charge.