TRANSPORTS AND BOATS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16039, 4 October 1915, Page 4

TRANSPORTS AND BOATS.

It is. officially explained that the military authorities considered the question of boats on transports at the beginning of the war, and decided that there was no necessity to provide boats for the whole of a ship's company when sailing under convoy. This explanation is satisfactory as far as it goes, for it justifies the assumption that the whole of the conditions which led to this decision are being observed with every reinforcement. The public is debarred from knowledge of the conditions under which reinforcements leave the Dominion, the press endeavouring to observe scrupulously prohibitions against publication of information as to- transports and convoy. These prohibitions are undoubtedly necessary in the interests of_ the men and of the public. The point is that men should not be sent oversea unless.boats,and rafts sufficient to carry them to safety are promptly available, either on their own. transport or on consorts in close and constant company. It has been generally believed that such necessary precautions have not always been taken. It would relieve the public mind if a simple official assurance were given that, whatever may have been done in the past, for the future this reasonable and elementary precaution will be taken.