THE FORTIETH DRAFT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17038, 20 December 1918, Page 5

THE FORTIETH DRAFT.

EXPERIENCE ON TRANSPORT

A SOLDIER'S LETTER.

The following is an extract from a letter j written by a soldier on board the transport which carried the fortieth reinforcements when the epidemic occurred, and the recipient explains that as the Parliamentary Committee's inquiry terminated sooner than he expected, he was unable to bring it under the notice of that body in time. The writer states: — We are going through a terrible time on board this boat. Soma sort of fever broke out on our departure from Freetown, Sierra Leone, and practically the whole ship, indeed, the whole convoy, has been down with it. We have buried 50 men up to i date, and there are many more to go. There are certain things that the public of New Zealand should know, and someone should be brought to book.-; In the i first place, wo ■ were grossly overcrowded at the start. Our company is admittodly the best off we have 170, men sleeping in here, and the hammocks are jammed close up against one another. The total space is 60ft' by 60ft. We gain over other companies in that we can have the ports open after lights go out, but even so the atmosphere u" against the roof towards the inside of the room is awful.

"In the holds forward or aft the ports are shut all the time, and conditions are fearful, and almost worse in inside cabins. Mind you, no one would think twice about it if the voyage was a short one, but nine weeks nearly have we had of it, and been through the tropics. However, that is not the real onus of my charge. What I consider a piece of the grossest negligence is that the ship carried only a very- small Btock of quinine. This is absolutely indefensible; indeed, I believe, but am not sure, that ship's orders say we are each to have quinine every day in the tropics. The total supply was gone after the epidemic had been going two days other medicines, too, were in poor supply, but I cannot give you details. . . . The first two days of the epidemic the patients could get nothing but hard biscuits and lime.iuice. Milk foods were available the third or fourth day. No delicacies were available for the men, of —though we could see jellies, etc., being taken to the officers— no chicken or fish, of ■which there was plenty on board. The hospital patients did actually get a little jelly to-day, and how pleased they were! " With regard to the food generally sup- ? lied to us on the voyage, ft has not been ad—a ghastly sameness about it and verv crudely served; the only really bad stuff we took on was some coats' meat at Capetown—beastly stuff. Why they can't put on enough meat in New Zealand to see us through I don't know; or, anyhow, they might arrange for transports to pickup some decent stuff. The officers have, of course,' fed splendidly all the time first-class fare. The contrast between their fare and ours is very great."