TRANSPORT INCIDENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25286, 21 August 1945, Page 7

TRANSPORT INCIDENT

PROTEST MADE BY TROOPS QUARTERS TOO CROWDED 10.C.) WELLINGTON, Monday As the war progressed and losses of •hips due to enemy action imposed a huge strain on the liners still afloat, the cramming of transports with troops developed, and this created a certain amount of dissatisfaction among later drafts of members of the Second N.Z.E.F., who were aware of the luxury conditions under which earlier echelons had travelled to the Middle East. It is now possible to reveal that this discontent developed into revolt about September, 1944. Members of the New Zealand Parliament were peacefully occupied with a debate on a commonplace bill one night when they heard singing from a couple of thousand soldiers massed at the front of Parliament Building, and they went out in small groups to see the cause of the disturbance. The men had broken leave and marched off the transport to make * protest to Parliament against tho conditions they were asked to face for a long journey through tropic seas. A well-known liner had arrived to take another echelon to the Middle East. All day long the men had watched troop trains disembark loads of soldiers and their equipment. Although a big liner can take impressive numbers of passengers, it became evident toward evening that the voyage would be uncomfortable, even dangerously so to the minds of men used to better conditions. _ As the troop trains kept coming with more men, revolt developed, and hundreds of soldiers decided to march to Parliament and see what responsible Ministers thought of the overcrowding. A small delegation was selected to wait on the Prime Minister, Mr Eraser. The men's grievances were the overcrowded state of the ship, inadequate cleaning after the ship's last voyage, and the Soor provision for hot meals. The Prime linister, the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, and a few other members of the Cabinet heard these representations and promptly went to the ship to see for themselves. As a result, several hundred men on the embarkation list were sent back to camp to await another transport, and the ship remained in port sufficiently long for the troop quarters to be adequately cleaned. SENTENCE ON YOUTH ' , Pleading guilty to a charge of stealing a man's suit valued at £lO. Dan Daniels. aged 20, labourer, appeared before Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., yesterday. He was committed to a Borstal institution for two years.