BITTER COMPLAINTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 13, 16 January 1946, Page 5

BITTER COMPLAINTS

OVERCROWDING ALLEGED IN PERMANENTE N.Z. WIVES OE AMERICAN SERVICEMEN Recd. 8 p.m. San Francisco, Jan. 14. A large party of New Zealand wives of American servicemen who reached San Francisco with 75 babies voiced bitter complaints about the overcrowding, lack of facilities and unsuitable food during the 45-day voyage from Auckland aboard the converted freighter Permanente.

Mrs. Brenda Murphy, mother of a mne-months-old baby, said: “With so many babies aboard 600 diapers needed a daily wash but the laundering facilities comprised only one washroom, one small tub and a small pantry equipped with two electric plates to boil water. No special food was provided for the babies. We were not told the trip would last 45 days and were not told the conditions would be so bad. Measles began to break out at Noumea, where the women were not allowed to go ashore for two days, and 20 cases of measles were reported before the ship reached San Francisco. Three mothers with three babies slept in each cabin, with the only ventilation coming from a passageway leading to the deck."

Mrs. Patricia Ghormley, of Wellington, said the food was excellent for adults but completely unsuitable lor children.

The steamship company oliicials conceded the living conditions aboard the Permanente, which was built in 1902, and was used as a cement carrier before the war, were not up to peace-time standards, but said the mothers should remember that if they had not travelled by the Permanente it might have been months before another ship was available. The United Press reports that the Permanente is in quarantine at San Francisco with 25 cases of measles and chickenpox.