A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2504, 3 July 1915, Page 6

A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS

'.'BUNGLING IN THE PAST '.'. } EVERYfffINC SATISFACTORY: NOW, One of the visitors to' tlie Trentham Camp yesterday was Mr. C. J. Parry M.P., who made a statement to a re-, porter - last evening regarding his impressions as to the conditions in. regard to the epidemic of sickness. ' : "The organisation; of the camp," said Mr. Parr, •! 'is excellent so far as the military side is concerned. ' The '.weak spot until the past week lias been the medical side. It is clear, I think, that there was no adequate .'.'provision for coping with , the sudden, and abnormal epidemic of measles and influenza colds, which, came upon the. camp'.-. .Cases came m by tlie dozen every hour,; and the accommodation provided, which, was quite /sufficient, under normal' circumstances was quite over-burdened." : Those Sick Parades. ■Mr. Parr,-..• in referring; to -the . sick parades, said that .. there , had been a, great deal of exaggeration' regarding these parades,' one of which he wit-j. tiessed at five o'clock last evening. "It is untrue,'.' .lie.said, "to.say tihat men have been, compelled to stend in the rain waiting for the doctor. Four large marquees are provided for the men-to wait in,'.but some of the young men bave been so foolisihly careless of.themi selves that they luivo stood out in- had weather' waiting-for the doctor, when there was no occasion for doing so. I think tihat' the . authorities have been t<) blame in not .exercising stronger discipline. and compelling'the men to keep within shelter. There was. at first such a msh. of cases at these sick : parades • that 'there, were not' enough.-doctors t© deal with them hut the. changes' effected by': the Minister.; when his attention ,was called.'to the matter have ! resulted in a .great improvement."...

-. -As to the influenza,- Mr. 'Parr: said< thatjflie saw; about ,two .hundred of these cases; in tho Wellington Racing Club's, buildings. "Tliese'men, with very; few exceptions, were in Ijed qnd they bad ail ample' supply of. bed. clothing whilst fihere.'was a matron, V strong staff of nurses, and numerous orderlies in attendance.. Some of cases aro severe, -but most -were not,. In ."the latter the men will.require'-stay Bed only for a day or two;-. ; V' ;

"Anxiety to Get to the Front. 1 '

that' I heard ' oil, all sides,", continued<Mr. .Parr, r."was.thatmany of tho'young; men have hitherto shown the greatest disinclination to report themselves,-when they havo felt ill. They . have been so keen -to get away wit'h .tho next reinforcements to tlie'front that eveii'though • feeling very seedy, , they have kept, on drilling with- , out saying, anything to their, officers or the doctor regarding their, physical conditions. This shows a 'spirit of excellent pluck, but it has. been carried al-together-too far by these' young .soldiers, who have'' had. no one' to v blame bjifc themselves whep. influenza -has developed. A daily mdividual examina-, tion of."all the men in camp-would remr edy this matter, but . that, I am told, is- out of the question. ■ The kiosk'hi which some of the .cases are being treated is open .atvthe sides, but tlie doctors. say that the patients are;; warm, and comfortable, 1 and that they are better ' there . than in ;- a, close '• room; I saw the horse-boxes,. 'about which so muoh. fuss'; has : been made, ■ but ;i: consider,. seeing that they' were used only in an emergency, .when a marquee was .blown down. 41iat there was very little to. grumble, about. These boxes have conorote floors; , are well lighted'' and cleaned, with comfortable beds and bed-' ding. I would myself be. as well satis-, fied to go. there as anywhere'.','-:

I Patients Well Cared For.

■ Mr, Parr referred to 'the fact that no cases of jreasles : are being treated at tlio oamn... These cases; are treated at; the general hospitals and, other■ hospitals ivhich ' have been established. "I visited twp ..of these .hospitals' to-day," said. Mr, Parr, "and found that 'the patients were . being - excellently, cared' for by a good staff of "orderlies .-and nurses. One young. Aucklander, whose family is well mown, said that he had had a pretty bad attack of measles, qnd that he had spent eight days in tho hospital at Kaiwarra. I asked him how he liked it, and he replied; 'I had the time of my life. I' was • sorry to ■leave the hospital.', The doctors and mirses were so kind. ; to-;'nje.-' '-This young man gave a further instance of soldierly keeitness. , After coming out of the hospital, he was advised to go home on a , week's sick leave/but "so anxious is ho to gcV to. the front that, lie went back to the Camp," and now he is there drilling away . apparently as fit as ever. Tho measles ; patients,. I am : qiiito satisfied, under the present conditions,, are quite as well looked after as if they' were in their own 1 homes. "Briefly, my - conclusions' as to ' the whole affair is that therfc was bungling at tho beginning, Thoro . was' a lack of proper mcdical organisation, but the serious defects have been removed, and I'believe that the parenis'arid relatives' of our lads may rest assured that' when they become ill they will be well attended to. . Reference to the fact that there is a widespread epidemic of influenza in Wellington at present was made by Mr. Parr. About .half the bad cases of .this sickness .'at : the , Camp, lie was informed, was due to the men - getting wet; another,: instead of changing their, clothes in the eveniigj they went to the picture show and social halls in their wet-olothes. Eighty-eight new • cases' of influenza occurred at the camp on .Thursday.. ; v ' : . "I think;" said Mr. Parr, in conolusion. "that thercfshould be some civilian of business experience appointed' _to make daily visits'to tho Camp, with tho power of oversight over tho medical arrangements, : and part of _ whose. dutv.it would be to solicit and inquire into complaintii, ■ ' Doctors' aro? exceK lent men at-their own profession, but" as a rule they',are poor business organ-' Isors,"- 1 . - : THE CONVALESCENTS. CONDITIONS AT KAIWARRA. Tho -two hundred odd / convalescent measles cases quartered in .Messrs. ' ' I A • '"V".

warm .are well housed in'an'excellent building for the purpose: The floor has an area -of about three-quarters of ; an' acre, is woll-lighted and'ventilated, and, is v partitioned off by scrim . stretchedover wooden fraines '-into day and sleeping rooms. It is stated that besides; tho convalescents who are up and about' thero,aro a number of men in a sick bay in the building, but exactly what state these men are in was not gathered. To tho] average layman the quarters would pass as tolerably clean'ill the ordinary run of things, but'a mail of, experience in such matters who-visited the wool store the other day and incidentally passed through tho floor used as a. hospital, was heard to remark emphatically that the'state of tho staircase and; floor would not do at all iii emigrants',.quarters on board ship. Certainly there-:was, evidence of fairly, free expectoration, ,and a ;supply of ' spittoons would seem to bo , a desirable addition* to the equipment. Most,, of the men are capable of looking-after their own quarters, and only need a littlo in- : struction in the proper way of keeping a building'of .this sort in' a thoroughly, sweet inid sanitary ;st-ate from .the hos-, pital point of. view. With. such a large', number of men-.living in a confined spaCo it is just this extra touch' that counts. , > . ■ Tho traffic' on tho Hutt Road' seems' to provide an attractive sight for, many of the men, but it . is , questionable •whether leaning out of open windows in pouring rain ,to watch motor-cars go'by is entirely the best occupation: for. men recovering from, measles'.^ TWO MORE DEATHS YESTERDAY. ; '.Two more troopers died in i"Wellington yesterday, one from pneumonia and measles and the other from mea'sies. '. Trooper Herbert;H. 'Fordham'passed away at. the Berhampore ' Htfspital in.tho morning. Deceased, who had'.been suffering from a combination; of measles and'pneumonia, was.4l ycar's'ofiage^and: came' from Woodleigh,. The other ; deaths was that of Trooper* J. H. Pollard, who had been .removed from!Trentham to,-the Measles- Hospital' at Berhampore. The deceased was 29 years of age, and came from Sydenham, Christclnirch. '.