The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, AUGUST 23, 1902. TROOPSHIP SCANDALS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VIII, Issue 509, 23 August 1902, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, AUGUST 23, 1902. TROOPSHIP SCANDALS.

11 Another returned trooper is dead ” such is the message recoived day by day, the only variation being the sad ono that more than ono trooper has died. Despite all official attempts to gloss over the condition of affairs, there can bo no doubt that the sending of the troopers home on the Britannic and Drayton Grange has been done in a scandalous way. The numerous charges and counter-charges only make the position worse. Colonel L.yster’s excuses in connection with the Drayton Grange are about the lamest of all. The faults, perhaps, cannot easily be placed, and it is probable that the Commissions will not be successful in doing so ; but of ono thing there can be no question, that yvith bad weather and stowaways added -to the'allotted number, the condition of transport means death to many. An overcrowded ship, in bad weather, necessarily means discomfort and danger, and cannot fail to lead to dirty habits. It is a very melancholy thing that so many of the men should die just as they had reached home again. The sad list of deaths proves that any supposition of exaggeration cannot be entertained. The truth seems to be that the blame is wide spread, and that many, in small ways, contributed to the sum total by which such a fearful state of things was brought about.