Sick Soldiers In India

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 October 1916, Page 3

Sick Soldiers In India

AMAZING ALLEGATIONS. (Christcliurch .Star Correspondent). London September 6. An official enquiry is ibeing held into the conduct of the calamitous Mesopotaanian campaign, with a 'view to dote,rmining upon whom the blame SthoUld fall for the astounding and disgusting series of errors ■■■ and omission andi commission which marked operations in this particular theatre of war, and the case is therefore, iu a manner, sub judice. But there is one side of those operations upon which there is no reason to maintain silence,' namely, the treatment of the sick and wounded on their return to civilisation. We know what our sol- i diers had to put up with in Mesopotamia owing to the lamentable lack of foresight and criminal parsimony on the part of certain people in authority in India, and one would have thought J.hat the terrible results ac- ' curing therefrom would have induced tin; JiK'.i-ui Government to take particular care that whatever deprivations our sick and wounded soldiers might have to suffer in Mesopotamia. they should I e at an end when the stricken in it r.'aolwit India. Apparently, liow- ■ v r, the I Ti.lian Government; has ut-* tei 1 v f. lie I to <lo its duty by the men ! .»:lr- h :v: ..iiffered in the cause of the Em ji v. Letters received in England recently show most clearly that in many places the treatment accordied

to sufferers from Mesopotamia is very little, if any, better than that meted out to our men who have the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Huns. Here is a : ca6e in point: Wellington, Cooner, is a hill station in Southern India, where our sick and wounded have been sent in large numbers. It, would appear from these Jetters that for the care of 1000 men two doctors and four nurses were allotted.. It is possible that this short(age could not be helped—that there j were not sufficient doctors and nurses to go round.. But there was no med-* ical comforts, and; 'towels, soap, cups and-saucers, pillow cases, all kinds of things had to be provided, as we were •further informed,' by the chance lint ready generosity of the public. the convalescent hospital for enterics, among 240- cases, there was' not a. . single chair or table, and the men had': :to drink out of empty tobacco tins: Kind Samaritans- were nearly mobbed 1 by crowds of pallid creatures who begged for most elementary needs of existence. Some of these poer fellows were in tents, audi they had hardly a sheet or towel, or a cup between them. These stricken men, 'who had given everything for their country, were now mere bags of skin and bone! Touching the state of affairs at Wellington, one correspondent says The poor Tommies are pouring in every day from Mesopotamia, and. as usual out here, the Indian Govern-

ment will give no money for anything, and the state of things is deplorable. There are over 1000 men in different hospitals and camps, and onlv accommodation for'loo, and two doctors and four nurses among the lot. "Tn a few more days 700 more men are commg. and they simply do not know where they are going to put them. There are 240 convalescent enterics who have to drink out of empty tobacco tins, and have not got a single chair or table in the whole place.

"The men are living skeletons.. . " Another correspondent writes from the same place of the awful plight of the sick and wounded. He says:— "In the War Hospital there were seventy cases, a good many of them in tents, with only one nurse and ten sick orderlies. They do not possess the ordinary necessities of hospital life ; at first even a thermometer was lack-

There is also an enteric camp, an enteric convalescent camp, a scarlet fever camp, an enteric carrier camp and -a peaoe hospital!. There are 10000 sick and ivounded in all. "The barracks have been turned into a sanatorium, where the men are .sent when they are supposed to be more or less cured. These so-caMed convalescents all looked' ghastly, and among the 300 of them there was hardly a sheet or a towel or a cup." Another letter runs thus:—

"The Mesopotamia business is dreadful, and the poor Tommies there have had an awful time—far worse than anything in Europe! N 0 one has any ldiea of it. A lot more of them have been sent to Bombay—wounded who hare not had their wounds dressed or their clothes changed for three weeks and, consequently, they have been' dying off like flies. On top of that, when they have got back to India, expecting to find some sort of comfort at last, they have been treated nearly as badly by the Government. A lot arrived the other day and were sent to 'Ooty ' andi when they got there they had no mat tropes or, blankets, cups, mugs, towels, medicines, bandages or any mortal thing. They lad to drink out of empty cigarette tins and had one towel between ten men. They had to lie on corrugated iron sheets or wire beds with nothing under or over them, and the nights there are beastly cold. Fancy that m a civilised place! It was nobody s business to Wk after them. Ihat is going on all over Indda, and the Government do not seem to care or have any idea of organization of

what is wanted. Civilians are doing what they' can, but it 'is a crying ehame, the'way our men are being treated-in Mesopotamia and here."

The Secretary of State tor India, it ( feeerae, beard; (something concerning thia "crying shame," and telegraphed to the Government of Jndia on the subject. That Government, we are , told, made "an exhaustive enquiry,?' and found that "there had been no overcrowding except of a most temporary character." We are also asked to • believe that the fault lay with the convalescents. They had arrived from Mesopotamia/ "without their kits or regimental necessaries," with the result' that there was;for a "short -tune some shortage of crockery until steps could be taken to remedy the deficiencies." There were "other small inconveniences which received prompt. attention from the authorities." We -are also told' that the General Officer commanding and his staff has continually visited the men and found them "happy and contented." The Morning Post which has wnmly espoused the cause of the Mesopotamian unfortunates does not hesitate to give what is practically "the j lie dlirect" to the official statement. Tt |

says:— "Now this explanation may content the Secretary of State; but it will not satisfy those who know the facts. We afisert- again that when the invalids arrived there was practically nothing in the way of hospital necessaries. . . It was not merely 'some crockery' that was lacking, but chairs, tables, sheets, pillow cases, towels and soap. Did the authorities in India really expect that those things would be brought with the patients from Mesopotamia P If such was the expectation why are such fools allowed to remain in charge of the arrangements? But if this is not the expectation, why wrs there even a 'most temporary shortage? . . ...

''The officers' explanation is that the deficiencies wore promptly supplied by .the autfeoritie| fThftt is untrue. The deficiencies rare by the civitl population. It was' only as a result of public indignation that the Indian Government took steps to meet the most urgent requirements. The fact is that thesepoor fellows were rescued from their awful fate by some good Samaritans whose charity relieved their necessities and whose con,rage .forced the Government to do something." The Post, in another article, throws out a suggestion that, the shocking inadequacy of the "medical provision for the -Mesopotamian campaign was partly due to the economical methods of the Viceroy's financial adviser, Sir William Meyer. It says:— "It is commonly stated that Sir William Meyes is one of the chief sinners, because he ha* not made adequate financial provision. This has been denied trith authority, but it is persistently repeated. Tt is even said that when he was asked to sanction the building of a railway to reTieve the situation in Mesopotamia he refused* to provide the money unless it were shown that the railway could be made to pay in time of peace."