The Drayton Grange.
There are at present in Wellington a number of irregulars who were passengers by the Drayton Grange on her now historic voyage with troops from Durban to Australia, says the Times. Speaking to a representative of the “ Times,” two New Zealanders who were*members of the Australian. Bushmen’s Corps, expressed the opinion that the ship herself was a good one to ;travel in, besides; being clean. The trouble was that there were too many men on board. 'When the vessel left Durban there were 2090 troops on the' papers, in addition to the crow, and during the early part Of the voyage numerous stowaways made their appearance. The men at present in Wellington consider the number of stowaways as stated in evidence in Australia ■ is greatly exaggerated, and that there, were not more than about thirty or forty. They had all contrived to possess themselves of suits of khaki, and the officials on the boat did not trouble themselves to investigate the cases. The stowaways were permitted to add themselves to the strength of the “troops on hoard and live under the same conditions as the remainder* The mere preienoe of
such a largenutober. of seems to reflect .on" tthe embarkaUoa&js officers, since troops aio .noyr embarked at the quays of itself. This is doe to the lawlessness of several irregular corps, notably ! the Canadians, who town red ” before embarking for tfaei|p| home. Most of the stowaways left -j the transport at Albany. A few days 1 * l after leaving Durban one or of measles broke out, and tho opi- ! . demic gradually increased. was originally hospital accommoda*/! lion for about forty patients/ but ad ; the outbreak spread, the officers’ smoking room and orderly room the top deck were also used for<,inpb valids. By the time Albany was)/* reached, there were ISO patients. On/|l one day over a hundred men before the'doctor suffering nesses of one. sort and an other, '’and doctor refused to go beyond Albany. unless hall of the patients weri|p| landed there, as he could .not attend 1 to them. The men seam to have ,;- undergone considerable hardship !j owing to overcrowding. There was no room on the decks for a great j number of them, and they appear have lived very much like Bedouns,'' sleeping wherever they could find room to lie down. After eight o’clock, at night it was impossible to move along the lower‘decks, as every available inch was covered by sleeping v men, and hammocks hung overhead. A considerable number slept on the top deck throughout the voyage, i" slinging their hammocks when could, or lying on tables or batches,/' and catching cold on wet nights.. , This many of them preferred t to / venturing on the ordinary sleeping decks. The men deny that there was any dirtiness among the troops which could have be n avoided. After breakfast every morning (the moss , decks were well scrubbed and swilled Z down, the only complaint iff this-, connection being that the decks were always damp, and .accordingly the, .; men were very liable to oatoh v cold.’' There was abundance of water on board, and the discomfort caused by tbs myriads of lice which ,|a«»tecl . the ship prompted the troops to'spand , a great part of their time in Washing / their clothes. As for washing them* *| selves, they generally did so, bttt'oa | account of the scanty conveniences . for so doing, it was often not until' n;. the afternoon that some of them got their turn at the basins. The latrines were very inadequate, and were alwaysiii fully occupied, night and day, especially when there was so much sickness 1 on board. There were only two ’’ shower baths on the transports, and:n| as these adjoined the latrin§k, they/ were generally used for the same pur-
pose. . ' ■ Exercise was out of the question, <: t: owing to the crowded state of the vessel. It was impossible to walk about with any freedom, and jha -,j attention of the men was generally ' directed towards getting out of.jibe ,!, way as best they could. So far from ■ - taking exercise, some of; the jnen 'Zd appeared to get into a state of |Jenpondency, and disappeared below, j "jjf never reappearing on dock for days ;; y, together. There were some who iv'fwere not on deck more than -hkli dozen times throughout the voyage. j .| To this is probably due a considerable t amount of the sickness. , , 'd Even after the hospital acoommO' dation bad been extended '['Z version of portion of the offiepre* , v quarters it was entirely inadequate; ! 'd' \ It was so uncomfortable in hospital that men sometimes left before they ‘ , were really lit, and the result was,’ Z rather bad for their comradM. ;®la / one case, a man who had if hospital, and who was yettoo. well to be out of bed, waa h»b|ing for some days in hip hammock, the table at which his comrades vjere messing. Others who ahbuldr been in hospital were pceforoe left? to , ' be oared for by tbeir comrades, to the detriment of the general health of the force. J , „ ;v With regard io thesupply of liquor,, • the men say that each man wae V. | allowed a pint of beer a day by the 1 ship. The . fourteen pints for each mess was received in the morning by ’., the mess orderlies. Some of the ,■>* men drank it, others did not. It ; . was generally more like vinegar than beer. Only on three occasions they * say the,,beerwas good,»Asminaf, . were .-some ;;marfMl|^a!| : not drink, and confidently outers who - drank more, than ..their’ .Own share. This accounted for some of the drunk* ermess on board, but It to get an almost unlimited of- r' / - whisky from* thpcaoteenat fib inooh pec bottle. The only stipulation-i|r&s .that it should not bs consumed* in theoanteem ‘ The fact 'that between meals -meny of the tables were used men who were too sick to be about * did not conduce, to fmpjeovq #fch» general health of the ship.- The food supplied by the although-piin, , was of the best quality throughout the voyage.
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Manawatu Herald, 26 August 1902, Page 2
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1,005The Drayton Grange. Manawatu Herald, 26 August 1902, Page 2
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