The Taihape Daily Times MONDAY, JULY 12, 1915. TRENTHAM.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 249, 12 July 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times

MONDAY, JULY 12, 1915. TRENTHAM.

AND WAIMAEINQ ADVOCATE

(With which is incorporated The Taihape Post 'iai Waknalinu News.)

'"S--A leading Government journal, as well as many of those of the Opposition ilk, has been rather severely criticising the Ministry in connection with bungling and mismanagement at I Treutham Camp. The justification for j such criticism is contained inthe fact that th e whole of the thousands of soldiers there are now being removed to various other places, which it is hoped will prove more healthful to the men. Even the indeterminate loss of trained men that has taken place through a Minister's unfitness is, judging from Lord Kitchener's remarks at a meeting recently held at the Guildhall, a serious matter to the Empire just now, to say nothing of what the men themselves have been subjected to. Ministers .have displayed an impatience at fair and reasonable criticism that is neither befitting or humane. The insanitary condition of the camp has , been kept under their notice by column upon column-of vigorously written letters and newspaper articles. Still nothing was don e until the thing had been an undeniable scandal. Ministers have no right to play with the health and lives of the flower of our land in this way, such neglect and incompetence is nothing short of criminal, and w e are not sur e that those responsible should not be made to answer for their already proved guilt. To understand the seriousness and enormity of this callous neglect, or shameful indifference —on e is as venal as the other —let us place ourselves in the position of parents who have had the | health of a son impaired, and his life ' endangered, if not entirely sacrificed, and as we look upon him as he lies helpless and wasted we shall only then, perhaps, be able to assess the wicked .insensibility-to. the loss of human health and life that indifference or incapacity is responsible for. Reluctantly, w© must say that w« would much rather Mr Allen had passed his port-

folio for Defence over to someone else., rather than that, of Finance. From

I what has transpired he cannot be congratulated as a success in either role, I but in the matter of Derence, he has {been a conspicuous failure. The lives ! of our lads are too precious to be eni trusted to a proved bungler, if nothing I else, and it is poor finance to cheeseand sacrifice life in so doing. Mr Allen evidently hasn't the proclivities for successfully administering the department he has elected to adhere to, but the fathers and mothers of boys in camp may .rest assured that from now on a most critical interest will b e taken in th G various camps to which the men have been sent, to see that they do not lapse into insanitary death traps. We may also rest assured that futur e criticism will not be disregarded and flouted as in the past, a criticism that was largely of a constructive character which should have ensured its usefulness, instead of being j received w£th almost childish petu- *

lance. Surely the fact that over six

S hundred men being an the sick list, with the number daily increasing, should have induced Ministers to realise the necessity of the drastic rem)edy they have now taken. The whole Dominion, and particularly the parents of t.h e boys in camp owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Thacker, who is largely responsible for bringing about 'the necessary changes. The disclosures from his visit have spurred the authorities on to make alterations that were humanely necessaiw. More doctors and nurses have been sent out to attend the sick, more beds a. : nd other reasonable conveniences have been supplied, and the Minister has been stirred into action that will remove % danger which men have more fear of than that of facing the enemy in the firing lin e at the front. It is of (h e utmost importance that every vestige of infection should be blotted out so that it may not be carried to where much larger bodies of men are gathered together, and with that end in view, it would have been preferable to

bav. 3 had a more practical man at the head of affairs than the Hon. James Allen has proved himself to be.