LIVERPOOL CAMP SCANDAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 280, 24 August 1915, Page 2

LIVERPOOL CAMP SCANDAL.

*—. —■— REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. ■ • SYDNEY, August 22. Mr Justice Rich's report on Liverpool Camp found that all the charges excepting one (relating to the restriction of officers' leave) were proved. The chief charges that tho medical services were unsatisfactory; callousness and indifference of the doctors; the employment of a doctor of German-"parentage, supposed by some to have Gorman sympathies; preferential treatment in the German concen-

tration camp; unsatisfactory housing accommodation; excessive Generalisation; nad the discouragement of initia-

tive. ' In the course of his report, Mr. Justice Rich says the evidence clcarly .established that supplies, particularly ?lothing, wdre wholly inadequate. The hospital equipment left much to be desired. The administration of the medical services was climsy and uncertain. The faulty administration of the A.M.C. was chiefly clue to the insufficiency of the staff, while for the most part the orderlies were untrained, Micompetent, and inattentive. Latrines were insanitary, unroofed, and unflooied. Regarding Dr. Schlink, Mr. Justice I Rich' points out that no charge was J mad" against him of disloyalty or of

I beino: identified with German sympathies. The impropriety and inexpediency of the appointment, in wra time, cf a person with a German name and of German parentage, to a position connected with the.defence of the country, is so apparent that it does not call for comment. The evidence proved , that the appointment did, in the opinioon of a large numer of soldiers, impair the satisfactory administration of the A.M.C. Referring to the aT/oged preferential treatment of Germans in the concentration camps, and the better condi-tions-there, Mr. Justice Rich said that was a startling instance of the of decentralisation combined with entrusting full power to a man of business training, who was not afraid of exercising responsibility. On the subject of food, Mr. Justice

r>: ch stfid the preparation, cooking, and distribution of the food left much to ■e desired. Excepting in one case, there: was no evidence of adulteration of honor at Liverpool. Mr. Justice Eich advocates decentralising camps as far as possible, and mi conclusion urges the necessity for placing the administration in in, the hnnds of officers prepared to give sympathetic and whole-hearted attention to the performance of their duties. Recruits offering their ]Jives for their country are entitled to reasonale care and comfort, without coddling and pamepring. tfpartanlike methods. 'vhilo increasing expense, impair efficiency and diminish the number offering.