The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 17. THAT MILITARY TYPHOID.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 161, 17 October 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 17. THAT MILITARY TYPHOID.

* As everybody knows,, some Tafariaki" ► volunteers contracted typhoid fever while ► on service at the Kitchener manoeuvres J at Johnsonville. Some of these men were ► very ill, and all were put to inconveni- ► ence, suffered loss of work and money and have so far obtained no redress. The position of the military authorities seems to be that had the men not drunk the water containing typhoid bacilli, they would not have become ill; they had no instructions to satisfy a very natural thirst and that therefore the Defence Department is not liable for the sickness. That is to say, a soldier on the march must not satisfy his tnfrst and that if he becomes ill the army to. which he belongs is not liable. We may say here that even if water w&e taken against orders and toe men became ill the Defence is( 8«n v; It would be a a&snrdity if regular troops on service contracted disease through disobtponee and the Army declined to attend The Army might punish the disobedience, but it would certainly not disclaim responsibility. The battalion of which these men were files was roused at four o'clock* in the morning. The companies fell In fifteen minutes later, and marched on their, markers at 4.80 a.m., and were at the Anglican Church some distance away atS .aim. ' The ChGL Distrlcti commenting, sai<l (Sat' If -niufc " been filled' before leaving camp tfiere would have been' no seed for the men to have taken water while on trek. ■ A 'service water-bottle holds a bare quart. No order was issued that water-bottles were to be taken. Many of the men had no water-bottles and many of the'watery bottles now on issue ate' in*all stages of uselessness. \ Taranaki men to ■-.< whom ho on%| about water-bottles had been issued lsft quartermaster, it is alleged, refused to issue rations, saying that the men would not be out a sufficient length of time to make the issue necessary. If the quartermaster acted on his own initiative he. was guilty of a military misdemeanor. If his orders were to issue no rations he did his duty, but his superiqfs were; too ' muddled to know their duty. These men trekked nearly, twenty miles over very rough, steep country on a,wild day. The wind blew continuo-ugly and< there;/were violent rain squalls. They had not been instructed 4hat any of the water in the manoeuvre area was polluted, the advice of the medical staff was ignored, and the water even in the camp contained the germs of lungworm. We do not agree with the OjC. District that a waterbottle full of water is sufficient for a man who has had no breakfast to do twenty miles on over hills. We know it is not possible to restrain very thirsty men from drinking any water, unless orders to that effect are given at the creeks or water-holes. We are sure that if the officers' who "fell in" the men had been competent and the order to take water-bottles had been given they would have inspected every man not only to see that he possessed one of those delectable luxuries but that it contained water. We know that to send men on a march without food is a crime, that to pretend to say that detached men who are .hungry and thirsty and who drink at a creek do so in defiance of explicit orders is pure bunkum, and that the whole military wriggle to avoid rej sponsibility is evidence of rank incap. acity. Men who • had food on that march ' drank the same water as the men who had none. The men who had food paid for it themselves. In all, about twenty men manifested symptoms of illness. Typhoid developed only in those who had no food. The men who applied to the Department were told that they "had no claim whatsoever on the Department." After some newspaper publicity, a Board of Enquiry was set up, and it advised that the claims should be paid. We are not sure whether such a board has any right to advise—its function is to "re-port"—-but, at any rate, the evidence was so conclusive that the men's case was perfect. If the evidence of the men" were true (and we certainly believe it was), the gravest official neglect by the staff was shown. The O.C. District is the senior officer, and although the staff is charged with incompetence and neglect, he must decide on the report of the Board of Enquiry, which is rather a quaint position. Mr. Jennings asked the Minister of Defence to give the result of the enquiry, which has, of course, ,no voice in the decision as to whether the men are to be compensated or not. ■We are told that the recommendation (for which please read "report") has received the consideration of the Government. If the Government can find a precedent in the records of any military farce in the world for ignoring the ill-

nesses of soldiers who contract disease on service, whether they were disobeying orders or not (these men had no orders), 'they should say "No claim"; but if the Government is convinced that these hungry and thirsty and overloaded men could subsist from five to three on no food and a quart of water (which was still in the camp) then they ought to gladly foot the bill. If the Government does not recognise its liability in regard to soldiers who arc ill, it isn't going to have any soldiers.

NEW SOUTH WALES ELECTIONS. The ,S,tate elections in New South Wales emphasise the obvious conclusion that labor in politics is'becoming an extremely important factor. Formerly it seemed inconceivable that the most numerical class of all should be represented, simply because the holders of the purse had dominated the situation. But it lias been proved time and time again that power and initiative statecraft' and brains are given to every ektssy and that "Labor" first and last supplies—at least as good brains as any other class. The wonderful success of labor and the ' increase of public support has not been won without great thought, splendid work and, above all, efficient organisa- ; ticm. No doubt the success of the Party:* ' iathe New South Wajea,<>iections was in a large measure to ..the'Federal Labor Xjtoverhhient. "It has been 'seen, ttoit tfoV people were disgusted-with, a fused Government which blew hot and cold at a breath, and that the Commonwealth wa9 ripe for a party that knew what it wanted and set about doing it in a calm, businesslike way, without bluster or bounce. There may have been ideas that a Labor Government must necessarily be a braggart one, domineering and offensive. The reverse has been proved, and few acts of the Federal Government have been such that friend or enemy could find fault with. It has been proved that the responsibilities of office have toned down and refined asperities, have widened experience ana nave brought out all that is best in the characters of the men who are the Ministry of Australia's supreme Parliament. The example of the Federal Parliament is. the example for New South Wales, and on the success of both will rest the confidence of the people. The Jtys fDeople to.Labor, representatlvea is indicative of a growing* dislike to the dominancy of the big landed proprietor. Any Government, .whether it calls itself Labor, Liberal, Cbnserva-;tiVje-yOr r P-nse;.whichv l figh'ts- for the settlement of Australia's great-taWtory is' doing the best work a Government is capable of. And there is no State in the Union where the land wolf desires more strenuous handling than in the Mother State. If the New South Wales Ministry is as sobejc, as statesmanlike "and as moderate as the Commonwealth Ministry, the great State must prosper as it has never before, for a Ministry 'w,htelt will honestly serve the;' people JwliH :^lrst- 'Vf iil-'.'.l'e.t;.;;i.t tr . be iiot New pie truth that few previous Government* have understood