TRENTHAM ENQUIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 July 1915, Page 4

TRENTHAM ENQUIRY.

U>.\TI\TATIO.Y OK K.\\H/IUY. Wellington, July 2:1. .At the Trentham enquiry to-day .Mr. Iladger sa.Nl that Private Kay Olcil, who was willing to give evidence, said that some of tl'.em were, not washed for three ihiys. On June •-'"> they wviv traii-fened from the kiosk to -the jockeys' quarter*, and sent back the next day. There were only unexperienced orderlies attending the men until June •>;>, when thru nurses arrived. He was informed that the men often had half-cooked ground nice for diner and tea. While they had high temperatures the men were only examined once a day. He heard of only two doctors, Drs. Purdy and Ferguson, being there.

Colonel Purdy .remarked that he had not been at the camp since June 20. His Honor: Weil, that disposes of that point. There must be a mistake.

IWnltcr Reynolds, bootmaker, criticised tllie material of which tho lvoots were. made. The front of the ooots was lined with cowhide, which was nothing more than tanned chrome, and the inner lining was very porous. The leather that should be adopted was a waxed ikip. The hoot made for the soldiers would not be 'bought by a farm hand for' use in wet weather.' Much of the sickness was undoubtedly due to wet foet. (Another point, witness continued, was that all boots were made broad-fitting, so that men had to put on as many as three ipairs of socks to fill the boots out. When the 'first expeditionary force was marching over Constable street hill men would pull out because of sore feet. Witness used to help them, and found that their trouble wa.H due to the .boots, which fitted the men like a sack.

Magnus fhuhrer. sergeant in the field ambulance, said tlmt lie joined on June 28, and went on duty on July 20 at the racecourse kiosk. He happened' to And Private .Badger that day, and knowing the sick man's brother slightly, though not related, he paid iparticular'nttention to him, washing him, and giving h'.m all the care possible. He visited him every two hours between Tuesday and Thursday. Dr. Ferguson visited the patient seven or eight times. Sergeant 'Badger reported the difficulties in the way of delivering correspondence promptly to men in hospital. Sometimes there would be 12fl admissions, and half as many discharges, in a day. Xo ofti'.'er could lok after all this, and correspondence should have been dealt with by the platoon corporals.

Dr. H. A. De Latour, of Wellington, in answer to Mr. Skerrett's question as to his qualifications, stated that he was a duly qualified medical practitioner, a member of the Royal Colege of Surgeons, and an Associate of King's College, London. He had had fhrrty-five veurs'" continuous service in the Xeiw Zealand defence forces, from July 3, 1875, to June. 1911. He had been in charge of every camp held in South Canterbury and Otago for thirty-three years.

In answer to Mr. Skerrett's enquiry as to what pei-son.il knowledge he bad of the Trentham camp, Dr. De Latour said he went out in January last to visit one of his sons, who wara in the Auckkind Mounted Rifles. He went there acain about a fortnight later, again in May. and examined the sample hutment, find once more about three weeks ago, just before the camp broke up. "And you take a special interest in the conditions,of Trentham camp?" "Yes, from tjhe start. When the war broke out I offered my services to the Minister for Defence, .writing on August 3."

Mr. Skerrett asked whalt was the general experience of sickness and mortality in standing encampments in recent years. Dr. De Lntour said he could show how the li«aKh of the service had been improved as the result of the experimental caimips he had mentioned. Tn Egypt, in 1(106, the number of men vonstantiv noneffective from sickness was 103.72 .per 101)9, and in 1009 it had fallen to 16JH, while the .mortality l-ate fell from 25.10 to 4.21. In Bermuda the nunfber of non-effectives through sickness was reduced from 22.3 2to fljS2, and the deaths from 4.85 to .82 per 1000. The same nenflet was seen in India and all the other stations. J?rom returns published in the House of Commons in February last by ,Mr. Tcnnant, it was shown that among the troops of the ■ewpedltonary force fighting at the front there were no cases of diphtheria, and no' cases of pneumonia in the' first six months. The folowing statistics were also given in the report:—Typhoid eases A 23, deaths 49; scarlet fever, cases 100, deaths i; measles, cases 17.5. deaths 2. Among tho soldiers in training in the United Kingdom diseases were recorded as follows:—Typhoid, cases 262, deaths 47 j scarlet fcrcr, eases 1370, deaths 22; diphtheria* cases 783, deaths (1; measles, cases 104»5, deaths 83; dysentery, ensea 315, death 1; .pneumonia, cases 1508, deaths .351; cerobro-spinal meningitis, eases .88, deaths 80. The period covered was from Au<>;ist ': to February 10. Tile chairman • Dr. Marlin s»'y» I hi-re arc later returns, showing that those ari> imperfect. Dr. Xk' Lntour: The only way you can Ret the number of troops is from a pnp.ir read at the Royal Colonial Institute by Mr. Spencer Wilkinson, who said there were at least three million, if not four million, in training in the United Kingdom. The chairman: 1' don't see how we can gather any percentage of value from these data. I.Mr. Skerrett asked Dr. De l.atour i,f lie knew of any reason 'Why as satisfactory results eould not have been produced Jn Xcw Zealand as in England. ''Only the want of training of meiiieal officers." was the reply. The doUry added that Xc.w Zealand was a more healthy country than England and lews densely .populated. "Would you, under normal conditions, and the proper es|abMsJnhciit and regulation of the camp, have expected to iind a number of preventible cases of disease occurring?" "They slionld not occur." "I am refcrrinu' to the 'J'reiitham site." ''There is nothing in tlie site to cause /prevoirtible disease." "Would von expect, under normal conditons and proper constitution of the ea<rmn, an epidemic?" "No; there should not have been under normal conditions." I'lider further examination. Dr. De Latour said that he considered the hutments quite wrong. A hut was a building to contain usually not more than twelve men. and a hutment a building to contain no more; than twenty-four men. Mr. Skerrett: What have you to sav to the lodging of 100 men in a hutment divided into two? Witness: I think it is quite wrong. All modern fcarracks provide for breaking the .niei up into small sections of 12 or 24 in one ward, which is to the benefit of discipline, management and health. Any disease would spread, very raipidly through a number of men who were overcrowded.

SATURDAY'S KVIDKXCK. Wellington, July 24. At the Trentham Commission ' to-day David Robertson, who assisted to raise money at l'etone for the Trentham Hospital, stated that when he interviewed Surgeon-Major Fyll'e there that officer was most condemnatory of the action of the authorities regarding the hospital equipment. He said many of the casea

scut to Wellington timid be treated at Trentlmm if there was proper equipment tilde. Mr. Justice Htiakiujr announced that tin' Public Works Department advised tiiat the urea of the original camp was fl acres and tlu' hutment area :il acres. Dr. IV Jjutmir, continuing liis evidence, produced a diagram to support liis contention tlmt tents had. been pitched over abandoned latrine*. He said the fault of the military medical system was tlmt it relied too much on cure in the hospitals. The number of cases occurring in the early months should have warned the authorities of the need'for provision of accommodation. The camp should have been moved to clean ground, not neeesarily away from Trentham. The equipment for'clothing disinfecting, facilities for drying clothing, and baths should have been provided. The Director (jf Medical Services should have been consulted regarding (he hutments. David Robertson, teacher at Petone West School, said that in March last he was concerned with others in raising a sum of about £lO for the purpose of presenting a bed to the Trentham base hospital. He communicated with the camp commandant as to the style of bed, and was advised to write to thu | Mayoress (Mrs. Luke), who had the matter of equipment in hand. She replied suggesting that, as the full complement of beds had been obtained, the ' money might be devoted to other hospital needs. The committee still wished to present a bed, so the members went to Trentham on Sunday, March 7, and there met Major Fyffe. Witness said, "But you have no' hospital." Major Fyffe replied, "Come and see." He was most condemnatory of the action of the authorities us regards the Trentham hos-., pital equipment. He took the committee into an open marquee in which there were four beds; there was only room for three, and two beds were occupied. Major Fyffe said he did not know where to get supplies. He had sent to Wellington, and they knew nothing abo-it them. Ho could not even get a chango of sheets until the man left a bed. Tlu; mattresses were not mattresses, and the men were practically lying on the wire screen. An orderly brought them , samples of the sheets; one was a bolster cut in half, about 18in. wide, the other was just patchwork. There wa» no flooring, and the ground was covered with dust. In the dispensary there were a few packing cases, on which various articles were placed. The only part of the hospital which was not covered with dust was the dentistry "department. Witness said that he would hand Major "Fyffe the committee's £lO to buy equip-'. 1 roent, and would also write to the papers to create a stir. Major Fyffe accepted the money, and forwarded to witness a list of articles he had purchased with it. The list comprised nearly all kitchen utensils, which had not previously been provided. He understood that previously patients had brought the ntenßils from their own kits. This msfrquee and twa other bell tents were the only hospital equipment. , Dr. Dc Latour, continuing his evidence, /,. produced a diagram to support his conl- - that tents had been pitched ov»r abandoned latrines. The latrine arrangements were good, if there were a sufficient number. There should be eijr.it per cent. Witness criticised the latrine arrangements in some minor particulars. When it was known that the canjp was to be enlarged it should have been spread out, each unit separated from the. others, on a sufficient area of ground to permit of the tents being moved at intervals. The grouhd should not have. • been allowed to become super-saturated with the organic matter pertaining to camp life. This should not have involved any extra cost in the way of cooking arrangements. If a proper syntem had been introduced at the outset each unit should have had its own kitchens and been taught to make its own arrangements, as it would have bwn at the front. By reason of the concen- / tration at present the men were in ft ' township, and might as well have been billeted on Lambton Quay., Tho fault of the present military medical system was that it' relied too much upon civil hospitals. Camp hospital accommodation should have been provided in proper proportion from the very start, and no reliance placed upon the civil "hospitals, except in special cases. This would have provided training for medical men, orderlies, and nurses, and prompt attention in accident and other cases. It had been suggested that with the batches of reinforcements coming in fresh: disease was introduced. He suggested that the real explanation was that the menalready in camp were the fittest,', who had survived amid conditions conducive to disease. The new meii brought in fresh blood, and were put in tents which had never been shifted. He knew of hie own observation that tents had not been shifted for a couple of months. Witness added that he condemned the original hutment proposal, because, as first published, it was proposed to crowd 4600 men into four and a-half acres. For sleeping accommodation onljT they would occupy a greater aroa than that, giving each man his sixty feet of floor space. His Honor: They are to have thirtyone acres now. *

Dr. Do Lautour: That is about half what they should have, with separate dining rooms at proper intervals, streets, etc. He agreed entirely with what Air., Bates had said as to the galvanised iron,' hutments being cold and draughty. Jle read from Blake Knox on the character of model hutments; these \vere| on a wooden or iron framework, .with' wails of felt lined with canvas, floors raised oft' the ground, with ridge ventilation and windows. They should be built en echelon, and when for permanent occupation tlioy generally had walla of brick, as iron was very cold.