The Daily News. SATURDAY, JULY 12. THE FEATHERSTON HOSPITAL SCANDAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JULY 12. THE FEATHERSTON HOSPITAL SCANDAL.

After all the professions made by Ministers as to what was to be done for our returned soldiers on their return, it would be thought that special care and consideration would have been given to those who need hospital treatment, many of whom have undergone terrible sufferings due to being gassed. The shoeking disclosures relative to the treatment of patients at Featherston Military Hospital has come as a startling surprise, and naturally aroused the intense indignation of the public, while it has painfully affected the relatives of the patients. Featherston earned an unenviable reputation for the rough and callous treatment of sick soldiers at the time of the influenza epidemic, when men of the Seeond Division, most of whom had been living in comfortable homes, had to endure terrible experiences, it appparent,ly being a miracle that some of them lived to tell the story of their ill treatment. In the light of the recent report made by the Rev. J. K. Burgin it would appear that the only law in force at Featherston Hospital is the primitive one of the survival of the fittest. It was the right of these returned men, whose lungs and constitution generally had been affected by enemy gas, to expect the best, the most generous and the most humane and skilful treatment that could be provided, and it was the duty of the Defence Minister to personally assure himself that the sufferers were receiving all the attention and comforts due to men who served with the forces for four years and over, Sir James Allen, no doubt, with his unbounded faith in his officers, considered that all was well at Featherston, but the least he could have done in view of the responsibility of his position was to visit these men and see that they were not neglected, in much the same way as Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward visited the New Zealanders in hospital in the Old Country, Apparently these sick men are no longer of service tbVthe country, bo they are corns dlled to eadura

besides their bodily sufferings, rough, and callous treatment at the hands of the hospital staff, especially of the orderlies, who probably would far sooner be elsewhere. No one can read the report of Mr Burgin without feeling a flush of shame and indignation at the details. To men in the best of health and strength the conditions at Featherston Hospital would be a severe trial, especially to their temper, so it may be j imagined what the effect on sick men—men who have been used to the comforts of good, well ordered homes—would be in having to use badly broken and chipped enamelware, rusty tin plates, stained sheets (sometimes used as tablecloths), one tea towel a week for 24 men, no underpants in the ! depth of winter, thick singlets one week and thin the next, compelled to exist in old wooden hutments with insufficient firewood. These are only a tithe of the afflictions imposed on the men who have done their bit for their country, and instead of being cared for by a grateful country are treated worse than criminals. It is stated 'that the root of the trouble is the lack of co-ordination between the Ordnance Department and the j Medical Department. If this is correct then the Minister is to blame for the failure of a system that his officers have devised and he has accepted. In the battle zone the hospital eases expect a certain amount of rough treatment, but after the perfect conditions and splendid attention given to our men in the hospitals at Home it must be intensely galling for them to come home and be up against conditions at Featherston that are as revolting as they are inhurpane. The authorities at Featherston appear to have treated General Richardson's orders with contempt, for a week previous to Mr Burgin's visit the "Diggers' Friend" had given instructions —amongst other things—for the crockery scandal to be remedied, but the disgusting and insanitary plates were 'still in use. The public are not likely to be satisfied until a searching inquiry has been made, and those responsible punished in an exemplary manner for sins of omission and commission; and the Returned Soldiers' Association should use the full weight of its influence to ensure this being done. No mention is made in the report as to the state of the sanitary arrangements, so that it is possible improvements have been made since the Second Division men were at Featherston, The only gleam of satisfaction is that no complaints were made about medical treatment, and for that there should be much thankfulness. Nothing can exculpate those responsible for the shocking state of affairs that stands out as an indelible stain on the Defence Department. If no adequate provision had . been made for these men when they landed in the Dominion they should have been sent to the hospitals nearest to their homes so that they could at least have had their relatives to cheer them and see that they were supplied with all the comforts they had earned in the service of their country.