Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1942. TREATMENT OF SOLDIERS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 June 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1942. TREATMENT OF SOLDIERS.

GOOD many people in this district, not least the parents of soldiers in camp, will await with keen interest the outcome of the protest to be made by the Wairarapa Power Board to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence against the state of affairs in military camps in the Wairarapa. Due weight of course must be given to the fact that camp improvement works have been put in hand recently. It is at least a question, however, whether this should be regarded as disposing of the criticisms advanced by responsible and experienced men at the meeting of the Power Board. As Mr AV. A. Tate and other members of the board pointed out, these works were only put in hand after soldiers in a number of camps had over a period had the unpleasant experience of going about for days with wet clothes and footgear and with no opportunity of drying them.

There was criticism also of the locations chosen for some of the camps. Mr 0. R. Holmes said, for instance, that some camps were in a state of bog and now the authorities were making a move, six months too late.

One of the most serious questions raised at the Power Board meeting had reference to the alleged total failure of the authorities to make adequate arrangements for the efficient organisation and equipment of a military hospital established, at Greytown, with the result that sick men had to be moved to a hall, and would have fared badly there but that the Power Board, at the instance of the Patriotic Society, put in heating and hot water services and other fittings. The specific allegations made in this instance very definitely call for a reply from the Ministers to be approached.

As regards the general question raised, it is not of course to be suggested that soldiers on service can be accommodated in all the comfort of home life. Particularly, however, in view of the fact that a number of these soldiers are youths only verging on manhood, it is certainly right that the essentials of health and comfort should be provided in the extent to which that is practicable. Unquestionably, too, prompt and efficient care should be provided for soldiers who fall sick.

It must be hoped that in their replies to the protest made by the Wairarapa Power Board the Prime Minister and Minister of Defence will deal frankly with the position, and that they will draw a. clear distinction between shortcomings and limitations that are inevitable and those which may be due to slackness and to failures in organisation which should not be tolerated.