The Transports Commission.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 262, 27 September 1902, Page 1

The Transports Commission.

I The Transports Commission's report states "with regard to the Britannic that the number of men on the ship was not in excess of the Transport Regulations and consequently whatever inconvenience may have been experienced by some of the men she was not overcrowded. Had the men been compelled to sling their hammocks properly and to sleep in them there would have been greater comfort and fewer complaints of lack of accommodation, and probably le'ss disease as sleeping on the troop deck on which men suffering from catarrh had been constantly spitting may have oad a tendency to accelerate the spread of pneumonia. It would have been desirable that the transport should have been provided with better artificial ventilation. Most contradictory evidence was given about the fresh moat issued to the troopers, but the Commissioners cannot believe that the meat was either bad in quality or in any way unfit for iosue. As to the hospital accommodation, the Commissioners state that the evidence shows that the men near the end of the voyage exhibited a disinclination to report themselves sick to the surgeons lest they might be prevented from getting ashore. Eleven men who were not in hospital the night before disembarkation were detected and sent from the steamer to Somes Island. Of these eleven men five died. There is little doubt that the concealment of their condition was largely responsible for such a heavy death rate. The troops commenced the voyage under favourable circumstances. The details of the Tenth Contingent sent to join the Britannic at the last moment introduced the germs of measles. The closely packed decks, the weak ventilation and habits of the men who had not the training of regular troops to stand confinement, all conduced to the development of the disease. The same condition predisposed them to pneumonia, which, following on the measles produced a heavy death roll. None of the officers on board the Britannic are responsible for the details of the Tenth Contingent being sent from a camp where measles had been prevalent. The discipline on the Britannic was as good if not better than on any other transport returning to New Zealand. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, the Commissioners are of opinion that the discipline was fully equal to the standard approve I of by civilian public opinion in the colony, but it is essential to the w.-H-boing cf New Zealand tro'-ps and their proper efficiency, tlaii, a higher standard of discipline sbon .1 be insisted on.

Wi h regard io the Orient, iho Com :u :ssioners deal chiefly with tb‘* M.njecfc of discipline mi this shir, and report that there was a lax. n not an almost entire absence of, m-cipline on board the transput. !’he ’tween decks, they say, we a dc- hied on occasions and nm " y was punished for the offence. A portion of the ’tween decks was used as, and stank like, a a final. The charge that the troopers had used disgusting and insulting language with intent that it should reach ihe ears of their olliccrs, the Commissioners fear was only too true, and not merely of iio occasional character, and as such conduct was allowed to go unnoticed and unpunished, the moral influence of the majoiity of non commissioned officers must have been of the weakest chanmter. , In reviewing the circumstances which may have conduced to the absence of proper discipline on board the Orient, the Commis-

sioners are immediately confronted with the, fact that the conditions under which the Ninth Contingent was embodied, employed, and embarked at Durban for New Zealand made proper discipline a practical impossibility. Embodied about Ist February, 1902, it was emyloyed only three days on trek and three days returning to the standing camp, and Tts whole period of service practically concluded on embarkation at Durban on the 9th July. Many of the officers were new to their duties, strange to one another, unaccustomed to command and the habit of discipline, and unable to instruct their non-commissioned officers because they did not and could not know even their own duties, and most of the non-commissioned officers were inexperienced and unqualified by previous training for their responsible positions. As to the accommodation, the report states that while the Orient was fitted for 1251 men, there was only hammock accommodation for 1000. The medical staff on the Orient is highly eulogised.