ABOMINABLE NEGLIGENCE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2555, 24 November 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

ABOMINABLE NEGLIGENCE.

Surajah Dowlaii. when he immured his oil" hundred and forty-six victims within the narrow limits of the Black Hole o? Calcutta, was at least only behaving cruelly to those whom he regarded as his foes. The inhuman monster whom Clive S" gloriously i on tfd at Plassey would never have dreamt of putting his own troops through such au ordeal. Happy go lucky carelessuess 011 the part of the officers immediately concerned, and gross stupidity and want of for thought on the part of naval designers, have brought about a tragedy almost as unpleasant as if it had been purposed by a malign intelligence. Two seamen on board Her Majesty's ship Carysfort, now in the Mediterranean, were condemed to undergo punishment in cells. Whether with a view to morose suggestion, or from some still more recondite motive, the two cells in which the blue jackets were incarcerated were situated in the hottest part of th« ship, close to the engines and below all decks. A very proper arrangement exists on our vessels of war, that the corporal of the guard should visit his charges at the end of every hour to see if all is right. Whether this duty was neglected or not we have no means of gathering from the information to hand; but when the corporal made a visit to the prisoners at two o'clock in the morning he found one dead and the other insensible. Death was the result of suffocation, caused, of' course, by stifling heat inau ill-ventilated hole. Comment is almost out of place in presence of so palpable an instance of cruel blundering. The sad story needs no adornment ; but those responsible for what looks like abominable ucgligence should be brought to book.