H.—6d.

1902. NEW ZEALAND.

S.S. "BRITANNIC": REPORTS OF OFFICER COMMANDING TROOPS ON THE TRANSPORT; ALSO REPORT OF MEDICAL OFFICER.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Officer Commanding Teooi>s, H.M. Transport " Britannic," to the General Officer Commanding New Zealand. Sm >— ■ Wellington, sth August, 1902. 1 have the honour to report, for your information, on the voyage of the troopship "Britannic " from Durban to Wellington. The troops embarked at Durban on the sth July, and the ship sailed on the following morning. The total numbers embarked at Durban were 83 officers and 1,005 other ranks, of which 38 officers and 25 other ranks were Australians and were disembarked at Albany and Melbourne. There was not much sickness on board until we left Melbourne, on the 27th July, when measles broke out. The sickness previously had been pneumonia and colds, which,' in my experience, every one who has lived in a dry climate like Africa gets immediately they come down to the damp latitudes. I personally inspected the hospital very frequently and questioned the patients as to their treatment, and never on any occasion received a single complaint. I attach a report to me from Surgeon-Major Pearless, Senior Medical Officer on board. The ship was full, but not overcrowded in any sense. She had a greater number of men on board when taking the Imperial Representative Corps round the colonies, and had them on board for., I believe, about five months, and in much warmer climates. Being an old ship, she is rather low from deck to deck, and naturally men coming from life in tents feel the stuffy atmosphere at first, but after the first two or three days out from Durban they did not complain, mostly owing I think, to the cold weather we had. With regard to the food, lam satisfied that it was good and ample throughout. The ship supplied me with a bill of fare for every day in the week, and it was greatly in excess of the Admiralty transport scale. The galley accommodation I consider rather small, and I stated so to the captain of the ship, but it was impossible to alter it, and I am sure that very slight inconvenience was experienced in consequence. There were a few complaints about the food principally the quality of the meat and fish. These complaints did not amount to more than six during the voyage, and other food was immediately substituted by the ship's people at my request though only about three of the complaints could be called reasonable. The meat was frozen and was the same as that supplied to the officers. In addition to the usual officers of the day, I ordered Lieut.-Colonel Chaytor, Captain Poison, and Major Hayter (the officers commanding regiments and detachments on board) to detail their own captains and subalterns of the day, and all these officers, together with a medical officer, the quartermasters, and subsequently Veterinary Captain Young, an expert on frozen meat inspected every issue of food daily. These officers were ordered to report immediately to my staff officer if there were any complaints, and on the few occasions above mentioned when complaints were made they were at once cheerfully rectified by the ship. The whole ship was inspected every day, nearly always by me personally (except for a few days when I was suffering from a severe cold), and at other times by the officers commanding regiments, who reported to me immediately after inspection. At every daily inspection I asked in every mess on the ship if the men had any complaints, and I feel sure that they made any they felt justified in making. They were very few indeed, and were immediately dealt with. The discipline on the ship amongst the New-Zealanders was excellent. Only on one occasion had I to complain of that, and it occurred as follows : Two Australians came up on to the upper deck with a dish of fish, and about fifty men, some New-Zealanders and some Australians, followed them. I was told they wished to see me, and I went out to see them, as, although it was contrary to discipline, I felt sure that the rest had only followed to see what was going on. I met the men and inquired into their complaint, and examined the food, which appeared wholesome but salt, and I could understand their not liking it. I requested the ship's authorities to supply meat (tinned) instead, which was at once done, and no more salt fish was issued during the voyage. I then told