H.—l9b.

96

[j. R. PURDY.

37. Who sent him on?—He was one of the men that were taken under my orders. He had lost his voice, and to anybody but a medical man he would appear to be not very well. I told him that he had nothing wrong with him but loss of voice. He was eating a hearty dinner when I saw him. 38. Mr. Ferguson.] What date was that? —Four or five times I saw him—between the 6th and 12th that was. I made a special visit to him because I was interested in his case. He had apparently quite recovered. 39. The Chairman.] He went there on the suggestion of the nurse, and the hospital authorities thought he would be better at Berhampore?—Yes, that he would be better at the Berhampore Hospital than in the Wellington Hospital. 40. Then these [quoting from list] are the visits you paid, according to your diary: April 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 30; May 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28. Then you did not go on the 31st? —No; Major Elliott went that day. 41. June 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12?— Yes. 42. In the course of your previous evidence you gave us a statement of the various medical men who occupied the position of A.M.O. ?—Yes, sir. 43. Now, these were responsible to you?— Yes, and, of course, to the authorities in camp. 44. How often did you go out to camp?— Twice a week, always. 45. But then you were in communication by telephone? —Yes, daily. I went oftener than twice a week, but never less. 46. Had you administrative duties to attend to at headquarters?— Yes, very large duties. I was working from 5 a.m. till 10 p.m. for weeks and weeks together. 47. Would it not have been better if there had been more assistance available?—ln what, way? 48. With regard to the administration at the camp?— But the camp was well administered. The administrative officers in camp were entirely responsible, just the same as the P.M.O. is now. 49. Could he take any steps he thought, fit ?—That -was his duty. 50. In the matter of getting extra accommodation erected or anything else, or sending men away from camp, would he determine that, on his own responsibility? —Yes, he could do that himself. Of course, we tried for a considerable period to get buildings near the site of the camp, but when we saw that the measles were becoming really epidemic, and there was no school or any buildings' out there suitable, I tried to get one of the huts that had been finished, although I did not care about putting measles cases into the huts. T discussed this matter with Dr. Frengley, who was partly responsible for putting the huts up, and he did not agree with the idea : he thought it would not do at all. 51. To put the measles cases into the huts? —That is so, and I agreed with him. 52. What date was this?— About, the end of May. It was only a casual conversation. 53. Just before the huts were occupied?— Yes. 1 did not want to put the cases there in that new area if it could be avoided, and I suggested that we might commandeer the racecourse buildings. 54. You were trying to get extra accommodation : did you ever apply to the racecourse authorities ?—No. 55. Had the racecourse buildings been offered at that time? —No; we never applied for them. 56. How did you come to get them? —We simply commandeered them on the 13th June. 57. And what, about the golf-house? —That was offered later, and Kaiwarra was offered later. 58. Then I suppose from the time you stopped sending cases into Wellington, about the 2nd June, all fresh contacts and patients were accommodated in the marquees?— Yes. 59. At the camp?— From about the 2nd June till about the 6th or 7th June. - 60. How did you deal with them from the 6th or 7th till the time you commandeered the racecourse? —We sent some of the bad cases to the Wellington Hospital. 61. Direct?— Yes. In fact, all the time there were always one or two acute cases sent to the Wellington Hospital. We only wanted the very ordinary cases in the marquees'. 62. Did you cease sending any more to Berhampore after that? —No; some were sent to Berhampore to relieve the congestion. 63. From the hospital?—No, from the camp to Berhampore; what you might call semiconvalescent cases were sent to Berhampore. 64. When you got the racecourse on the 13th? —Before that we had opened Mr. Izard's home. 65. That is where?—Tn the Upper Hutt, district. He had offered it for convalescents, and when this pressure came along he agreed to let, it be used for any purpose. Then Kaiwarra was begun to be got ready that week, and was opened early the next week, about the 14th June. That, relieved the congestion everywhere. After that there was a big increase of influenza and measles, and they had to be sent, to the big racecourse building. They were originally in the trainers' and jockeys' quarters, and they had to ultimately commandeer the whole of the buildings. 66. You ceased to have any administration over the camp or the sick there when Colonel Valintine took charge?— Yes, on the 13th June. 67. So that you had no administrative duties in regard to the camp after the racecourse buildings were taken over?—No, sir. Consequently I never had anything fo do with the huts. 68. With regard to these hutments now, you say that you never had anything to do with them? No, sir; T was on the original Board which sat, consisting of Majors Holmes, Elliott, and myself, and certain plans of huts were laid before us. 69. By whom?—By the Q.M.G., Major Robinson. 70. When was this?—l am not very clear —either February or March, when they first began to talk about huts. They drew up two specifications to lay before the Minister.