H.—l9b.

149

E. YEATES.

marquee was erected for the use of drugs and dressings, and looking after the men generally wdio were passed out from the sick-parade. In the marquee things were covered with dust owing to the wind. The marquee was unfioored, and it was absolutely impossible to have clean and aseptic dressings. The methods of swabbing out the throats was rather bad, as they were rather short of brushes, and they used to use the same brushes without properly sterilizing them. 38. Dr. Martin.] How were they cleaned? —As far as I could see they were dipped into boiling water occasionally. 39. And the same brush used again? —Yes. There was also a great shortage of thermometers; and I might say here it, was rather confusing after the system was continued of having medical men in the marquee to see the sick men. Before I left there there were six medical men in the marquee. I have seen a man go in and be examined by one Medical Officer and an order given for a dose of calomel. Not, knowing what he had to do, he has walked on, and has been collared by another man and ordered a black draught; and I have seen him go to another and be ordered a dose of salts. I have seen that myself. 40. Mr. Skerrett.] Did he take them all? —No, I stopped him. 41. Was the number of men reporting on sick-parades increasing or diminishing during the period you were there ?—lncreasing. 42. AVhen, in your opinion, was the number oi sick men reporting on sick-parades significant to the medical authorities? —It should have been right from the start, when I went there. A r ery few days after I went there it should have been significant. 43. Did it strike you from the number of sick men reporting on parade or sick that somethingwas wrong in the camp?— Yes. 44. Did the medical men, in your opinion, appear to appreciate the responsibility arising from the number of sick men reporting on parade?—l do not think they appreciated the facts, in this way: that they had not had experience of dealing w 7 ith military camps at all. Ido not think it was any want of professional knowledge, because they were all well-qualified men, but they had not the experience which would tell them, from a certain number of men in the sickparade in what should bo a healthy camp, that there must be something wrong. 45. Did you personally take any steps in connection with the number of men reporting in this manner? —I did, but my suggestions were not accepted. 46. AVhom did you make suggestions to? —Major Holmes and Captain Fyffe. 47. In what direction were those suggestions?— That there would shortly be an outbreak in the camp if something was not done to isolate the cases of measles that came in; to take more precautions and prevent them mixing with the other men; and generally to improve the system of teaching the orderlies and give them responsibility. 48. AVere any lectures or instructions given to the Ambulance orderly?— That I cannot say; I never heard. 49. As far as you know, were there?—l know nothing about it. 50. The Chairman.] Were your suggestions put in writing or only verbal? —At first I wrote some notes, but it was suggested I should not, so I afterwards verbally spoke on several occasions. 51. Have you got copies of what you wrote?—No; I wrote them on camp paper. 52. To whom did you address them? —To the A.M.O. 53. Do you know if they reached any higher authority than the A.M.O. ?—I do not know. 54. Mr. Skerrett.] I want to give you an opportunity of a general criticism of the condition of the camp, the size, its position and its compression, and so on?— The site of the camp is not an ideal site, but at the same time it could be made absolutely suitable.. The camp proper, while I was there, covered about 4_r acres. The tents were continually standing in the one place, and a fresh draft of men would come in and occupy the same tents —the same night or the next morning after the men went out. 55. Can you give the Commission any information as to any systematic striking of tents? — There was none while I was there. 56. Do you mean they were never struck, or no system of regulating their striking?— There should have been a system of regulating the striking, but, they were never struck sufficiently. I saw them struck once in two months. 57. That is for airing?— Yes, airing and letting the sun get underneath. That brings me to this : that in the camp men lie on the earth unless they bring sacking for themselves. This sacking was stuffed with straw, which they bought". 58. They had so-much given them? —I did not know that. They had to buy the sacking. Those beds had to be put out and aired every day with the kits; but there was absolutely no room for each bed to have its own plot—they overlapped on account of the compression of the tents—and there was no room without tripping over the ropes.

Tuesday, 27th July, 19T5. Edward Yeates further examined. (No. 35.) I. Mr. Skerrett.] You wish to refer to the sick-parade?—ln giving my evidence yesterday about the sick-parade I omitted to make one point clear, as to the signing-up of the sick-reports. These were papers which came from each corps showing the names of the men and other particulars, in which the details as to sickness had to be inserted. With three, four, five, and six Medical Officers in the marquee it was absolutely impossible to differentiate as to who diagnosed the different cases, and, as a rule, one of the Medical Officers would be left, to sign up all the sickreports. The result was that many men who went, through might easily have been missed as being infectious cases.