§ 92 and 93. Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked the Under-Secretary of State for War (1) if he is aware of the dissatisfaction, Canadian and British, military and civil, now existing in Shorncliffe and the neighbourhood with the continuance of the neglect and indifference with which the health and comfort of a number of convalescent wounded and sick Canadian soldiers have been, and are still, treated, not by the Canadian military and medical authorities, but through the red-tape methods with which the action and freedom of the Imperial officers concerned at Shorncliffe are hampered at every turn by the authority in control at a neighbouring station; if his attention has been called to the fact that the only recreation and living room for large numbers of sick and wounded convalescent non-commissioned officers and men at the Moore Barracks hospital, which provides accommodation for 800 beds, is a species of shed or barn or drill hall some 50 ft. long by 30 ft. wide and about 20 ft. to 25 ft, high, that the roof, which is composed of sheets of thin corrugated iron supported on iron rafters, is entirely uncased, and that the interior is barely heated at all by the two existing small stoves; if he is aware that for some weeks now large numbers of suffering convalescent men, many of them striving to recover from pneumonia, rheumatic fever, and lung trouble, have been compelled to sit in this shelter, sometimes in an atmosphere barely distinguishable from the raw mists without; seeing that this state of things is likely to continue unless some notice is taken in London of the representations which have been put forward again and again since the beginning of December by the medical authorities concerned through the usual channels, will he say what action he proposes to take?
(2) Whether the general officer commanding at Shorncliffe, having regard to all the facts of the case, sanctioned the purchase by the Canadian authority of the necessary extra stoves and flue-pipes; if he is aware that, in any case, these flue-pipes and stoves have not only been purchased by the Canadians but actually delivered, that they have been ready for fixing now for some weeks, but that the Imperial engineer officer at Shorncliffe has been absolutely forbidden not merely not to have the stoves fixed himself, but not 240 to permit the Canadian engineers to fix them; if, in these circumstances, he will ascertain whether the reported excuse for this action that the necessary stoves had been purchased by the Canadians instead of through the engineer officer in control at Dover, and that the fixing of the pipes would necessitate holes being made in the corrugated iron sheets of the roof, a work which the Canadian engineers offered to do without permanent damage by substituting extra sheets of iron, was made in accordance with the well-known wishes of the Eastern Command that the Canadian soldiers were to be properly treated; and if he will non-take the necessary steps to see that per mission is at last given for this work to proceed, so that the still suffering convalescent soldiers may no longer remain the victims of a maximum of red tape and a minimum of common sense?
§ Mr. TENNANTThe Moore Barracks at Shorncliffe have been temporarily converted into a hospital mainly to deal with minor cases of illness amongst Canadian and British troops quartered at Shorncliffe and the neighbourhood. There are in addition a fully equipped military hospital of 250 beds and a newly built but hospital of 200 beds, both of which can be used for more serious cases. Recreation and living rooms are not provided in any hospital, but dining rooms are allowed for about half the number of beds. No dining room existed at Moore Barracks, and the Drill Hall referred to was allotted for this purpose, with the approval of the local military medical officers, both Canadian and British. Two stoves were first installed, and as these were found inadequate, three more have since been added by the War Department, making five in all. The building (designed as a drill hall) necessarily lacks some of the comfort of an ordinary dining room. No reports have been received at the Headquarters, Eastern Command, from the general at Shorncliffe or the medical officers concerned that the heating now provided was in adequate. I am asking for a special report on the accommodation of which complaint is made.