The Portland daily press., 1900-06-30
Neglect Of Sick and Wounded Ad-
mitted.
Due to Insuperable Diff
ficulties.
Mr.. Burdett--C0utts Replies
Trouble Was Due to System.

London, June 90, rs p. m.--when the
house of commons went into committee
Of supply today, on the supplementary
vote for the army medical service, intro
duced for he purpose OF debating the
charge of hospital mis-management In
South africa made by Mr.. William l..
Ashmead Bartlett Burdett- Coutts con-
sentative. member for Westminster, the
parliamentary secretary OF the war office,
Mr.. George wyndham, briefly presented
the governments defense. The allega-
lions as to neglect of the sick and wound
ed were frankly admitted to DO true to
a lamentable extent The disabled were
exposed, he said, to terrible hardships,
but 1t was not due to any stinting OF sup
plies but to the insuperable difficult ties OF
distributing supplies, Of which there
had been an embarrassing accumulation
IN south Africa. Every demand ON the
government on behalf Of the troops, he
said, had been complied with. The OHIO
ials in South Africa said the hospitals
had beds in excess Of the demands. There
were 5000 beds in Natal and 1900 In
Cape Colony. There were in South Afri-
ca 466 army and 40 civilian medical OFF,
GERS and b56 female and 5,66s male nurses,
besides the doctors and nurses engaged
locally.
Mr.. wyndham contended that, to have
given true impre ssion OF the state Of
affairs existing, MIR. Burdett-Coutts
should have painted n companion picture
showing the difficulties encountered in
supplying 5000 troops on the march,
which was carried out, practically under
the conditions of q hugs flying column.
The single line of railroad, with bridges
broken, he asserted, had to carry 1,02O
tons daily by order of Lord Roberts.
The army, Mr.. wyndham further re-
marked, should not starve or be defeated.
lie concluded with contcnding that Mr..
Burdett- Coutts' picture rested on the fai-
lacy that Bloemfontein was secure base
hospital. whereas, during the whole perl
cd referred to, Lord Roberts's TANKS and
communications were threatened and ac-
tions occurred daily.
Mr.. Burdett- Coutts replied that he re-
peated the charges already known and
declared that a single days trains on the
railroad to Bloemfontein would have
saved the situation. But, he claimed,
the interests of the sick and wounded
were postponed for interests which were
never vital nor strategically important.
Many residences occupied by officers, he
said, might have bean tiken for the use of
men who were dying. But, presumably,
they We're not taken because no medical
equipment was available for them.
There was not much use In the govern
ment giving the figure Of supplies June 10
when the tragedy was over. His whole
point was that Great Britain was unpre-
pared. He thought the responsibility rest
ed not with an individual but with the
system, which was entirely inelastic and
deficient.
INJTHE HOUSE OF LORDS.
London, June 20, 7.l5 p. In the
house of lords today, during the debate
ON the second reading OF the Australian
comm onwealth bill, the Earl Of Caring
ton, Liberal attacked the alleged attempt
of the secretary of state for the colonies,
Chamberlain, to make political capital out
of the bill. Referring to the crisis caused
by the appeal clause, he said that at one
time, the future of Australia rested In
the hands of 1.-The individual who, ON
a certain occasion, was overcome by the
glamor of fifteen minute conversation
with the Kaiser, that he forthwith pub
llicly announced that an alliance had been
formed between Great Britain, America
and Germany"
The Earl also said that Mr. Chamber
lnin,s Nsn-callad comnIOmiSa ON the an