Men in all departments are stinted, and the hospitals are all
seriously short-handed. They have done their best to make up the
deficiency with volunteers and civilian doctors and surgeons, but it is
only partly made up. Their numbers compare very unfavourably with the
numbers allotted to other nations' hospitals in the field. This has all
been represented to the War Office many times of late years without
result.
At the same time, with the men and accommodation they had, the hospitals
have done their utmost. In the base hospitals there was nothing to
complain of. At Bloemfontein there was great suffering owing to lack of
medical staff, surgeons, nurses, orderlies, &c., and also owing to the
lack of necessary supplies and medical comforts. For the shortness of
the staff the War Office is of course responsible, and as blaming the
War Office hurts nobody, I dare say the Commission will come down on it
severely. For the shortness of supplies, this was due to the working of
our line of communication, which considered the efficiency of the army a
great deal, and the lives of the sick very little. But here you come to
individuals, and the matter craves careful handling.
It is no fun fighting for you people at home, because you don't know
when to clap. The English papers' account of Prinsloo's surrender have
just come in. By Jupiter, for all the notice you take of it, it might be
the capture of a Boer picket and a dozen men.
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