(7.50.)

No one in this House or out of it believes more strongly than I do that we ought to be animated by feelings of admiration for the men who, in the face of great difficulties and tribulations, have been fighting for us in South Africa. I have never concealed my belief that the war was avoidable, and a melancholy blunder, but, though I have always censured the Government for forcing us into the war, I have never done anything to hinder its vigorous prosecution. The country has scarcely realised what the consequences of the war have been to the women and children in the camps. Bringing the figures down to the end of January, I find that 14,284 children and 2,484 men and women have perished in them. This is a terrible loss, but it is still more terrible when you consider the proportion which this mortality bears to the numbers in the camps themselves. Repeatedly the death rate of children has been something like 500 per 1,000 per annum, and even now, in the returns for January last, I find the death rate is 247 per 1,000. Now, when such a tragedy as this is unrolled before our eyes it is 403 necessary—indeed, it is more—it is the duty of Parliament to inquire strictly into what are the causes and what are the remedies which should be provided.

As to the causes for the creation of the camps, I would say that they began by the policy which was adopted of devastating the country as a military measure with the view of making the resistance of the Boers impossible. But the trouble was also added to by another act of policy, namely, the paper annexations, and the insisting upon the taking, by the inhabitants of the country, of oaths, either of allegiance or neutrality, without being able to give due protection to the people for whom we thus became responsible, because it must be remembered that the notion of sovereign and I subject implies the relation of protector, and protected. The result of our action was that we were unable to protect large tracts of country, and the only alternative that was left to our soldiers was to have camps for those for whom we had made ourselves responsible. This was done, I have no doubt, with humane motives on the whole, though I think you cannot read the Blue-books without seeing that what was passing through the minds of some, at any rate, of our authorities out there, was the idea that by keeping the wives and children away from the fighting Boers we should put pressure upon them, and that this would be a humane measure, because it would tend to shorten the war. Now, it has not shortened the war. On the contrary, as my hon. and gallant friend the Member for Central Sheffield has pointed out in the book which he has sent to me, so far from shortening the war, it has lengthened the war. It has strengthened the determination of the Boers in the field, and relieved them from the responsibility of looking after their women folk.

Then, there was a further cause for the failure of the camps. They were undertaken as a military measure, and the camps were fixed by soldiers according to military ideas. This is pointed out by the Committee of ladies in their Report, which has been distributed amongst us. They say at page 17— There can be little doubt that in the first instance the military did not take sufficiently into account the difference necessary between the treatment of women and children 404 and that of soldiers. For instance, we believe it is reckoned that sufficient tent accommodation is given to an Army in the field if one tent is allowed to sixteen men. Experience has proved that more than three times this amount of accommodation is necessary in a concentration camp, and that anything over five in a bell tent means overcrowding. Soldiers in war times are, constantly moving from place to place. A concentration camp when once planted down on a particular site will probably remain there for months or even years. We cannot feel that sufficient care has been exercised to choose only those sites on which a good and plentiful water supply and other vital requirements could be secured. They point out in another part of the report that one of the camps, for military reasons, was placed in a position which would not otherwise have been selected. That was the case of the Orange River camp, of which they say— This camp had been removed in obedience to military orders, and the people transferred to the general camp. The doctors considered this the direct cause of the epidemic of measles. This is not a charge against the officers, but a criticism on their skill for undertaking such work. A further reason of the failure to carry on the camp satisfactorily has been, I think, that public attention was not directed to them in anything like time. It was very unfortunate that, although the camps were visited and reported upon very early last year, there was a very great amount of party spirit excited; it became a matter of party loyalty to say that all was well in them, and in consequence of that, the care was less than it would otherwise have been. A most optimistic spirit pervaded the officials. There is a report of one of the authorities to this effect— Hospitals are established in all the camps, and one medical officer is allowed for each thousand refugees, the hospital establishments being increased in cases of grave sickness. All linen, clothing, and hospital luxuries of every description are without stint. Ample accommodation is provided in all camps for the refugees. Some are in wood and iron buildings, each family having a separate room, some in marquees, while others have bell tents, overcrowding in all cases being strictly forbidden. Suitable latrines for men and women are constructed with corrugated iron and wood. Washing places are provided in the same way for both sexes. That was an official statement sent to the War Office, and, naturally enough, it was accepted, and therefore I suppose no special efforts were taken. But I will ask 405 the House to compare this very optimistic statement with a few extracts from the Blue-book. I have verified them myself, and can assure the House they are accurate. One is an extract from Dr. Kendal Franks' report. He is speaking of the camp at South Irene, and he says— In some of the tents there is a distinct over-crowding. Dr. Pratt Yules' remarks are also important. He says— The recommended number of occupants per tent is five, and every effort is made to reach this standard. Very frequently the numbers per tent are greatly in excess of this, but these instances are being remedied as quickly as possible. If we take the ordinary bell tent as having a capacity of 650 cubic feet, the air space per head is seen to be very small indeed–130 cubic feet to each of five occupants. The ventilation through the canvas may practically be discarded. Impure air has a much more detrimental effect on the health of children than on that of adults under the conditions of camp life. Dr. Turner writes— There is no provision for privacy except that some families hang up rugs between the portions of floor allotted to them and their neighbours. These buildings might be very suitable for barracks used by men only, but nothing less suitable for families could be well conceived. I leave out the question such objections as the want of privacy. Every incident of family life must be carried on coram populo. Then, again, as to inadequate clothing, it is stated— Many of the refugees claim that they were hurriedly removed from their homes, and not given time to collect their belongings, being told by the officer in charge of patrol that they would be clothed and fed in camp. I consider that in some few cases this complaint may be founded on fact, though there is evidence that the majority of families were not only allowed time to collect whatever they desired to bring in with them, but also that considerable transport conveniences must have been placed at their disposal, for some families have brought a considerable quantity of furniture into the camps. Again, I way that the troops carried out this wretched work with every possible consideration. Then there was another case at Heidelburg. There it was stated— The condition of women and children captured on commando and sent into camp is pitiable in the extreme. They arrive here with nothing, and report destruction of even their mattresses and blankets. This, of course, necessitates the issuing of blankets, etc., to them, and considerably increases the expenditure of the department. 406 One of the chief causes of the great mortality is stated by the medical men to have been that a large number of children had no bedsteads whatever, and were obliged to sleep on beds on the ground, with the result that they were frequently wet and miserable. Another fault of military policy was the wretched system of half rations, which, we know, was generally stopped at once when attention was called to it in this House. But the system has not been altogether abolished. Putting people on short rations, or on second-class rations, is still used by way of punishment in some of the camps, though not in all, because some of the superintendents refuse to employ that particular means of punishment, as it is punishing the children for the faults of the parents. But that the system of half rations was continued in one case until it was discovered by the Ladies Committee is shown in their Report. They found as recently as August last that at Vryburg there were in camp Transvaalers and Bechuanalanders. The latter, being technically rebels, were put on half rations, while the Transvaalers were on full rations. The ladies remonstrated, and pointed out that a promise was made in this House that the system should not be continued, and it was immediately stopped by the officer in command. But still there is the fact that the attempt to govern a great number of civilians by military notions is sure to cause trouble, which military men cannot be expected to foresee.

The hon. and gallant Member for Central Sheffield has been good enough to send me his little pamphlet entitled "In a Boer Concentration Camp." When I read it I was reminded of nothing so much as of a learned counsel pointing out to a Committee upstairs the immense advantage of some commercial undertaking, the great profits that would ensue from it, and the public benefits that would be served. One would think on reading this pamphlet that everything was for the best in the best of all possible camps. I should like to read one or two extracts— Let us visit a camp. The site is well chosen —on the sun slope of a gentle hill. In the tents much furniture; on the beds light quilts, clean 407 sheets, many pillows. Meals when they like, cooked as they like, with hot filtered water always available for coffee or tea. That is how it appeared to the hon. and gallant Gentleman, but that is not how it appeared, about the same time, to the Ladies' Committee. They had a very different story to tell. Here are their recommendations, which show that the camps are not so perfect as they appeared to the hon. and gallant Gentleman. On page 10 of the Report they recommend— That an addition to the rations of ½lb. of rice per head per week should be made… That superintendents should be instructed to encourage the making in camps of cheap bedsteads… That every camp should be provided with proper apparatus for boiling and disinfecting enteric linen… That whenever practicable there should be boilers for serving out water boiling, as at Johannesburg, and that tinned milk should be issued to the children mixed in the boiled water, not in the tin. I think that establishes the point that the country at large was misled by optimistic reports, and that it never practically knew the truth until this Report was issued. Nobody could have been expected to read the huge Blue-book which came out in November, and which was chucked at our heads without any index whatever.

There is another grave fault which I charge against the Government with regard to these prison camps. They left us under the impression that everybody who came there came more or less of their own free will, and could go in and out as they pleased. That is not the case. In the last Blue-book there is a very remarkable sentence, which conclusively proves that these people are treated as prisoners. At page 90, op. 934, the Deputy Administrator of the Orange River Colony says— I observe that your Excellency considers that the camps should be fenced in; that you ask the Attorney General to enlist certain persons for a police force to keep order in the camps; lastly, that you prefer military regulations being enforced in the several camps. I wish to bring to your Excellency's notice the fact that in the concentration camps in the Orange River Colony at present in existence, where the camps are not fenced, and where simply camp limits are defined by conspicuous beacons, there is much less trouble in dealing with the people than in those camps where the people are confined within a barbed wire fence such as Kimberley. And at page 125, Captain Trollope op. 853, speaks of refugees that have 408 been taken by the various columns that have been clearing the country, and of 800 refugees who were captured in laager at Graspan.

Even in cases where the superintendents of the camps are willing to allow women and children who wish to do so to go to their friends, the military authorities of the places to which they wish to go are consulted, and if they refuse to let them come they are kept in the camps. I appeal to Members of the House—is it reasonable to suppose that the British Empire is going to ruin because a few noisy-tongued women are allowed to go from one place to another in South Africa? It seems to me that restrictions of this kind are not only cruel, but impolitic. A family writes to say they will be glad to receive so-and-so; the military authorities say she shall not go because she stirs up strife. Such a thing is resented by both her and her friends; it prevents her friends from having the pleasure of looking after her and incenses them against British rule.