ccommodation for operating in properly equipped
rooms obviated many of the difficulties above referred to.

In concluding this introduction I should sum up in a few words my
experience of the general working of the hospital system during my stay
in South Africa.

The excellence of the Field hospitals for their purpose has been already
alluded to, and, as far as I could ascertain, won the confidence and
approval of patients, military commanders, and civilians such as myself.

The Stationary hospitals (by which I intend to indicate those receiving
the patients directly from the Field hospitals before the establishment
of advanced Base hospitals), as already indicated, were not in my
opinion so perfectly conceived or organised. The requirements of these
are, however, far greater than those of the Field hospitals, and they of
all others are dependent on the possession of facilities for rapid
transport. In South Africa the difficulties of supplying them were
enormous, and no doubt the conditions of the campaign in this, as so
many other particulars, were novel and unusual. None the less the
experience gained will no doubt be utilised in the future. With regard
to the extravagant criticisms levelled at the Field hospitals serving as
Stationary hospitals at the time of the early period of the occupation
of Bloemfontein, it may be pointed out that the only proper ground for
comparison was not between the patients at Bloemfontein and those in
hospital at the base, but between the men in hospital and those in the
field at that time, since the conditions were equally adverse to both.
Besides, it must not be forgotten that a large proportion of the
patients, at that time, were really comfortably housed in the Raadzaal
and other buildings, the preparation of which entailed a very great
amount of both labour and resource.

The difficulties experienced at that time will, it is hoped, go far
towards securing greater facilities and rights of transport to the Royal
Army Medical Corps in the future. As a civilian, one cannot but
recognise that the conditions of modern warfare are much altered from
those of the past. Prisoners are well cared for and kindly treated, the
sick and wounded are respected by both sides, and except in the actual
horrors of fighting the condition of the soldier is a happier one. Under
these circumstances the limitation of the transport facilities of a
department so closely concerned with the well-being of all,