On Monday in the House of Commons Mr. Lloyd-George moved
the adjournment of the House to consider the question of the camps of detention in South Africa and the alarming, rate of mortality among the women and children. We have discussed the matter elsewhere, but we may briefly notice Mr. Lloyd-George's points. He pointed out that in the Transvaal camps there had been 284 deaths from January 1st, and in the Orange River Colony 381 since February 1st, a death-rate of about 450 per thousand. He declared that the food and shelter in the camps were inadequate, the quality of the food being equal to that of hardened criminals in our gaols. The result was the mortality was higher than among our own soldiers in the field, and yet when these so-called "voluntary refugees" petitioned to be allowed to leave the camps they were refused. With that curious habit of thought which constantly reads into modern practice the devices of the Dark Ages, he declared that this was not the result of a state of war, but of a deliberate policy to clear the country. He concluded, some- what 'unexpectedly, by saying that it was solely the Govern- ment's fault, and that he had no desire to attack Lord Kitchener, who had his hands full.
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