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[Page 104]
seen & found that a few of them were of a very bad character, having been sentenced formally whilst in the Army to a period up to 2 years & huge sums having been deducted off their pay. In one case as much as £185 in fines in 4 years service & others similar. The women in lots of cases are of a very poor type (least said the better yet others are of a very good stamp. The drawback is that the good have to live with the bad as all are on the same level as soldiers wives. One young woman of about 26 with 3 children came aboard, her husband did not come & since she has been aboard she has had her box in her cabin pillaged, clothing taken & lost all her money, viz. £8.10 in a purse, so is now penniless. The O.C. Adjutent & the C. of England Padre on board intend having a subscription made on her behalf. Several cases of theft have occured amongst other women similar to the one mentioned. The conduct of a fair amount of the married couples on board day & night is disgraceful. Being married it is hard to rectify matters yet restrictions are brought on gradually. The O.C. of troops & the Captain of the Transport being very generous with them formally now their attitude is becoming more severe. Discontent & falling out with one another prevails & several instances which would not be prudent to put in in this diary in writing. Yet every care is taken of the wives & babies, every help, Nurses mixing babies food & doctors doing their utmost to make them comfortable.