 Dr Charles Arthur Courtney, the acting Medical Superintendent, echoed this view, noting the patients were fed more than the usual government ration; that the North Queensland leprosy patients who had been on Fantome Island since 1939 had never complained; and that a lot of food was wasted by the newcomers.Although the Department of Native Affairs was responsible for supplying the lazaret, Bleakley blamed the Health Department for not requesting a special diet for the Peel Island patients, as the lazaret was under the control of the latter department.Meanwhile, the construction of facilities at the lazaret had continued.