THE ORINGI CAMP.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1364, 15 February 1912, Page 6

THE ORINGI CAMP.

ARDUOUS DAY,

HARD WORK WITH THE GUNS.

GENERAL ARRIVES,

(By Telegraph—Special Ecportcr.) Oringi, February 11. By this time—the third day of real iard work at the Oringi training camp—

the gunners and engineers have fairly settled down to the business in hand. Their enthusiasm lias been kindled, and, by tlie time that the foreign foe arrives —some of them have been seen lurking about the vicinity of luimeroa and the guns are ordered out to destroy him—the recruits will b<? keen enough.. From what ran be gathered Wellington is once more in the grasp of the invadei, and tho defending forces, are concentrating from various points upon Palinorston, with the intention of drawing him ont into the open.. Word has reached the defenders that the enemy has dispatched a llimking force to CasUepoint per coastal steamers, with the object of. taking the defenders on the left, and to circumvent this dark and desperate scheme two battalions of infantry, one field battery, and a-company of engineers has. moved out trom Napier. By this evening they will have reached Dannevirke en route to Palmerston, and the enemy meantime has entrenched himself on the hills to the eastward of Oringi. , "Going to be a Conflict." To-morrow morning (Thursday) there is ! going to be a conflict. The enemy is to be ousted from his entrenchments., and made to suffer the ignominy of defeat. All this of course is plca«a'nt imagination, for the-Kuropean orchestra is still practising peace symphonies, but artillery practice, carried out in conformity with a conceivable plan of attack, invests the situation with a semblance of reality which assists the recruit to perceive the why and tho wherefor of the various movements of the battery, and the actions of tho battery commander, and to understand the value of the work of the specialists in observation of fire and so en. These duties, which are humble enough may be, are an essential part of the exercise with an intelligent appreciation of the .raison d'etre of the whole operation. The work of the day has been rough— a rehearsal of the plan of action for the day of the conflict—and, as Major-Gen-eral Godley is to be here to-morrow to see the battle, all concerned are particularly anxious to "do themselves proud as the saying is. A Little Trial With the Guns. The forenoon was a fairly strenuous one, being devoted to a rehearsal of the action from the order to move out to the attack till the moment of opening lire on the distant hillside. First there was the search of the target by the battery commanders, and then 'come the range-takers with their mekometer. The range having been approximated, the flag waggers signalled the advance to the battery on the terrace below, supposedly under cover from observation. The advance, with recruit horses holding the balance of power so to speak, was not magnificent, but it certainly recalled one's impressions of war. With its rattle of chains, creaking of harness, and exhortations of the drivers ths guns and ammunition wagons came straining up tho terraced slopes to the-firiuc point just below the gun parks, and wheeled into position.

, Whipping Horses—A Warning. • All things considered it was a very good performance. The aiming , posts were the.n adjusted, and the gun layers took a hand at this stage. The manoeuvre was criticised, certain defects pointed out. and the battery commander issued -i

solemn, warning to those drivers who had been rather free -with the whip. Each team has three drivers, ono to each pair of horses in the team. The. driver sits on the rear horse, the reins: in his left.

hand, and the whip in his ritfht extended over the shoulders of the off horse. The well-trninp'l gun-horses will usually respond to the voice of the driver, accompanied, in strenuous moments, with a gentle tap with the stock of the whip.

Drivers who use the thonT of the whip ton freelv, and so exc'te the hnrses unnecessarily." are punished in the Armv by bavin;: the Hinm-'s of their whip tied t<i the. stocks so that they ennnot hit their horses. In the Poyal Artillery this punishment is regarded ns a degraditinn. and very keenly felt when imposed, but the gun teams of the Royal Artillery am not. scratched together at short notice from the'nearest livery stables >is they »re. with a few exentions. in the New Zealand Territorial Fi»ld Artillerv. and the averaee hired gun horse can ho

vcTy silly at times. It is a principle in the training of the army bors?. however, that patient education—not the thong—is, in the lorn* run. th» most effective method of getting intelligent am! msponsive effort out of the animals. Hence the battery commander's objection to too much whip. The manoeuvre was then repeated with much better results, though on" team of recruit horse? tied itself in a kunt, and incurred the displeasure of tho drivers. Livo Shell. Tin's afternoon tho gunners received their baptism of fire, and several rounds of b've shell were sent screaming across the Manawatn River. Profiting bv their rehearsing in the morning, the advanced operation was carried opt in good style, the wheeling of the battery about the big yellow park b"ing verv rtrettv tn see. A strong gale during the day hid fanned th-d bush fires back in the hil!=. and a dense cloud of smoke hung over the skv, hiding th* glare of th? sun.and r-irtly ob?f;urin? the artillery tarret.on the opposite side of thp river.' Hence it bscnn"> necessary to move the guns well forward, and fire at comparatively short ran.TC Th» practice was "slow instructional." and a very successful prenaration for the more serious business of the morrow. Busy Time for Engineers. With the Engineer.-, also, tho day has been a busy one. The Oroua-Kiritnki viaduct, which bridges the.stream near the camp, would in war be a very important roint in the defences of the camp, and in tho maintaining of uninterrupted communication, am! to one section of the Engineers has b°on given the task of oonstrucrim , covered trenches for outposts in a position commanding the viaduct. Those protected outnosts am circular in design, constructed of sods, nnd covered in by a bullet-proof shield to interceot stray bullets and splinters from shell';. They are not bomb proof, but against the attacks of skirmishing parties they afford secure cover, and the general character of their construction l;oing similar to their natural surroundings, makes them regular trans for unwary intruders. Pome yards distant, protecting the exposed front of Iho sheller, the Engineers ore nlso constructing barbed wire entanglement-''. Science of Field Kitchens. Another sectiow of the company has been detailed to construct a field kitchen, which, lo tho inexperienced eye, is n"f in the least like a kitchen. Imagine three parallel trenches gradually narrowing from their outer extremities, which are shap?d like inverted cones, anil about a foot deep, till they run into tho base of what looks like a big turf bank which runs at right angles to the trenches, and disnpiwnr into this bank like so many rabbit-holes, terminating in the centre of the bank at the foot of'shafts which lead to the top of the bank. This is Ihp fi«ld kitchen of approved modern design. The cook lights his Tires along the trenches, and the air, entering the trenches at the outer extremities, is sucked^ along, creating si powerful draught, which roars out of the shafts in the sod bank like a blast from a furnace. The camp ovens are laid in vows along the trenches, nnd the fierce heat, created by the forced draught underneath, produces very satisfactory results inside the ovens.

Other engineer squads earned the gratitude of the camp cooks by erecting rnnpo shelters above the ovens, these affording protection ngninst sun and rain. General Goclley arrived in vamp late in the afternoon, and was received by the commandant of the camn (Lieuten-ant-Colonel G. N. .Tohnston, Director of Ordnance , !. He will be present at Ihe mimic warfare to-morrow. The Casualties. Harvey, of the R.N.8.A.-not Hurler, n> previously reported—who sustaiaed a

broken'arm as the result of a nasty fall wlion riding bareback without >\ bridle yesterday, is being sent homo (o-day, together ivitli another man (Trcsider. of the J.) ISattcry). whose horse bucked botli saddle andrider off on Monday afternoon, and who foil on the back of his head. As his neck is* .somewhat Miff and sore, he is being sent: home until for duly. Another man, .lone?, of live Knßinocrs, who came to camp with incipient sickness, was sent to Dannevirke. Hospital this afternoon.

Apart from these rases (he general health of the ramp is as pond oa it could possibly be. Tim hired horse.", ton, arc getting; very lit on their regular three rations a day, which include hard oats, and there are only two or three on the sick line.

To-night it is intended to have a campfire conceit, and an energetic committee, representative of each company in camp, is scouring the tents in search , of suit able talent for the programme. To-monoiv is to bo one of the biff days of (he camp, and everybody is looking forward to fight with the "furrin" i'oe.