TRENTHAM CAMP

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2352, 7 January 1915, Page 7

TRENTHAM CAMP

: • HARD TRAINING MEN MAKING GOOD PROGRESS The several thousand men who are being trained in the Trehtham Military , Camp'for active service are making excellent progress. The officers who aro entrusted with the duty of teaching them what they require to know are highly pleased with the advancement of their pupils, and the Defence' Department in general regards the progress inade as entirely satisfactory.. As The, Dominion has already stated, the men whom the officers have to train ' in the present camp are the finest collection of raw soldiers ever_ got together in' New Zealand, and it is the opinion of those who have had the experience which gives them authority to speak that on troops m ■ the Empire will excel,them in physique and aptitude. .'■•'- ' A' visit to the camp is most interesting. For hours every day the large Btretohes of the perfectly flat Trentham country may be "seen covered with large bodies of men. The men are kept hard at their drill without any waste of time while daylight lasts, and _in tho evenings there are lectures for different branches. The recruits are still undergoing elementary • training, but those who visited the camp anoT watched tho drilling a few weeks ago' (when the present camp was in its infancy) will be considerably , surprised if they present themselves' at ; Trentham again at anytime when the swards are thick with men and the air is filled with a babel of officers' com- , mands. 3000. Men Under Canvas. , It is characteristic of the military • that Christmas and the holiday season were, allowed to interfere' with . tho j training as little as possible. The men, j of course, spent a happy Christmas; and were •• catered for by the civilians. • The : authorities djd everything they ■ could to facilitate the promotion of a little fitting holiday _ fun, and the men were shortened up in their work and' given leave to come into the city. The .-, necessity for the least possible break ; in the continuity of their, work was realised by the men, and they thor- . onghly appreciated what was done for them. Now everyone has settled down { again, and all minds ,are 'fixed! on tho ( undertakings ahead, and the preparation is going along wonderfully, well. • In addition to the thousands of troop- j ers marching to' and fro about the j training "ground,! men may be seen at ( work learning to use howitzers, and ( others are to be observed.in tho mount- j ed division .performing the evolutions j which the mounted soldier needs to be ( in. The horses aro very , good, and as is generally the case in j this country, most of the men who { choose to join the.mounted branch of { the service ar.e good horsemen. z Some months ago the camp was too | big for its water supply, and all taps but' those at the cook-houses had to a be cut off at certain hours of the day. c This was an inconvenience, and was t generally considered to be the only 6 drawback of the camp. The foldiers, t

however, soon remedied the. matter; they* ran in another main from the Mils, and the supply of water 'ia now quite adequate. At present there are over 3000 men under canvas at; Trentham,; and in a few weeks there will be about 3500, or,' perhaps, a "little more- When that strength is reached-the required mim ; .ber, to complete 7^he-fthird; r;-an;d: r the.. fourth reinforcements' will be in hand. WlllTrontham be a Curragh? : 'It seems possible that. Trentham may grow in importance, arid one day become populous. Yesterday it consisted of a racecourse, a railway siding, a rifle range, and Borne residences. Today it is an : important military camp. To-morrow it may he a thriving township. The Defence authorities are con-, sideririg the question of replacing the present tents with huts in which to■ house jthe men : more comfortably, and I more economically. This gives an'air of additional permanency to the camp. Already military skill has revolutionised the_ sanitary conditions and general habitableness of the camp, and it is now regarded, as the finest camp ever made in New Zealand..,'. , Shops are springing up in the grounds—the barber, the draper, "the jeweller, and others are there. There is a post office, picture show, and various -religious institatictaß have their buildings or their tents.-. During the currency of. the war there will always be 30D0 or so men in camp, and these will all need .to be catered for by busi' ness people. . Moreover, this camj> will always; (it seems) be the place of'mobilisatlon for troops required in New Zealand,'and for troops leayine New Zealand, and it will be the place of demobilisation for troops returning to the Dominion. Trentham will still accommodate the men engaged in two bia rifle meetings every year, so' who knowß that out of the ' present camp there will 'not another Ourraeh? For Curragh had its beginning in somewhat similar circumstances during the Crimea war.

However, if the scheme to build huts is _f!one on with, the -white tents which now clot the fields, will soon disappear, and they will not' even reappear when the crack riflemen happen along to fire for the Belt, as an arrangement will almost certainly be made to aocommbdalte *hem in 'the huts. '"•■'£ CABLEGRAMS TO SOLDIERS \ .NEW ARRANGEMENTS MADE. ] The Postmaster-General notifies that ; arrangements have been made for the \ acoeptance and transmission of week- ] end and free messages for members of j the Expeditionary Forces, to come into ( operation immediately.' . j .Week-end letter telegrams of a social ] character may bo sent to or from soldiers, eailors, and nurses • engaged in / the. Expeditionary Forces in England, ( France, and Belgium', These telegrams ] will be charged for at ninepence per \ word with no minimum, and messages ; for delivery in France and Belgium will j be posted from London, and in the case „ of a telegram from a member of the \ Expeditionary Forces in France and < Belgium, these will be forwarded by j post to London and telegraphed onward , from there. • In the case of telegrams for mem- j bera of the Forces, the senders should v as far as possible give the regimental j number, rank, and name of squadion, 1 battery, or company, or other \ unit, and name Expeditionary Force . concerned, and in the case of troops ] not with the Expeditionary Force, the name of the place where they are sta- j tioned. Whore the sender is not in ( possession of these particulars, the tele- \ gram will still be accopted, but it must i Be clearly taiderstood that thero may bo 0 difficulty in effecting delivery. All telegrams will be accepted at the sender's risk, and no subsequent inquiry concerning them can be undertaken. Arrangements have also been made for the transmission of free "casualty" telegrams concerning the wounded, pro--vided they are limited to bona-fide inquiries addressed to' the proper Government authorities—in the case of New Zealand, the secretary, General Post .Office, Wellington—concerning persons who have been officially reported to be wounded, seriously wounded, or dangerously wounded, but not to persons who have been reported to have been slight ly wounded only- Persons who have been officially reported to be suffering from disease will come under this oat*, -r sory. The aumiter of tclegrama of ia> s

quiry which may be'Sfait tinder this arrangement concerning any ono individual person is limited to three. Tho individual tolegrams will bo posted onwards to the Government authorities concerned in tho a daily "packed" telegram. The H;gh Commissioner in London for the Dominion will colj lecfc all information no'-essary for replying to inquiries and yrward by cable to the secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, by .whom the information ivill bo distributed! to the persons concerned. ' To secure free transmission the sender must' 1 produco when handing in the message tho official intimation showing that the person concerning whom he is making inquiry has_ been officially reported -wounded,, seriously wounded, or dangerously wounded, and this intimation will be endorsed by the office where the telegram originates in order to 6'how whether the message is the first, second, or third inquiry. As tho High Commissioner will probably not have in his possession tho ■ information necessary to enable him to reply to a telegram inquiry concerning persons in Belgium'-and France, some time must necessarily. elapse ■ before a reply can be r<s'uved, inquiries from London being by post.