TRENTHAM SUNDAY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2482, 8 June 1915, Page 6

TRENTHAM SUNDAY

* RECORD CROWDS EXTRAORDINARY SCENES AT LAMBTON STATION HUNDREDS LOCKED OUT The largest number of visitors who e\er attended Trentham Camp went ® im^a 3 T On the trains all previous records were broken, and in addition scores travelled by other means. The scene at the Lambton Railway Station will not be quickly forgotten by some of those who were unlucky enough to get into the centre ?• 1 °, arm y which bore down upon the ticket-boxes and tried to push a way on to the barricaded platform. The afternoon train out to the camp was timed to leave Lambton at 1.55, but. long before then sufficient people w, ar + T' ed , at sti,tio » to M itWhile the stTugglo was yet proceeding vigorously in the tickct lobby, the doors leading to the station were shut and 'ocked. Would-be passengers who had bought their tickets vainlv tried to open the doors, and then a rush for the op6ii air set in, someone harinc unwisely suggested that the gates had not been locked. The gates, however, were locked and guarded. Everyone in his or her turn tried the gates to make certam they wore locked, then peered enviously through the bars at the lucky ones 011 the other side: and then went back to the ticket lobby to take up a good position for the scramble for tlio next tram. When tho 1.55 had pulled out, tho disappointed crowd of several hundred was allowed on to the platform to take its chance for the 2 15 Tho 2.15 was late arriving from Te Aro, and lato getting away from Lambton, and again the doors and gates shut out a large number. Some got in by round-about paths, and a few men scaled the gates at the last moment when resistance by tho railway employees would have been almost futile, but the remainder were held up till the 2.33. ■Ihis last train accommodated all the passongors who wished to go by it. The traffic to Trentham was 125 per cent, over normal, and 75 per cent, over that which was handled by tho railwav °' 1 the Sunday prior to the departure 0? the Fourth Reinforcements, which up till last Sunday had been a record day. Three thousand of tho general public travelled to the camp and back in the afternoon, and about 1000 soldiers. Nevertheless, tho trains (except the 2.15) were dispatched on time., The 2.15 being an exceptionally long and heavy tram made a particularly slow trip up the \ alley, and her passengers were left rather little time in which to look oyer the big camp, or see friends in ivliftivi. It was a beautiful afternoon for midwinter, and when the trains arrived the men in camp lined the roadways leading to the training ground, all keenly, on the look-out for friends among the visitors. Hundreds of soldiers in leisure attire ranged along the fence, smoking and chatting, and looking the happiest healthiest company in all the world. ' The crowd wended its way down the road.to the main entrance, and alongside it for a while drove three lads fn a sulky. The lads endeavoured furiously to induce their horse to accelerate its rate of progress, but the horse was not m the least enthusiastic about the proposal, and the position became more larcical than ever when several hundred soldiers made valiant efforts (all worthy of tho V.C.) to stop the runaway. To many this was their first taste of Trentham, and it was a highly diverting introduction. It was good to see this crowd on its way to Trentham. Many had friends there, a few went solely to see the great training-ground, but hundreds trotted along with little bundles under their arms—something for "him." It was good to see the welcome the soldiers gave the friends who wore thoughtful enough to spare a fow hours to run out and see them. Trentham does not look so picturesque these days as it did in its earlier life. A few months ago the camp was a town of while tents, with just a few corrugated-iron buildings hero and there—so few that they were unnoticed among the tents. Now from llio train and the road what tents there are are hidden by the huge wood hutments which cover a large area of the ground previously occupied by tents. Tents, however, are still fairly numerous, and they have extended across the road to the land where the mounted men and the artillery used to learn the early rules of their arts. There were many in the huge crowd to whom Trentham was quite new; these had come to Wellington specially to see friends who had made the camp their temporary abode. To these visitors the several streets of shops, the churches, and the various halls were a source of wonde/ment. "All this," they asked, "since the war started?" "Yes, all except that iron building there, which was used for the Dominior Rifle Club's meetings." "Marvellous I" It is wonderful, and Trentham iB fasl becoming a second Curragli. It is z town in itself, and in population it if a town as big as Masterton, Carterton, and Greytown together, or nearly as big as New Plymouth and Hawera together. For Trentham's population exceeds 7000. For many a day yet the new Curragl will be one of the most importan) places in the _ .Many s soldier will receive his training there before the war is over