The Dominion THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1915. WHY TRENTHAM CAMP SITE SHOULD BE CHANGED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2508, 8 July 1915, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1915. WHY TRENTHAM CAMP SITE SHOULD BE CHANGED

I It is in' no fault-finding spirit [that we urge tho Minister or Defence to assert his authority and at once order the removal of Trcntham Camp to some other site in the same neighbourhood. There are many suitable sites near by. The condition of tho camp has' been improved in some respects .of latej Sut there aro certain facts in connection with it which cannot be ignored and which imperatively point to the necessity for change'. We are not referring only to the measles epidemic and to the very severe form of influenza which frwe 'spread through the camp with such distressing results. These of themselves afford reason enough for a change of site; but:in addition there are still stronger grounds for removal. Wo do not know what principles have guided those officers of the Defence Department responsible for the sanitation of \ Trentham Camp, but they most cerfcaiiily are not those laid down for tho guidance of the Imperial Army. Two elementary rules of hygiene ha been violated. A great part of tho camp has remained on the- _ same piece of ground for a period of nearly ten months, and in addition, the area used has been greatly overcrowded. To make matters worse the arrangements which the War Office manuals recommend for securing the' personal cleanliness of 'the men have not been provided. Every _ military text-book without'exception insists on the, desirableness of frequent changes' to new camping sites. The longer men remain in one spot tho more disease appears. The position is succinctly put by one distinguished authority, Lieutenant-Colonel R. Caldwell, RiA.M.C. Writing in the light of his experience in the' South African War and as a member of tho Sur-geon-General's Committee on Field Sanitation in that campaign, Lieu-tenant-Colonel Caldwell says in his Military Hygiene {1910), page 517: . . . There are two rules <jf prime importance which.. must never- be forgotten m regard to camp conservancy. These rules aTe comprised, firstly, in a frequent change 'of . camping ground, and, secondly, in tha avoidance of concentration. . . . I have again and again no. ticed a.rapid improvement in health when old camping, grounds were abandoned and fresh ones occupied. Both of thesp rules have been forgotten in the sanitation of Trentham Camp. Doubtless reasons can be adduced for the course of action pursued by those on whose shoulders th'c responsibility rests. , Nevertheless it is impossible to "escape tho fact that eleven deaths from disease have occurred within the brief space of nine days; that over 600 men from the camp were iiy hospital last week; that an -unspecified number are away being cared for in their homes; and that others again have been discharged as mcdically unfit. Tha Defence Department proposes to restore the health of the men by transferring them from the tents to tho hutments.'; We most earnestly hope _ that "the Minister will 'veto this idea , without delay. All the •available evidence goes to show that the'bulk of the sickness is among the men of the Trentham: Regiment, who have lived in the hutments ever since .they went into camp. The Minister himself has admitted as muoh. Wo have been informed by men in camp that the sick parade of the Trentham Regiment, comprising 2500 men out of , the total strength of 7000 in camp, is quite as big if not bigger than that of the whole of tho rest of the camp. The mortality statistics of the regiment are in startling contrast to those of the rest of the camp. For the period from June 28 to July 2, when seven deaths occurred, the figures were: ■ ■- Deaths. Balte per ' No. 1000. Trentham Regiment (2500 men) 5 > 2.00 Other units (4500 men) . 2 0.41 This is to say, the death-rate in tho Trentham Regiment has been more than four times as high as in the rest of the camp. Since July 2 four more deaths have been reported. Two of them at least were of 'men of the Trentham Regiment, and it has not been stated tb what units the other two belonged. These figures are . startling. They are prima fade a, complete condemnation . of the hutments. These structures are boSh defective in, design and overcrowded. In addition to the overcrowding, itself tending'to lower the vitality, of the men and facilitating the invasion of ■ disease, the risk of infection is increased by the housing of excessively large numbers of men in single compartments. Finally the hutments aro erected over ground that Has been fouled by many months of previous encampment, and the design t 'of the buildings allows the poisonous emanations, from the soil to rise directly around the heads of the sleeping men. These facts should have been pointed out by the • medical officers responsible for_ the sanitation and liygienic conditions at tho camp. We would direct the attention of the Minister and those who designed the hutments to the principles laid down in the 1914 reprint of the War Office Manual of Elementary Military lly. gicne (19i2), issued "by command of the Army Council for the guidance of all conccmed." On .page 81 is a table showing the floor space and air space per man . to be allowed in the erection of wooden huts The dimensions of tho huts at Trentham according to the published figures aro: Length, 140 feet: width,. 2Sft.; height of stud, 7ft. 6in.; height of ridge, 13ft. 6in. These huts are divided Into t*vo Mmfwfcmgnta, piich im&ms so ice% ike spm m

man compares as follows with that prescribed in the Imperial Army: Floor Air space, space, sq. ft. cubic ft. Imperial Army huts (iO.O COO Trentham huts 33 330 Under the Imperial scalc a Trentham hutment '■ would bo used to accommodate no more than 54 men, 27 in each compartment. Moreover, the hutments would be used only as dormitories, and not as dormitories (and mess rooms combined, as at Trcntham. Under the best of conditions the housing together of 50 men in a single compartment is to be strongly deprecated as exposing them to needless risks of infection. Captaln E. Blake Ivnox, a recognised authority, recommends tho building of huts to accommodate not.more than twelve men each. In addition to these serious shortcomings as to floor and air space ; and the admission of food into sleeping quarters, the Trcntham _ hutments are defective in construction. They are, we believe, in all cases built with wooden floors and walls of unlincd corrugated "iron.. The roofs also aro of corrugated iron lined with a felt' material. A space of about six inches is left between tho wall and cavc _ for ventilation, louvres are also inserted at the ends of the' huts for the same purpose, and air is further admitted from below through the spaces between the floor-boards and the corrugations in tho iron of the walls. The huts, as a matter of'fact, aro to a large extent funnels for the concentration of draughts. Writing with personal experience of hut-building in the South African War, . LieutenantColonel' Caldwell says on page 551 of his book:

Corrugated, iron huts are easily erected on service, and special knowledge is iiot for tho purpose, but certain 'points are essential in their construction. They should be lined either with wood or felting . . . Felting for many reasons is not deoirable when wood can be obtained.

It will be seen from the facts set out that the hutments at Trentham are far from satisfactory habitations for our troops in training, apart from the dangers duo to the epidemics which have occurred at the' camp and tho risks arising from a too long occupation of - the same camping spaces. All efforts must now be directed to effecting improvement, and that improvement, it is evident, can best be effected by the remoyal of the camp on to clean and wholesome ground. According to one calculation the' arrangement of tents at Trentham has involved tho crowding together of 648 men per acre. The camp was first laid out as what is known in .military parlanco as a "compressed" camp. Such camps are one stage above a bivouac and should not be occupied for more thaji a few days without being 'opened out. ' Captain Blake Knox's manual states that a standing camp should not conta-in. more ;than 36 tents to the acre, which with eight men to a- tent gives 288 riien to the acre, less than half the number .which has apparently beon customary at Trentham. Health and efficiency should be restored at Trcntham by a change to a new and properly-spaced camping ground. Tents with wooden floors aro iar preferable to the' present hutments, though the latter might be made satisfactory by lining them with wood and providing a better system of ventilation. On page 68 of the War Office Manual of .Elementary- Mililary Hygiene,is a plan that repays study. ' It shows a camp laid out with, dining tents grouped in. a block—to, prevent. decomposing scraps of food being scattered throughout the camp; with a tent for drying clothes in in wet weather and posts and ropes for drying'them on in fine weather—to prevent the development of disease through chills and colds; and with another tent divided up into bath-rooms with a hot-water boiler outside—to facilitate that personal cleanliness indispensable to health when men are herded together in crowds. Such arrangements are in marked contrast to those at Trentham. The Defence Department knows to-day the cost of neglected sanitation, and it is im-. perative that the teachings of this experience, shall, be applied without delay. The Department should at, once concentrate its energies on laying out a new camp at Trentham that will make healthy men healthier and' demonstrate what can be achieved by the scrupulous observance of hygienic principles. Trentham Camp is in many respects one', of the finest institutions this country has produced. _ It has proved an admirable . training camp, but the failure of those responsible for the sanitary arrangements threatens everything with confusion. The situation as it. exists to-day cannot .be met by half-measures and compromises. It would be folly to spend money tinkering, with the hutments until the, new Director of Medical Services arrives. ._ In Victoria the big camp established there was broken up and moved to new ground when conditions rendered a 'change desirable, and tho_ same thing can be done here. 'It will cost something to make the change, but it will cost still more both,-in money and cfliciency, if not in lives, to continue on the germ-impregnated ground on which the camp has been located for so many months.