CAMP MYSTERY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2512, 13 July 1915, Page 6

CAMP MYSTERY

THE HURRIED FLIGHT TRAINING GROUND NEARLY , DESERTED VISIT TO TRENIHAM

frentham Camp, which grew to greatness in-the space, of about eight mouths, has been almost completely dissolved in less than a week. Buildings and tents remain, and the men of the Sixth Infantry ara still there, but'everything is inanimate——the stillness of desertion. Only a little while ago Trentham was spoken of as a permanent establishment, and the rearing of shops and halls, and hutments within its area caused The Dominion to refer to it as a second Curragh. Trentham was to be tho great permanent • training . school throughout the war, it was to bo. the place from which all embarkation would be made, and , the. place which would control all debarkation. After the war was over, it was to be. retained as a permanent camping and training ground —not all of its buildings perhaps,'but many of them. These things wero not actually decided cm,'of course, but everyone in close touch with the camp was.quite certain they would eventually come about. However, theso dreams may never be realised. Men have.been, hurried out of camp in thousands, and those who remain are quarantined. By this evening not even the quarantined may be left; the intention is to entrain them for Tsuherinikau_ this' morning. . .The cause of., the flight from Trentham is still a matter .of mystery, and, a subject of public speculation. Something has happened—that, is all anyone knows, and that "something" is just as indefinite as the messages which, convey the information that British regiments are "somewhere" in . France. "Somewhere" is anywhere between tho Pyrenees arid the North Sea; "something" seems to be anything between typhoid and measles. . The majority of the. .public are of : the opinion l that the decision to flee from Trentham was arrived at late on Thursday night, because the removal' notice was announced by the Primo Minister that night. Saturday's Dominion . stated, however, that it'was said in military circlcs that the decision was come to'on Thursday afternoon. That information was correct./-

"Up till 5 o'clock on Thursday we 'had- no intention of sliifting from Trentliam,". ono of 'the officers of the. General Staff told a Dominion representative.- "It was not ivntil after Dr., Valintme rushed in; and said that something would have to be done that we decided to move. By seven o'clock we had practically completed, arrangements as to which new sites we would go to. That is quick work, 1 think, and greatly to our credit." i.. . ,

Since the break-Tip of. their Trentham home tlio men have: Deen very unsettled, but ■ before the end of this week they should all bo encamped in their new quarters! ,Thoso Vho were held -up, inthe Manawatu by the bad weather'were under instructions to get -under': canvas as soon as the elements and the Sixth Infantry' who alone remain at ■Trentliam , are to make Taulierinikau to-day. , ■_ v

A. Dominion representative visited Trentliam yesterday.: The big camp bears only one resemblance to the camp of a week; ago; it is still a mud-lake— morein. a condition for duck shooting than for drilling. .'Pick your steps as you will, you cannot avoid getting into that unhappy cqndition'iwhich everyone describes as "mud from':head to foot.-' You become muddied ."from head to foot" before you got half-way down the road leading to the camp, but after entering, :the main gate you 1 discover that the road is the cleanest place 1 in.the locality. Tlio camping -ground, -winch, could do with thousands of loads of gravel ; has been transformed from green aores into a deplorable mud marsh, and little work seemed to be going on. The Sixth were found quartered in-new hutments. One or two buildings looked as though they, had been left by the builders in rather a hurry. Tho base hospital; appeared to be still some distance , off completion. ' One of the men of the Sixth was ; In a'state of' splendid indignation. "I get -the measles,"; ho'said, "and wlion I get better they tell me I've got a couple of weeks' leave, and that I'm.-to report o'ut here.before I take this leave.. I,report ou.t ,here, with my things all packed up ready, and they tell me I'm quarantined here." There did• soom a.lot of hard luck, and something rather grotesque in the position, but the colonial wore down tlie quarantine '.regulations;. and eventually (taking his : wor<l for it) .obtained permission to quit Trentliam. "Gets all me clothes disinfected, sleeps in disinfected sheets,/ With , disinfected blankets on. top,' and has ,a; bath ,in Jeyes' fluid, and then they says : 'You're .quarantined.'".. ■ HEAVY RAIN AT TAUHERINIKAU. A MOVE TO MASTERTON. Owing to unfavourable weather conditions, the transfer of t'he men from the Trentliam Camp to the new sites lhas not yet been resumed. The Sixth Infantry Reinforcements, t'he Artillery, and the Army Service Corps are still in their old quarters'. It was intended to send tho Sixth Infantry Reinforcements to the now camp at Taulierinikau yesterday, but owing to more rain their departure was further postponed. '• Heavy rain was falling at .Tauherinikau yesterday,., and it was decided ,to move the men there to the 'Masterton show, grounds, where they will be billeted for a, day'or two until the floors of their tents have been made and other arrangements for ensuring tho greatest possible comfort of the men have been completed. About forty cases ; of sickness havo occurred amongst the men at Tauherinikau, but there are no serious cases. i

"MYSTERY" STILL' UNSOLVED. The Trentham mystery, as it has been called, is still unsolved. The bacteriologists investigating it (have not'' yot reported to the Minister, but it is understood that up to date they have discovered nothing.alarming. Only four fresli cases occurred, at Trentham yesterday, none of tliom serious, and no deaths were reported from tlio hospitals. Indeed, no deaths have occurred since Thursday.'' All these men who fell sick yesterday were men who had recently returned from leave. , A curious fact about the business is that tho Sixth Reinforcements, who liavo been in camp longer than any of the other unitsj have suffered less from the opidemio,' and they are very' unwilling to leave tho placo.

THE MANAWATU CAMPS. ; Finer weather prevailed in the Manawatu 'district yesterday, and tho arrangements for putting tho Trentham Regiment into camp on the new site at Rangiotu (between Longlmrn and Foxton) were advanced a considerable (itage. It' is intended to - move' 600 men from Palmerston to this camp today. Tho water supply has been completed, and as, the_ site is admitted by all who have seen it to be ail excellent one, it is expected that the men will be very comfortable tliercK Tho men at AVaikanae and Levin are still under comfort-able cover, pending the completion of arrangements for a move to the new camp site at Waikanae. Tho Prime Minister expressed yesterday his high appreciation of the hospitality oxtended to tho soldiers by the Mtiyou und citizens of. tho towns ad- ■ Meat to ifeg Maftptiy patgp.^... i