THE NEW TRAINING PLAN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2534, 7 August 1915, Page 4

THE NEW TRAINING PLAN

The new arrangements made by the Defence Department for tho training of tho reinforcement drafts and now units for the front appear to have been exceedingly well thought out. We have felt it necessary in the past to expose certain serious defects in the sanitation of Trentham Camp, but wo havo throughout recognised that apart from the deficiencies on the medical sido tho general administration, of the camp left little to be desired." In the absence of fully-trained medical officers, the vast difference in the sanitary requirements of a largo standing camp and tho temporary camps of which alone we have had experience was not fully _ appreciated. The Royal Commission has now collected a mass of invaluable data on the subject, a new Director of Medical Services is en route frcm England, and wo have no doubt that the Dominion's training camps will be made as healthy as any in the Empire. Tho Minister has stated that ho is prepared to make whatever alterations may bo found necessary as the result. of tho Commission's inquiry, and with this proviso tho Department's training plan will, we are sure, receive wide commendation. Two camps, in brief, aro to be established, one at Trentham and the other at Tauherinikau, both accommodating 4000 men. The recruits for tho reinforcement drafts will bo put through their elementary training at Trentham and will then proceed to Tauherinikau for the advanced course, afterwards returning to Trentham for advanced musketry instruction and final equipment before embarkation. By this arrangement tho fullest use will bo made of the Trentham rifle range, and tho two camps will be kept within managcablo size. Such new units as are to bo dispatched will bo encamped elsewhere under canvas. Once tho medical side- of tho Defenco Department reaches its full efficiency and the new board of business men supervises the purchasing of stores and .equipment, the Dominion should havo one of the best, military machines to bo found within the Empire. Tho tribute paid by the Siidmu Uorniwj Herald to camp administration in Now Zealand is well justified, and it is light to remember that, .despite their milder winters and the facilities given by dofenc-s orgnnleiifcivm vu a larger scale, tfrere kfid becu outbreaks ,o£

cerebrospinal meningitis at both the Victorian and New South Wales camps. It only remains for us to add that in view of the increasing seriousness of the situation in Europe wo hope that the same resource which the Defence Department has shown in the development of the new training plan will be applied to the problem of dispatching even larger- drafts to the front. Great difficulties will have to be Overcome, but it is to the Department that the country looks to enable it to give reality to that determination 'it expressed at Wednesday's gatherings to prosecute the war until complete victory is obtained. It is on the genius possessed by those in authority for the improvisation of new forces that, our future depends, and we take the announcement of the extra battalions and the new training scheme as a happy augury. The Trentham epidemic by its severity and dramatic suddenness has engrossed the attention of the country for many_ weeks, but already it is sinking to its true proportions as an episode, tragical and unhappy as it was. The public has now received convincing assurance that the lessons of the epidemic aro being learned and applied, and it remains for us ono and all to give our fullest support and assistance to the Defenco authorities in their efforts to send the machinery full speed ahead. In that lies our common safety and security.