A CAMP'S ANNIVERSARY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2989, 29 January 1917, Page 6

A CAMP'S ANNIVERSARY

FEATHERSTON'S FIRST YEAR WIDE-SPREAD AND BUSY PLACE Featherston Military Training Camp celebrated its first anniversary on Saturday. Exactly twelve months ago, tho troops in training at Tauhcrenikau were iu the throes of moving; tho road between the old tent camp and the now camp of modern buildings, paved streets, proper drainage, and water supply, and electric light, was busy with A.S.C. ' wagons and any other wagons that could be pressed into service. Men on bicycles carried amazing loads. Into the new camp everything was carried, and even when all was iu and the troops had left tho old camp for good I —as it seemed then —tho now camp still appeared half empty. Those were days when tho Public Works workmen, who were putting finishing touches on old work or engaged on extra work, had to watch their hammers, nails, and littlo bits of odd timber. The officers and'men •were bent on adding nails, shelves, and other luxuries to the accommodation. But there was no clashing whatever. Big as the camp was then, however, it lias grown prodigiously since. And its ramifications extend far over tho Wairarapa plan and the foothills. Tauherenikau has been put into commission again, Papawai is a permanent rifle range camp, and the main camp grows all the time. To-day it contains men of every arm, and it is the artillery and mounted camp tor New Zealand. For the training of theso two arms the Wairarapa country is specially well adapted. Tho most noticeable feature of I'eatlierston Camp, to the visitor who saw it twelve months' ago, is that the mass of buildings that previously were to tho north of the main Greytown Toad only, has overflowed across that thoroughfare, while a camp of tents is an established thing further along on tho southern side, and.there are gateways and guard rooms at each end or the camp on tho main road.

The Camp To-day. Featherston Camp, which now contains over 8000 men, is awakened at reveille by the sound of trumpets, the Trumpet-Band is one of tho camps regimental touches. The bugle is' an infantry instrument, but the trumpets do duty for both mounted and foot soldiers That reveille, played by twelve trumpeters, awakens the camp Jn every one of its departments. he mounted infantry, the artillery, the A S C. turn out to stables, whilo the night pickets, who have kept guard over the horses all night, seek rest and refreshment; tho infantry turns out, too, and this is the time when the infantryman thanks his stars that ho has no horse to bother with. The. Divisional Signallers and the Specialists and the Artillery Signallers awaken, too, to another day of dots and dashes and manipulation of machine-guns or wireless, flags or flashes, discs or diagrams After breakfast the infantry is played out to drill by the Trumpet Band, tho artillery sends.a battery clattering out to firo live shell across a two-mile range, or moves out to its training ground, a paddock from whoso emerald sward every stone has been carefully gathered. There the teams wheel and manoeuvre, with the keen eye of au instructor to make tho men look; lively. Tho mounted infantry are the rovers of the camp. They may bo met with in any part of the valley or hills, reconnoitring, scouting, map-making, or engaged in other of the many phase? of their training.

Tho Army Service Corps wagon in ay rumble out, too, on a long trek, which will take them from camp for three days, during which they will go through every feature- of their field training, oven to noting in their notebooks tho crops available for fodder, the houses in which troops might be billeted, aid the food supplies available. Tho Signallers are always busy on tho roads and hills. Their wagon with its drum of insulated wire thai is paid out by tho roadside is a familiar object to travellers on the roads. From tho wagon to flag-stations, and from flag-stations to tho helios in the hills, headquarters to keep in touch with all that is being done, and when the artillery and machine-guns are at battle practice, the signallers of all grades keep tho guns and targets in touch with tho various signal centres, and with the camp. The Engineers are trained at Trentham, but the Engineers' Signallers are trained in M\o trenches at Featherston, _ near where tho wireless rears its aerials on high, and whore tho dug-outs arc many and named by strange names. The Ma-chine-gun Specialists are always training. They have much to learn, and pay strict attention to business, and their battle practice is a stirring spectacle.

When the Boys Come Home. At noon the band will go out and bring the infantry back to camp, playing cheery airs that speed the weary Icet. This is another of the. lino sights of the camp, to see the infantry thousands strong, inarching in. Perhaps a body of them has been out route-marching. Sun-burned and dusty, wearing shorts that show bare brown knees, they swing into camp and down to their quarters. All meals are served in the huge dining-rooms, and after lunch there is time for relaxation ere the Camp Brass Band —that has silver instruments—leads the ticcpsout to parade again. \ Towards evening the troops begin to drift back to camp from outlying parts. Iu a solid body the infantry inaichcs in from tho evening dismiss, and at evening the trumpeters halt beneath the flag outside Headquarters to play the "Retreat." At the first notos of the trumpets, the flag is s'owly lowered, while every man in cai-ip stands ai) attention. Soon lights begin to twinkle throughout tho oinip. The main road within the camp hiuiids, with its rows of shops and institutes, is thronged with men. Further on, behind the trees, the hospital shows bright and comfortable-looking and quiet. Sounds of singing, mellowed by distance, comes from the ghostly-look-ing tent camp. The long camp streets, with their remarkable perspectives, are twinkling with lights that are fed fr; in the humming eiighip-huuse beside the tall shower-bath building, wherein some soldiers are enjoying a hot bath. Tn twelve months Featherston Camp has come into its own. It has ''found itself" ; from a collection of buildings it has become a camp in Jieing. From beginning to end. the achiev.ng of this has been a matter for congratulation for those concerned—and it still is.