THE TRENTHAM CAMP.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1423, 13 July 1915, Page 3

THE TRENTHAM CAMP.

MR FIELD’S VIEWS. A good deal has been said in the press respecting the Trentham site for military training purposes, and a Royal Commission has been set up to make full and searching inquiries. On the above question, Mr W. H. Field, M.P. for this constituency, writes as follows under Saturday’s date : “For weeks past I have been urging the Government to look for a healthier spot or spots, and have all along assured them, Dr. Newman and others to the contrary notwithstanding, that the Trentham Camp was an incurable swamp, cold, damp, miserable and utterly unfit for men to inhabit in the winter. The suggestion I made was that there should be two camps, one a summer one at Trentham, and the other a winter one on dry sandy land in the Manawatu district, where the rainfall, about 30 inches, is very much less than at Trentham, and weather conditions generally are drier, warmer and pleasanter. The knowalls seem to have made the Government believe that Trentham was ideal in all seasons of the year, and the result was that nothing was done until Friday last, when they got some fresh advice of a startling characler, and at once set about ‘the removal of the men. The camps are therefore being established at Waikanae, Himatangi, Rangiotuand Tauherenikau, and the officers who are being trained will go to the showground or racecourse, in Palmerston N. The only difficulty that presented Itself to me concerning Himatangi and Rangiotu was the question of water supply, but 1 believe that excellent artesian water is available at about 500 feet and that in the meantime, and until the bore is completed, the railway department can supply sufficient water. It is also understood that there is already a large artesian well, on private property, I think, somewhere between Himatangi and Rangiotu, which has been offered to the Government if they require it. They will probably decide to take this and lay down pipes immediately. I trust that the business people of Foxton will derive some little benefit from the establishment of these camps r though perhaps the main business may be done with Palmerston North. If the Foxton people are active, however, they should at least get the best of the Himatangi business.’’ Since the above was written the Himatangi site has been abandoned, which is a matter for regret so far as the Foxton public and tradespeople are concerned, as the men from the Rangiotu camp will naturally spend their spare time In Palmerston.