OUR SOLDIERS IN ENGLAND

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 8 June 1917, Page 1

OUR SOLDIERS IN ENGLAND

HOSPITALS AND OTHER' INSTITUTIONS. t A BIG UNDERTAKING. idis [From Captain Malcolm Ross, War Gor;y respondent with the N.Z. Forces.] NORTHERN FRANCE, February 28. The problem of getting the Reinforcements sufficiently •well trained to take the field., and the wounded and sick fit for battle again, is one upon which much anxious thought, a great deal of labor, and even scientific research is bestowed. Even for so small a force as that from New Zealand a large staff had to be created, and many- officers and men are employed in England in connection with the administration and the work of camps and hospitals situated there. The tendency in such institutions away from the front and so near to the attractions and allurements of a, big city is in the direction of the over-employment of fit men, 1 and perhaps an over-kindly benevolence in allowing the cured to remain longer than necessary. Administrative officers also may in some instances endeavor to build up a big department where a smaller one would do, and. indeed, would be more effective. This is a matter that has been a good deal under discussion lately, for it becomes more and more evident that if we are to win the war in reasonable time we must have every fit man at the front, and have him there as soon as possible. ' The question has, I know, been receiving the attention of the CO. in England, and it may be taken for granted that he will do his best in the interests of- ; the Empire and of the Allies. On going the round of the New Zealand hospitals and institutions in England connected with the war, the first thing that strikes one is that neither trouble nor expense has been spared to care for the s, sick and the wounded. This is as it should be. and the men themselves and ■ their relatives in the Dominion will be grateful to the Government for all they have done in this respect. Of our three hospitals, the No. 1 Gene- -, ral at Brockenhurst is the biggest, employing 20 officers, 208 other ranks, and 76 nurses. At the time of my visit it conge taiued 1,136 patients—s2 .officers and 780 other ranlcs. Next came the No. 2 Geneis r al, at Walton-on-Thames, with a staff of 16 officers, 35 other ranks, and 66 nurses.It held 1,123 patients. ■ The No. 3 Hospi- ' tal, at Codford, had 410 patients, and ' there were 49 officers and 141 other ranks in British hospitals. Quite recently there has been opened the No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital, Auxiliary A, at Weybridge. Our hospitals and camps are distributed over a wide area, and this must lead to increased work in administration and increased cost, but apparently closer concentration was impossible, and we had to, st, take what we could get in the way of sites and buildings. The buildings available have had to be adapted, while huts of large size have been built and tents erected. The war has taught us one thing—na.mely, that it is no longer necessary to go to extremes in the cost of hospital-building. In a country like New Zealand the hut system might be largely adopted for ordinary hospital work, and the cost per bed to the taxpayer be tremendously reduced. CONVALESCENTS.

Every hospital bed in England will be required during the strenuous fighting that everyone expects on the western front during the coming spring and summer, and all the means at the command of the medical and military authorities will be requisitioned in getting the sick and wounded fit again. New Zealand has not been backward in these preparations. At Hornchurck there is quite a New Zealand colony, where our convalescents are being treated in the most scientific and up-to-date manner. There, any day, yon can see practised therapeutic treatment by mechanical exercises of a most interesting land. In a well-fitted gymnasium squads come in. in military formation, dissolve promptly into individual units, and are immediately at work with many different exercises at ingenious appliances and machines to suit the different cases. One man will fix himself in a machine that has a sliding seat and enables liis muscles to get all the exercise that they would get in a racing boat. Another mounts what

to all intents and purposes is a bicycle, and finds his speed registered on a dia. 1 . An expert is pattering away at a punching ball with: the dexterity of a Jack Johnson. Others are skipping or working with dumb-bells. A soldier with flat foot will be doing one series of exercises, a man. ; with a stiff ankle will fix his foofc in a small machine, by means of which bo can accomplish a rotary movement that will bring . certain .muscles and ligament* into action, with a view to a cure in. tht quickest possible time. Day by day, hour by hour, this exercising goes on, and the results are truly wonderful. The men are housed largely in comfortable huts and a few double tents comfortably warmed by Additional hat* ' are being erected to house 500 convalescents'. This will enable the authorities to be ready for any emergency in the near future. - ENTERTAINMEXT "AND THE / AMENITTE& Here, "as in the camps and hospitals, the entertainment and comfort of the • men are one of the first thoughts^ of th« command. Y.M.C.A. and the War'ConX tingent Association/have done must excel-' lent work. Concert halls,- canteens, kitchens, reading rooms, .writing rooms, billiard tables are provided. I saw one hall iu course of erection that would seat 800 men. There is even a'hobby room provided by the Y.M.C.A., where the mon can indulge their bent in wood-carving,, basket-making, etc. A pantomime was performed in a village hall by a New Zealand company. It attracted a large audience :of the local residents, and brought in £6O. The amenities have not been forgotten at these little New Zealand colonies, in the Mother Land. At one plots have been neatly made, and 6,000; bulbs and a nvdnber of roses planted. The hospital and. even the camp grounds will be beautiful in the coming .spring. The Hornchurcfc Convalescent Canip and one of the hospitals will be the last of the New Zealand institutions in England after the T?ar ia finished. TJiey will: probably be still in working order a year or 18 months after the fighting is ended. Demobilisation u not going to be an-'easy matter. It ia realised by those wbo have given it thought that it will take a long time.