THE BIGNESS OF TRENTHAM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 298, 26 May 1915, Page 2

THE BIGNESS OF TRENTHAM.

MEN'S FINE SPIRIT. 'ALL EAGER TO GET AWAY, (Wellington Dominion). Those who have never seen it, or those wlio saw it in the rough many months ago, would lie amazed now at the bigness of Trentham, and the order prevailing everywhere. The first impression one gets of it at a distant view in that of a big /collection of galvanised iron buildings, many of them large. There are tents in view, too, but beside the ! spreading rows of buildings the tents are insignificant. Everybody had heard , that "hutments" are being built for the men to give them better protection l against the cold of winter. A , less; , number of people may remenibcr that they read somowherc that every hut-. ment is to consist, of two rooms, an eating. room and a /sleeping room, for 100 men. But have any of them thought : how big the building must be to accommodate such a number of men? Each of these "hutments" is, in fact, big enough, if fitted with seats, to accommodate as many people as some «f Wellington's kinema houses. And there are rows of them already, with moro rows to bo built.

HOW TRENTHAM HAS GROWN. There is not a building in t!ie praee that has not 'been enlarged to meet, growing requirements, and scarcely one that is not found too small. The can-; teen, for example, is really a surpris-, ingly big provision store, but it is hopelessly inadequate. When the Salvation Army established themselves at Trentham they built an "Institute."' Later they extended it, and added a! wing. Lately they have sold it to the, canteen authorities who are wiildiiij;, yet another wing, and the Salvation; Army are building a monster new in-i stitute, 90ft by 50ft. At shops within; the lines men- can buy nearly everything; but alcohol. . Trentham is huge, incomparably big- : ger than anything 0 f its sort -this,country has ever known. It has a popula-i tion of about 4500 men, more young men that there are in any of 1 the New. Zealand towns, except the four biggest' centres. Shortly it will have a population of upwards 0f.7000 men. .Those familiar with the landscape there know the extent of the wide plain on which! the camp sits. The plain is top small for the parade ground, and already with, the daily tramp of thousands of men, all' trace of turf has been worn off it. It > will be no picnic resort when 7000 men s have drilled over it through the winter. ; Even now the mud is ankle deep in the bad patches in wet weather. i ■ The erection of the hutments is a i big undertaking, as shown by the fact that there are now 100 carpenters at work on them. About 20 of these .hut- !i ments will he ready for occupation in a 1 week or so, and more will be Imilt. ■; A new cook-house is in course of- erec-, tion, also new bath shelters, and the 1 lie'w base hospital, and extensive drainage, works are being carried out. < It .will not be possible to have all' the ', hutments finished' for use for some weeks, and it seems probable tliat many of the men will have to live under canvas through the winter. The tents are all to be -{floored,, howevolv and many ■men have expressed a desire to, be allowed to keep their tents and the same tent-mates, in 'preference to joining a bieper party in one of the wood-ahd-iron shelters. The most remarkable feature of the eainp is the entire absencr. of all disorder. It is not a model village, of course,-.but-such as it is the soldiers make the best of UN-

HARD AND KEEN. : The. soldiers themselves are, however, more interesting than all the new buildings and everything else, in the place, and they are interesting because they do their work with 'such,. wholesome ,zeSt and- precision, and - because, they k<iep their good hum&r, good health and good spirits all the time. The ordering of their day is something like this? Reveille at -0. a.m.; physical drill for three-quarters of an /hour before break: fast, then more drill, l(inch, and more drill until, say, 4.30. The soldiers do not. wear at the cSmp the 'khaki kit they wear on leave, hut, the moat ill-fitting,' untidy de.nim, suits imaginable," and in this unsoldierly- garb they drill with smdrf-aess such as no New 'Zealand -'troops ever lad a chance of attaining in the' past. On Friday they came off the parade ground at 12 noon, tired after a'hard morning's work on a breathless warm morning,'-but pot a trace of sulkiness, or. chafing could be defected. ' On the contrary, they were in the brightest of good humor, - jolly, laughing and sportive, although it should 'be here said that horse-play andunseemly boisterous antics are not encouraged in the lines.

,GOOD-BYE TO THE HOSPITAL ' , TOYS,Tile uvent of the day was the departure of the Stationary Hospital men, who paraded for inspection by Liduten-ant-Colonel Potter at 12.15 p.m., before coining to Wellington. The Colonel warned, the men that in Sydney all eyes would be on them as being the first New Zealand troops to land there, and that they should strive so to comport themselves there as to uphold the honor of the camp, the New. and the Xew Zealand people, Alter these few Words the inch were marched oft, and someohe among the soldiers congregated round cabled for cheers for the. ftospital boys. They simply crashed out the clieers. " Ail along the lines on their way out - of the camp other clusters raised other' cheers, all lusty. It was evident that every man of those left behind was envious, breaking his heart to get away. We have heard something of New Zealand ers' exploits already. These men at Trentham are of the sort that will do just as big things if ever tKe chances come their way. Somehow, the soldiers some of them, do not alwuvs look their best m the city while on leave—which is the only time that most people see and criticise them—but in their own nificent at ° WD "' ob ' they ar ° mag "