BATHING PARADES.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 December 1915, Page 7

BATHING PARADES.

HOT SHOWERS AT TRENTHAM. THE HUMORIST AT THE TAP. (From the Dominion,) Every soldier in Trentham Camp has three baths a week. On Wednesday and Saturday afternoons the whole of the men in camp inarch in companies down to the Hutt River, and have a swim or a splash about in the water. They wear their towels round their necks, like scarves, when they march to and from the water, and kettledrums, side-drums, or bagpipes play them along. On these occasions the men are allowed to wash their clothes as well as have a dip. The third bath of the week is the hot shower. After six o'clock each evening at least one company, and usually two companies of .10(1 men each, are due for bathing parade at the hot-water bathhouse. The building consist of three parts. In the centre is a two-storied portion, with a ladder leading to the loft, where six large water-tanks are. As wings on either side of the central part are two bath-houses, with a concrete channel down the centre of each, into which o0 showers, arranged in double rows, discharge their downpours. GETTING THE BATHS READY. When bathing; parade is held, members of the Engineers Corps are on duty where the taps and boilers are situated. Cold water flows into the six large tanks in the loft from the camp reservoir up in the hills. Into four of the tanks steam from the boiler situated behind the bath-house is carried' by means of insulated pipes and an injector, the temperature being raised to about 100 degrees. Pipes from the cold water tanks also lead down to the showers, and it is the practice, after the men have had a hot shower, to give them a cold one, so that they will not catch cold afterwards. There are speaking tubes between the bathrooms and the loft. Thermometers set at an angle, with their bases inside the tanks and the remainder outside, show plainly the temperature of the water. When the tanks are filled, word Is sent to the engine-man to send the steam through tlio big pipe, and it is turned into one tank first. Inside the tank a gurgling and boiling is heard, and the mercury in the thermometer soon begins to rise until the water is hot enough. LAUGHTER AND SINGING. A general idea of a bathing parade is as under. While the water was being heated the first 100 of the men have been undressing in the dressing rooms. They are singing and joking, for bathing parade is rather a joyous business. The only injunction is that the men must move in and out of the shower hiiths in batches of 50; the individual showers have no taps, excepting half a dozen of them at one end of the row, whirl) are provided for tlie use of officers. There is usually a little hot water remaining after the men have finished, and this keeps warm till morning. So a few officers who desire it may occasionally have a warm shower in the morning. The fifty men made noise enough. Hum' who were undressed urged their comrades to hurry up. ".limin.°s shying at his weekly again," one man said. "See that lie gets it good and hot this time, Tommy." Tommy promised he would see to it. The N.C.O. in charge began to hurry the men who were slow, though the whole business of undressing had not taken long. The men in the loft heard the order for the men to step under the showers. An ' Irishman was singing "Killarncy," and a chorus had begun the chant "Here we are again." Suddenly the whistle of the speaking tube screamed. It was the signal for hot water. Almost simultaneously the whistle from the other bath-house sounded. Both taps were turned—they are like steam valves and worked by a small wheel. There was a moment of | quietness while the water travelled from the tanks to the showers. Then as it" hissed down upon bare shoulders and tousled heads, exclamations, yells, and whistling arose. li'lloo' *' called one man, "that'll take the hide off you, Billy." "Look, you're getting red all over,'' retorted his friend; "like a lobster." A COLD-WATER JEST. The happy chorus was still going strongly. The men were as happy as sandboys under the warm flow of water. But the gauge in the tank was moving. These squads had had their share of hot water. The taps turned and the showers ceased. Then the voices changed their tones to one of expostulation. They wanted more hot water. Both whistles screamed. "Give us jiwt a drop more," a voice cajoled. "Cun't be done," replied one of the operators, through the sizzle of the steam as it heated more tanks of water for the squads that were to follow. "Are you ready for the cold?" he added. "Stand by, here she comes!" He spun the cold water tap with :i will, and the fifty voices took on another and a sadder note, which was followed, however, by the sound of clean, healthy soldiers singing as they stepped from under the showers and rubbed themselves down with their towel*. The man at the wheel shut off the water and turned his attention to the tanks that would be needed for the next batch. The other operator of taps and gauges was a grim kind of humorist. 'When the request for more hot water was made he answered cheerily, "Wight oh, boys! Just this once. I'll do if. Stand by." Instead of giving them more hot water he turned on a deluge of cold. The uproar which followed suggested that the fifty men were being murdered. Through the din could be distinguished dire threats upon the life of the perpetrator of the joke; hut the victims of his practical joking saw the fun, as healthy men usually do, and were soon rubbing themselves down, while another JO took their places under the hot showers. So, squad after squad, the two companies. 1100 men in all, underwent bathing parade. The stars were out and the street lamps were burning in the camp when the last lot were finished. But there was hot water for all, the steam from the big boiler being directed first into one and then into another of the four big tanks, under the skilful handling of the men at the taps and gauges. The sallies of the men were a continuous fusillade of wit and sarcasm, and the humorist in the loft worked his chilly jest with the cold water with considerable success from time to time.