NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 January 1916, Page 2

NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL.

WHERE ARE THE TROOPS? HEALTH OF THE CAMPS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Jan. 4. The Defence authorities here have no information to give regarding the present whereabouts of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, lately removed from Anzac. But there is a hint for those people who have been following the course of the war in the fact that the Defence Department has resumed the purchase of horses and is making arrangements for shipping a considerable number of mounts abroad in the near future. Horses were of no use at the Dardanelles, and recent Reinforcements have not talten any animals with them. The horses sent with the earlier drafts have accumulated in Egypt, where' they have been under the care of a section of the New Zealand Mounted Infantry. The mounted men of the Sixth Reinforcements have had this task recently. But it appears that the New Zealand Mounted Infantry are expected to be able to use their horses in their new sphere of activity. The death of a member of the JHnih Reinforcements from eerebro-spinal meningitis at Trentham Hospital does not appear to indicate a recurrence of the epidemic that caused so much anxiety a few months ago. The Defence authorities state that as far as they arc able to judge the oaae was an isolated one. Every precaution is being taken and there is no reason to believe that any serious attack of sickness is threatening under the conditions now pertaining. The troops are no longer concentrated at Trentham camp, as was the case when the last epidemic occurred. They are scattered fairly widely, the largest individual camp being Tauherenikau, and the medical l staif, under the direction of Surgeon-General Henderson, is a much more effective body than it was five or siv months ago.