CAMP TRANSFORMED.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 December 1918, Page 2

CAMP TRANSFORMED.

THE NEW FEATHER STOX. PROCESS OP DEMOBILISING SOLDIERS. The rattle of artillery gun carriage;, and the sight of long lines of infantrymen in training, have departed from Featherston, and the great military organisation is in the midst of demobilisation. The word may not mean much to the man who is not "in the know," but to soldiers the breaking up of a camp of seven thousand men will appear as a great and diilicult work. Just as men were concentrated by a sure and systematic process, so are they discharged for travelling to their homes. The parade grounds are empty, and the rifles are leaning idly against the wall. Civilian clothes are being unpacked, and the post oUice people say that the parcels of "civvies'' arriving tax their shelving space to the utmost.

There are two main features of FeaUierston Camp life to-day. They are the bluo suits of the convalescent hospital patients and the bedraggled appearance of Hie men being discharged. A serge suit does not improve, after a month's life in the bottom of a kit bag, and the felt hut invariably has lost its shape- When the great news of the end came through, Featherston was in the grip of the epidemic, and almost half of the men were in hospital. But now there is an endless stream of men passing out of the camp—cheering because their part iu army life is finished. 'ihe camp is fast emptving. Tents in canvas camp are being taken down, and stretches of hare ground mark the place where recruits wer.e initiated into army difipline and life wider canvas. The work of demobilising the men is carried- out by a reinforced staff of clerks. These men work from early morning to late at night, to satisfy the eagerness of the men for their discharge. The men are first paraded for medical inspection, and then kits - are checked. Deficiencies are noted, and the man passes on to the pay office, [where he receives his portion from the Treasurv. Finallv comes the delivery of discharges. The man wh: has not taken kindlv to army life feels a greu, satisfaction in this portion of the arrangements. Me hurriedly leaves the camp, and travels home. At about 5 a.m. the camp is as busy as Willis street usually is on a Friday nis>M. Men are rushing about witli an ann full »f papers, and some struggle onward beneath a heavy kitbag and v, pile of blankets. .X.C.O.'s "fall men in'' and "fall them out" again, and everybody walks with 1hl? spirit of "something to do.' The only ones who do not enter into the energetic part of the work are the convalescent men who stand by, some with downcast faces ihat tell iff their eagerness to l-c i» "civvies" again.