THE DAY'S WORK.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 December 1918, Page 2

THE DAY'S WORK.

The day is a long one at an -Artillery, camp. Horses require to be,,fed and- groomed and the stables cleaned out. Keveille goes at 5.30 o'clock; "stables" is from li to 7; breakfast at 7.30; parade at 8.30 till noon, ai.d then again from 1.30 till 4.30 p.m. The course for the new men lasts six weeks. It is in some respects a repetition of what has been learned in the Dominion, but with a very considerable smartening-up, for speed is everything at tho front. But no actual firing is done until the troops go over to l'Vaace. Riding is brushed up at an Imperial riding-school adjacent. The camp has its veterinarian, shoeing-sraiths, and saddlers. The signallers and other Artillery specialists are put through a complete course; and in this respect there is an ingenious and very valuable equipment in the camp, with the help of which an observation, officer (or 0.P.) operating in one hut with signallers can lay, with the aid of a map, an imaginary gun in another hut on an object in a flat model landscape, and his accuracy tested, with the aid of mechanism, by smoke-puffs, which come up at the point indicated. This gives practical training. Educational work is done in the evenings at classes held by officers and noncommissioned officers v;ho passed qualifications therefor. These have been in 'full swing for some time, and will now be added to and extended under the new scheme. They include at present ■bookkeeping, accountancy, languages, mental science, mathematics, and sketching; and. lectures are also given under special engagements- Agriculture is carried'on in the grounds' round about, where 10 acres are already under potatoes this year. More still is coming under theplough, and this work will be a means of education under the new scheme.

TRAINING RED CROSS MEN. 'Medical Corpß men wbeu tlicy land from the transports proceed, like theN.Z.P.A. units, direct to Ewsliot. Here tliey are classified "A" or "B." The "A" class axe put at once into training, and class supply the details in th» Home New Zealand hospitals, hospital ships, and the hospital fatigues at Ewsliot and flic other camps. Training js practical. It comprises, besides the usual field and hospital work, courses in gas (especially in the use of helmets on wounded men), water duties, and how testing of water-carts should he done, and general hospital orderly duties, in a little model hospital in camp. further, advanced dressing-station work is practised on certain "field" days in a model dressing-station constructed in a trench system, where dug-out conditions are adhered to as much possible. Let it be recorded finally that Ewshot Camp also produces at irregular intervals its own camp paper, which pays for itself —a brightly written little publication entitled the "Youshot," which besides its interesting records and camp tit-bits, helps to demonstrate the keen interest our artillerists take in their own affairs, and the esprit de corps existing amongst all raises.