CAMP LIFE AT THE FRONT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 93, 20 November 1869, Page 3

CAMP LIFE AT THE FRONT.

The following extract from a letter handed to us, received by last North mail, will give our readers a glimpse into the camp life of the Constabulary Force at the Front: — ""Wai-iti Redoubt (where we are encamped) is thirty miles from Taranaki and three miles from the White ClhTs, where that horrible massacre took place, when Lieut. Grascoigne, with his wife and child, also, Father Wbitely and two settlers, were murdered. The Redoubt is constructed of earth and fern, and is 120 feet square Our Division was 200 strong, but now it is reduced to 100. We live in tents, with about ten men to each. Our rations cost us ls.*2£d. per day, and consist of l|lb. of bread,' lib. of beef, one-sixth ounce of tea, i ounce of coffee, and ounce of sugar. You will doubtless think that very poor tack on which to hunt the Maories in the bush, but we can buy anything extra at the stores (our pay is os. a day). We have an eating house and a Glasgow pie house, plenty milk at 6d. a quart, eggs at Is. 6d. a dozen, and fresh butter- at Is. 6d. per pound. We ha^e also a library, with first-class books \y\. it, and receive all the leading paper! Wo have a cricket club and a quoit club, with every facility for developing our muscles. The sea, where we get lots of fish and have plenty of bathing, is only eight minutes' walk from the camp.' Half-past seven in the morning we have to turn out, when we have breakfast, consisting of ham and es;gs and coffee, or pork sausages. At ten o'clock we have skirmishing or b atallion drill, and I must tell you we are getting into i^ first rate, half of us being, I may say, old soldiers. Dinner at twelve, and at two, a wood-fatigue. If on Government work we get Is. per day extra. Our pay we receive regularly every month, less our ration-money, which is, of course, deducted. Tea at 5 o'clock, and after amusing ourselves till nine, turn in. We armed with the long rifle and bayonet, a rather awkward implement in bush work. Any one discharged having a good character is allowed an extra month's pay." A soldier's life in New Zealand seems after all as jolly as any going.