H—l9b.

26

[n. seddon.

40. Mr. Salmond.] Have you had anything to do with the drainage of the camp ?—I was the Overseer in charge. 41. In your opinion was the system satisfactory so far as the sanitary arrangements are concerned?— Yes; 1 see no objection to the present system. 42. Do you think a system of surface storm-water drainage is necessary?—l do. 43. Do you know whether any plan, has been adopted for that purpose?— Not that I am aware of. 44. Or proposed ?—lt is only recently if it has been proposed. 45. You lived in the camp for about three months?— Yes, from the 19th April to the Bth July. 46. What has been the condition of it with respect to mud and wet?—lt has been muddy, but nothing more than I should expect with so many men about. 47. Very uncomfortable?— Yes, very uncomfortable. 48. Could you keep yourself dry?— Yes, with the aid of gum boots. 49. The Chairman.] Y*ou could keep your feet dry, you mean?— Yes. 50. Mr. Salmond.] Was it necessary for the men employed on the works to go about in mud— on wet ground?— Not so much as the Overseer in charge, because he had to go all over the place. The men were working pretty well in one spot, and were not so bad. 51. What part is worst?— The roads, I should say—the main roads round the hutments. 52. Is any system in operation for metalling or gravelling these roads?— There was a system carried out by the Defence Department. 53. Mr. Ferguson.] The Public Works had nothing to do with it?— No. 54. Mr. Salmond.] How is it being done?— The men were carting stones off the paddocks and metalling the roads, and digging soak-pits. 55. The men were doing it themselves? —Yes. 56. Regularly?— Not regularly; at periods, I suppose, when they could conveniently do so. 57. Do you think a proper system, of roading is necessary in camp?—l do. 58. The Chairman.] In the meantime, I suppose, it is all right?—Oh, yes, there is no difficulty in the summer. 59. Dr. Martin.] AVhere did you live in the camp?— Next to the first row of hutments. 60. You did not live in one of the huts?—No, in a small orderly-room, 10 ft, by 10 ft, Here it is on the plan. [Place indicated.] 61. Mr. Ferguson.] Had you anything to do with the soak-pits?— The excavation of them was done by military labour. The laying of the drains was done by the Public Works Department. 62. Are they ventilated in any way?— The soak-pits are not ventilated, but the manholes are. 63. There is no ventilation of the drains' taken up from the ground?— From the officers' quarters and the cookhouses they are ventilated by tubes above the eaves. 64. Dr. Martin.] Were you living near the soldiers?— Yes, I had soldiers on either side of me. 65. Did the men observe the ordinary sanitary rules at night and use buckets?— Yes, I think so. 66. Have you heard it discussed out there that the men were not using the buckets?— No. 67. You saw no instance of men breaking the ordinary rules? —No. 68. Nor heard of any?— No. ' ,(„. Captain Thomas McCt.istt.ll sworn and examined. (No. 4.) 1. The Chairman.] AVhat are you?—l belong to the New Zealand Staff Corps. 2. At Trentham? —Yes; I am at present employed as Camp Quartermaster at Trentham. .. • 3. How long have you been Camp Quartermaster? —At Trentham, since the 19th October, 1914. 4. What are your precise duties as Camp Quartermaster? —First, in connection with clothing and fitting out, to see that the men are fitted out with clothing when they arrive in camp : to equip them for service as far as- clothing and equipment are concerned. Then I have to look to camp sanitation, and everything in connection with the cookhouses. 5. Does that summarize your duties?— And organization; but that will summarize the duties generally. 6. Now, with regard to clothing, we have heard, as regards the two thousand men who came in extra, that you had not enough boots? —Quite right, sir; that is a fact. 7. Is that the only case when you were short of boots?—Oh, no. 8. When have you been short of boots? —I have never been short of a first issue of boots. When any man arrives in camp he gets one issue of boots. 9. He is supposed to get a second issue within a week?— Occasionally I may have been short, of a selected size. For instance, when the Third Reinforcements arrived there were a number of men who wore I 2's and 13's in boots. Those men had to wait for a week or ten days until I could procure boots for them. 10. It is the unexpected size?—-Yes. With the exception of a few pairs here and there in odd sizes, every man on first arrival in camp has been given one pair of boots. 11. With regard to-the second pair, he is supposed to get that within a week, is ho,not?— He is supposed to get it within seven days, but that has been only since the, end of the summer. 12. From about March or April, then, you have been '—Giving the second pair out within seven days, if I had them, or as soon afterwards as T could tret them. 13. You have not had them, we hear, on several occasions? —On several occasions,