LIGHT ON TRENTHAM

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 60, 16 August 1940, Page 2

LIGHT ON TRENTHAM

Electric Power and Planting Plans

ings in Trentham Camp and several miles of roads linking them together. At night those buildings and roads are lighted by 4,569 electric light bulbs of all sizes. Trentham is in fact a town housing approximately 7,000 people. Its inhabitants are all in uniform, except for those employed by the Public Works Department, and all male except for the few nurses who staff the small military hospital. This is not a town of haphazard growth. Hutments may have sprung up almost overnight, but in orderly fashion, and according to a military plan. Everything is dressed by the righteven the 250 rose bushes which have been planted in geometrical beds along the main entrance road. Soon methodical rows of annuals will add to the decorate scheme; they, too, will fall into linea line as straight as ranks of parade. Those 4,569 electric light bulbs which light up Trentham range from lamps of 40 watts to powerful ones of 300 watts. Apart from the units of power required for them, still more is required to drive the various electric machines which have been installed in the camp. a HERE are now 453 separate build-

Here are the details: There are 146 40-watt lamps; 3,142 of 60 watts; 646 of 75 watts; 235 of 100 watts; 328 of 150 watts; 9 of 200 watts, and 63 of 300 watts. Although there are 255 radio points in the camp, only a few of them are in use. There are 390 heating points and 20 small heating boilers, as well as 27 power motors. The hospital and the dental clinic are responsible for a large proportion of the boilers and motors. The list of electrical " gadgets" and machines reads like a salesman’s catalogue for an important auction. Here they are, all busily operating in kitchens and canteens for the comfort of the men and the efficiency of the camp: 5 electric ranges, 6 hot presses, 4 frigidaires, 12 coffee urns, 1 toaster, 2 water heaters, 4 bread slicers, 4 cake mixers, 3 potato peelers. If anyone goes unwashed in Trentham, or any other military camp for that. matter, it is no fault of the authorities. In the main camp there are 19 ablution sheds. Each shed contains 34 taps and 34 wash-hand basins. But cleanliness does not end there, because there are five bath houses, some with hot and cold water, the rest just plain cold water. In each hot and cold section there are 50 showers; each cold shower can accommodate 34 men at a

time. This does not include bathing facilities in the hospital or the quarters of the permanent headquarters staff. Scattered about the camp are 16 fire alarms, with a fully equipped fire brigade ready to spring to instant action should the necessity arise. Sitting on the lawn opposite Camp Headquarters are two red tubs-so red that everything near them grows dim and drab by comparison. Each tub contains an ornamental shrub. They are a gift from the Centennial Exhibition, which included a grove of silver birch trees. The birches have been planted down Seddal Bahr Road, one of the principal thoroughfares of the camp, and the Camp Commandant has visions of these slender trees forming a gracious avenue between the huts. He hopes, also, to plant ornamental trees down other streets, thus lending colour and variety to the camp generally. When summer comes flower beds in and about the camp will be gay with some hundreds of gladioli, including many prize varieties grown by Colonel McKillop, of Christchurch, one of the most successful growers in New Zealand. Offers of dahlia tubers suggest that in the autumn also Trentham Camp will be a blaze of colour, Building at Trentham has not yet ceased. Plans are ready for a giant garage which will house 200 cars of all kinds and a workshop where all repairs will be carried out by the military mechanics.