RED CROSS TRAIN

TWO RATLWAY CARRIAGES TRANSFORMED. At very short notice the Railway Department has equipped a couple of railway carriages for the transport of the wounded soldiers to various parts of the North Island. The work was carried out at the Pctone Workshops, two firstclass carriages being utilised for the purpose^ The inside fittings of one of the carriages have been removed in their entirety, and twenty-four beds have been installed in two double rows of aix beds each. The beds have been fitted with new mattresses and blankets, and the whole of the interior has been coated with white enamel paint. Lavatory and washing accommodation is provided at one end of the carriage. The other carriage somewhat resembles an operating theatre, but 13 really the dispensary. Only half of this carriage has been pressed into service for accommodating the wounded. In the centre is installed a movable table, to facilitate the dressing of the more serious wounds. Attached to the wall alongside is a wire mattress, which can be propped up or lowered at pleasure, and when it is convenient to use this the centre table will not be necessary. The dispensary is furnished with a linen closet and a small fumigating chamber, in which the clothes of the invalids .-an be disinfected. In the corner is a copper cylinder, gas heated, for boiling water. Like the men's ward, the colour scheme is white, which gives the dispensary as bright an aspect as is possible in the circumstances. The seats in the other half of the carriage have not been removed, and will be used as quarters for the medical man and the nurses engaged on the Red Cross train. Both carriages are warmed with steam heaters, and the whole of the work has been carried out in the best style. Another Red Cross carriage is being fitted up in the South Island for the conveyance of the wounded men who are landed there.