PREPARATIONS AT BURNHAM

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25924, 3 October 1949, Page 3

PREPARATIONS AT BURNHAM

MILITARY TRAINING SCHEME 1400 TO ENTER CAMP IN MAY When compulsory military training jomes into force in May next year Burnham Camp will again present the mimated scenes familiar to the thou>ands of soldiers who passed through ;he camp between 1939 and 1946. At present activity is confined largely tc he work of the maintenance staffs. The total camp personnel to-day Is 160 and this includes members of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, men the Ordnance Corps, and men of the Engineers. . Twenty n.c.o.’s of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Ordnance Zorps, Royal New Zealand Engineers, and Artillery are now taking a refresher course to prepare them as instructors for the compulsory military training scheme. Other groups will take a similar course in turn. Forty recruits for the Regular Army are receiving their basic training at Burnham. They will finish this course at the end of October and then will be posted to various units. The intake of trainees at Burnham in May will be 1400 and there will be no difficulty in coping with that number so far as housing and equipment are concerned. Feeding the trainees will present no problem either, once sufficient cooks are found. That much maligned soldier is now in such demand that no one will dare call the cook anything but a cook. 14 Men to the Hut Quarters will be more comfortable for the trainees than they were for the w’ar-time soldiers. They will be housed in two main blocks, each of 22 double huts, and there will be 14 men to a hut, instead of the 20 during the war. Army plans are that each man will have a chair, wardrobe, lowboy and mat beside his bed. Each block will have its own soldiers’ mess and kitchen. There is a third main block of huta in the camp and part of it may have to be used, but at present it is almost wholly filled with stores. The object of the training is to provide basic military knowledge for the young men of New Zealand and thus facilitate the rapid mobilisation of the Army in time of war. The secondary aim is to develop the moral and physical wellbeing of the young men who receive training, thus making them better citizens and better soldiers. Detailed training programmes to meet these requirements are being prepared at Army Headquarters. ( hanged Conditions Those who knew Burnham camp only before the war would hardly recognise it now. Areas which were stone-strewn training grounds in earlier years are now built over with storerooms, workshops and huts or laid out in well-planned gardens, which are now bright with flowering shrubs and plants, set off by trees and hedges. The camo buildings are conveniently grouped' and the whole area is divided by asphalt roads, the streets being named after notable New Zealand Army officers. That the camp is no longer the Bleak place nf former days is due mainly to Brigadier E. T. Rowllings, the then Officer Commanding Southern Military District. He considered that there should be some permanent assets for the expenditure of the war years. He was responsible for the planned planting of trees and shrubs and the laying out of gardens. Burnham is now considered the best military camp in New Zealand for living conditions. New Houses Within the iast four or five years 40 houses have been built at Burnham for men of the permanent staff and their families An extension of this building programme is proposed and it is considered that this housing will be the answer to the staff problem. Many more houses will be needed for the staff who will be moved to Burnham when compulsory training begins. 'T'here is now a greater emphasis on keeping Ihe soldier interested in his Jeisure time and he is encouraged to take up hobbies and sport. The Army Education and Welfare Service has a bobbies hut at the camp and men and women make full use of it. Varied facilities are also provided for snort. Educational films are screened and n wide range of lectures is given. The camp has a large theatre for entertainments.