TRENTHAM CAMP

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2530, 3 August 1915, Page 7

TRENTHAM CAMP

HOSPITAL " , QUARTERS ". ■ ■ FREE i OF'MEASLES IMPRESSIONS OF THEIMINISTER. : The: Minister of Defonco made a , visit /of inspection to Trentham: Camp on Sunday, and lio "expressed himself as well satisfied irith all ho had seen tliero. ; ■ • :

Especially was ho pleased to see how the sick men were faring in tho'. improvised hospital at the racecourse. , He. had. soen all the'meningitis patients except.four of tho worst, cases, and tlio men wore all very: cheerfuli sitting , or lying in the sun on the verandah of the-Tea. Kiosk. Boautiful spring flowers were in bloom round about, and the v. surroundings generally were delightful. It would have ibeen. impossible m the time to build a'hospital providing quarters comparable with : those, now occupied by tlie men. Ho had talked ■ to a number of the men, and had found nobody .seriously ill. A: good number / of the men wero lying in tho sun on tho grand stand. The matron had said that she wanted nothing now except 'books, magazines,' and packs of cards for the amusement of tho oonvalescent , men; Tho nurses' .quarters" were ex- , ;cedrag]y comfortable. "No ono could 'desire, a hotter hospital,'' said Mr. . 'Allen;: ,"Wo, could not.havo built one nearly so' suitablo." Mr.- Allen stated .also, that tho now camp hospital was hiow nearing completion. i The reports ot tho number of sick ,at , Trentham were rather misleading, and he intended in future to have them made out on a, different plan. At present tho figures showed the number of .: sick 'there to-be greater than at any , of the other military hospitals, and '.this 'it might 'bo- presumed that . sickness at Trentham' Camp was worse than: at tho other camps. This was not so. As a matter of fact there was not a single measles case at Trentham, and the camp could Jiow be declared frea from measles. The numbers in .hospital: there were'swelled by men returning from sick leave still unfit to -take up duty. . Men returning from ■leave had to report:for medical examination before returning to dutyi and as . many of them came back .too soon they had to be sent into hospital again for a time. ' In future ho would arrange for: men on leave to he oxamin- " ed as to their fitness by the local medical officers in the district in -which , . (they'' spend their leave: : : This ' would/ ho hoped, prevent 'men from returning ■ prematurely. Those that did ■ como Jiack unwell would-be listed in the Ttch. ■thjim. Hospital reports, l apart from those, falling sick in Trentham Camp. . Witli the camp generally: ;Mr. 'Allen ■ j.was equally well pleased. . ITio mud | (/•trouble, he said, had , disappeared or I was fast disappearing: : A railway had i . teen laid into the stores, .obviating I ~,. |heavy traffic.on the road,'and.men wero I i hard at work laying , stone, on the camp i , ;Etreets. ; . Tons of stono had. already /been laid, and the roads .so mad© would i . Uieyer again be muddy. 1 The: disinfec-1 . ition of ~the camp'had'been Very} thoroughly carried out, and the odour 'of disinfectants seemed to pervade the whole ■place, i . " No date had yet been fixed for a general.return to Trentham, but many of the men wereanxiousto return, saying .. fthat - they wero ; better satisfied to be ( at Trentham than, at their now camps.• There .would, however; ho'men-at 'L'ronilham all tho time. Tho Sixth Reinforcements would stay thero until .they: .left ;fori.the front./ Training had. been . , : ■ 'interrupted more .or.' less 'by-the-.transfer . of the:- .troops '■ to the '-.iiew: camps, .;' but Jiow.it. was going on strenuously again. S .One. of ..the difficulties yet to be overcome "(at' the ' new sites was to find 'facilities for musketry instruction. It was pos- , sible that a rifle range would be ostab('lishedi'at; Rangiotu for the N Trentham , ,iEegiment. Tho Waikanao men would ■ probably have to come to the Trentham, xauge, and he hoped it would bo possible for the Tauherinikau men to go " to the Groytown range, and there go 'through their course.. • " ' ' Mr. Allen referred to a conversation ,"ho had had with Colonel Batchelor . (N.Z.M.C., about :,the meningitisepi-. demic. Colonol Batclwlor has iust como. back from; Egypt, where lie had experience of meningitis, and : : he expressed , the highest • approval of tho method of treatment of the: . disease l (adopted at Trentliam. Colonel Bat'.'ohelors said that the New. Zealand epidemic was peculiar. It bore such a close .resemblaiico to influenza, that ho (was inclined to tho suspicion that' it , 'Slight bo no more than virulent' influenza. In this doubt Mr. Allen i did Hot share. •' v . '■ \