TRENTHAM CAMP

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2554, 31 August 1915, Page 6

TRENTHAM CAMP

■-. ' • • »- —■ COMMISSION'S REPORT DISCUSSED BY DEFENCE MINISTER : SOME .OF THE FINDINGS CRITICISED J' Some observations on the report of tin ' Trentham Commission were mado by ' the Hon. Jas. Allen (Minister of Be- • fence) at tlio .invitation of'a Dohinio.n reporter yesterday. Asked whether Jie intended to giv« effect to all the recommendations of the Commission, : Mr. Allen replied: "Ws i have carried-:out. nearly all their suggestions already. I don't say-that we will carry them : all out, because I am not satisfied that our medical officers will agree with some of them. For instance, J the Commission recommend that a porch be built at the door of every: hutment. That question was fully discussed at the time the huts ' were built. -As a matter of fact, the doors-were' mado especially large and . wide_ for, better ventilation. The Comf mission's suggestion is that something mora than a porch shall be built —a sort of drying room with a stove in it. If :we do that'wo shall destroy the ventilation.)'This'is exactly what the medi- ■ cal men reported to me when the huts w.erq being built. . I don't know yet iipoii what evidence the Commissioners base their recommendation, because I bare not seen, the evidence. But so ; far as I know the suggestion is Contrary to-the'ad vico of all our medical ; officers, and'certainly contrary to all the ad vico 'given to mo by medical men. This proposal will liave-'t-o be very care- . fully considered; before we give effect to it. -.-■■■ "As to' tho lining of'the iron hutments, this is .not a momentous question .how that the-winter is nearly over, ■ and I have said already that T intend to leave this question over until General Henderson arrives, and than.l will take Jiis.advice about it. a Certainly ' the . .evidence on the subject is very contradictory. • ' Some medical , men'. do not ~ consider,; it necessary that', the . huts should be lined, and the Homo defence : authorities do not consider it necessary. I have a telegram to that effect from .them. . General -Henderson will bo here now iu a week or ten days." The Medical service." .■••On-the expressed opinion of the Commission about the failure of.the medical service to warn the Defence authorities of 'the' seriousness; of the increasing epidemic.:' Mr.■ '>Alleii. said, it was . impossible for him, to '-say ..anything, on ■• the subjcct.; v'T. think, myself," he said, 1 "that the medical branch ought to 'have warned the staff, or. at least Comniandaiit'and myself, that ;i the epidemic was assuming serious proportions. To , that extent the medical branch fell short of its duty. But again you must realise. that, the medical branch : had: had control of this camp for many months, , and had met- all the .difficulties in a very satisfactory way up; to 'a certain point. 'And -you must .realise that in the early stages of the camp it was very difficult for us to got medical meii. Subsequenti ly tho doctors realised that they were Reeded," and they came forward much more readily.,-:It was all new work to our medical officers. We had had:no experience of these things.-, Dr, Valintine took charge at -;i time-when the epidemic was acknowledged to be serious. He' approached it with. new. and fresh men, and hens himself a very .vigorous and capable man. Ne Answer to Main Question. "The Trentham Commission; has left ; me in a very awkward, position. The questions I wanted- tliem to answer thej ■ have not answered at all. The main question .was whether anyone'was. to ■ blamo-; for anything, j and to this they have' given no ariswerl / One thing they state perfectly btearly—tliaV the_ outbreak .of cerebrospinal meningitis was . not, caused ■by I anything within-. the camp/ Nor.' did. the measles originate within,the camp; Another thing that is clear is that; Trentham' is quite.-a suitablo site for the Camp." : ■ ' - ; '-': Risks of • Subdivision. ; : On tli9 question'of, subdividing the camp Mr. Allen said: "If \re ■ have .too . much ' subdivision; in oui caiiips, it is '.going .to do a great ' deal • of harm, because :we liave not; a- sufficient staff. ;lTiere.is. no dcubt that reasonable division is a good ' thing, because; tho aggregation of very largo numbers of men ; increases the danger from an epidemio if ono breaks ■ out. : What' we hope to'do is to watch tho, sick paiades so, closely as to stop epidemics. I question whether tliero is ; more strict medical examination in any ''camps in-the'.world than ivo liavo in New.- Zealand to-day. A personal examination of every man is: made regularly. '•'. I am not ab}e to say how often, ' but it is at -least once a week. We have a sufficient''staff for two . permanent camps and one field camp, .but.this will ■involve a heavy. strain on the. staff. lf We have been able'to obtain the. services > ofa- few additional instructors—lmperial Army men - who, have ,beon in civilian occupations in New Zealand. Wc :have -tried again to got somo wounded ;British officers from Home who arc •unfit' -for - service at the front, again, ; but we have had no satisfactory answers to that request yet. , "We Were Busy Training Men." ' ' "The Commissioners say it- is a mat'tor for regret that the Public Works .'Department were not called in to lay out the drainage. Now, the man whe Was called in: to plan • tho - drainage ' ■ scheme was Major Morton—Mr. W. H. : Morton, the .City. Engineer, ,who is an i expert .in drainage. I can't see. how it. would liave • made things a'nj ■ better if the TiibliefWorks Department ■ had been called in. As a'matter of fact, 1 -since the Public'. Works' people have [ taken charge they- have not altered Mr. • .Mortpn's,'system of deep . "drainage. ■ They have altered the,-surface; drainage, i which was designed by Mr. 'Jickell, but [ 'the alterations are, in consequence of the ■ regrading of the roads. We;were going ■ to°do thesethings, but' we' .could not [ do them all at once; Wewero busj training men. We are reminded that i some of the tents for the Seventh ReI inforcements were placed too close to- • gether, but we never intended to keep 1 the meii in those tents. We were wait- > -ing for huts to be. built. While we had • tliei men 'in the camp our capacity :foi - carrying - out - extensive .improvemeuf schemes was limited.: We were making ■ necessary improvements, but we were ; doing tho work by degrees. \ '.■••. The Essential Thing.' > "We had before us" always this essential thing—to keep up our reinforcements, and to train them as well as we\ could. In that essential the camj satisfied us. Tho results of our wort [ have been tested at the front. Tilt j Fifth Reinforcements have been seni 3 straight to the front from Egypt, be- . cause the General Officer Commanding 1 : there considered them lit tq go into tin • firing line. I think it is tremendouslj J to the credit of the training staff ir Now Zealand that, this was so.!' - .