NEW MILITARY CAMP

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2631, 29 November 1915, Page 6

NEW MILITARY CAMP

AT PEATHERSTON

BIGGER THAN TRENTHAM

TO HOLD 4500 MEN

A GREAT UNDERTAKING

A community of over 1000 people is being linked up with the post and telegraph system of the Dominion to-day. It is not tlie usual practice of the Department to allow a town to assume such proportions eie a connection is made; But in this instance, the community referred to did not exist three months ago; its units were >pursuing their callings in towns situated between Whangarei and the Bluff; and the place where they are now gathered was a wind-swept, grassy plain. These aro the reasons why the post office at tho new Peatherston Military Camp conies into being as a full-sized office, instead of growing slowly, as most othei; have done. It is only in the past- fev weeks that tho increasing number of workmen engaged in building the camp .has mado the establishing of such an office necessary; and when the workmen have! scattered again to a hundred towns, the presence of several thousands of soldiers will certainly justify the office's existence and keep the staff busy. The new Peatherston Camp is much bigger than Trentham Camp and when completed will rank with the best permanent military camps in the Empire. Situation of Camp.

i "The site selected by the military aui thorities for the camp is two miles from , Featherston on tlfe Greytown Road. A [ branch line of'railway, which makes a . bee-line, for the camp from FeathersI ton Station, is a mile and a half lone, . and-it follows tlie route surveyed for the Martinborough railway, so that the . people of Martinborough take comfort i from.the thought that one mile and 45 , dhains of their railway is actually . built and in daily use. Every foot of . timber, every yard of gravel, and all : other material is, conveyed to the camp by rail.- Some idea of what this traffic 1 amounts to may be gathered from the fact that about 80 drays and 150 horses i are kept fully employed in carting the material from the railway sidings along the camp streets to where the builders', and road-makers are still hard at ■ it. The camp is on the left side of the road, as one travels towards Grevtown, and the railway siding halts parallel to the road. The camp stretches away, hutment after hutment,- street after street, towards,- the main Wairarapa lino and the "hills.- Although the land apnears to_ be practically level, there, is' a fall.of six inches to the chain—quite sufficient for drainage purposes. The full extent, of the camp, its excellent roads; .water channels, footnnths., and other appointments arc not f'ullv apparent to the passers-bv oii.flie road be- ■ cause the headquarters' offices, a huse forage store. Arniv Service offices nnd the officers' mess form a lino of buildnurs which "hide from view the avenues with their wonderful studies in perspective. j Short apnroaclies bet.weon these li'iiWings lead into First Street, from which run off at right angles. First, Second .'aid Third these b°ing crossed in turn bv Second. Third~ Fourth, Fifth.. Sixth. Seventh, and Eighth Streets. • Organisation of the Work. Featherston Military. Camp is being built at a rate .which has never beon equalled in New Zealand or in Australia; it is doubtful whether such a place has been constructed so rapidly and substantially in the Southern Hemisphere. The first load of material came iu during the first, week in September; with ordinary good fortune the work will he finished the same time in Januarv. In all,, it will contain aboiit 210 buildings. 90 of these being hutments, about four miles of streets, and many miles of water and drainage.sines; in addition there are the horse lines, which consist of stables for 500 ' horses., This .huge-undertaking is being carried out' v. Public Works Deportment, of I which Mr. R. W. Holmes is I engineer-in-chief. . The work is under tho general supervision of Mr. F. W. Furkert, inspecting engineer of the Department ; Mr. A. Tyndall, assistant engineer, is in charge on .the ground. With i him are. associated Mr. S. R. James, 1 inspector, ■in charge. of buildings, and 1 Mr. J. Simpson, inspector, in charge ' of street formation, drainage, and such i work. The overseers are Messrs. Gay- 1 ford, Bartlett, and liinton.' Not only 1 had an : army of workmen to bo organ- 1 ised and- housed and fed, unprecedented 1 orders for'seasoned timber and other material had to be placed, and the work ' so planned that there would be a maxi- ' mum of efficiency as well as of speed. ' The men were gathered from all the ' centres and all. the corners of New Zea- I land; ,they earn good wages, are well 1 fed,-and have comfortable bunks in 1 some of the hutments. r Alt first they lived in tents, but, as tlie work proceed- I ed,'they were moved into their present ■ comfortable quarters. Any impression i which may havo been disseminated that I the workmen are not concerned with the < early completion of the work is quite ! removed by, the knowledge that a < healthy and friendly rivalry exists be- 1 tween the gangs working on opposite i sides of the camp. It is almost' a race < between them to see which will first 1 finish the lines of hutments that are i growing visibly, day by day. "We must < finish bjr. Christmas," is the thought in t every mind ni the camp. Nearly every J mail on the work would like to spend c Christmas at home, How scattered ( these homes are may be judged from the ' 011 evor y Friday about t £1500 has been sent in money orders 1 by workmen to.their families. And while,on the subject of pay, it mav be said that the work entailed in keeping wages and time sheets and in making * up the vouchers once a fortnight means • an amount of work in the office which J the layman cannot fully appreciate. Tho clerical side of tho work is immense, and a considerable portion of it is done J m the office on the ground. | To Accommodate 4500 Men. s

_ The thought that this army of workers is building the home of an army of fighting men is ever present when inspecting the camp and seeing how it grows, under the.efforts of the skilled workers. The hutments are an improvement on the old Trentham hutments, and somewhat different from the new ones there. Thev.are built of wood and roofed with rubber material, and each hutment has its own drying room. Instead of having a dead-wall to divide the building into halves, a space of about 10 feet is left. Here the flo,or is of steel wire, like rabbit-netting. In the centre is a concrete block, 011 which a stove will be s6t, with a stove-pipe leading up through the roof. This drying space is to be divided, so that each party of 25 men, who occupy a half-hut-ment, will have their own space, and be kept separate from tho othor half of the building. What jesting and cheorful badinago will go on through the. wire division remains to be seen. Oil wet days the men will remove their wet things, and the draught of air coming up through tho floor, together with the he&t from tho stove, will dry them all by morning. As it is removed from ail woodwork, there will bo no danger of fire from the stove. There will be moro,

room in tho hutments, since there will be no tables. All meals will be served in huge dining-rooms, of which there are eight in tho camp, each hokuiig 600 men. -The windows of tho hutments aro largo and loiv, and all the buildings are clear of the ground, with wooden steps. Hu§a Dining Halls. The dining halls are an important foature of the camp. They aro iu' the middle of the camp, four on each side of Second Avenue, which is a wide thoroughfare with cook-houses in its centre. From there tho food is quickly run across to tlie tables, with lifctlo chance of losing heat and flavour. Bach of the huge halls has a division, with doorways leading from side porches with each compartment. There is also a main door into each side. The tables aro of plain wood, aad run tho whole length of tho room. Prom tables at tho sides the orderlies will serve the men. At present the workmen use the whole of one dining-Kall and onehalf of another. Before the meal the tables were neatly laid, with tin plates, mugs, forks, knives, and spoons, and tins of jam and the usual condiments arrayed along their length. When dinner-time was announced by striking an immense gong, consisting of a railway rail hung, from a post, there was a change in the" scene. Men came from all quarters. There was a hurried washing of hands at the ablution stands. Then came a tramping of boots and scraping of forms on the rpL^ r whole 1000. were seated. The waiters sped here and there with hot meat and vegetables. Tea was served hot and steaming, and there .was not much conversation at first. But gradually a murmur grew into a buzz of voices. It required but a short night of fancy to imagine the halls filled with soldiers in uniform, and to see their sunburned faces In the other half of the haJl the scene was the same r-ordorl;, happy men in the rough garb of workmen.

Water and Drainage. permanent water supply will be'drawn from wells, situated about a quarter of a mile to the northward of the camp. Ono well has been sunk already to a depth of 40ft.,' and a con' crete casing made iu it. The water trill.be pumped from this by a centrifugal pump to a tank, situated on a stand and 30ft. above tho ground, llns tank, the parts of which are on the ground, will be of the pattern used by tho railways, but whereas the largest railway tank holds 6000 gallons, this one will hold 13,000 gallons, and from it a water-supply all a good pressure: }nll be available for the camp. : In addition, there is an ample water supply, for other than drinking purposes, to bo had from a water-race which skirts tlie_camp. This water is used for washing and building purposes at present, and the natural fall of tho ground gives quite a good pressure,' showing that with the additional height of the tank the pressure should be ample. Jno camp is furnished with hot shower batns similar to those at Tronthain. 'llie drains of the camp • lead across tho road, through the land on that side, into a large drain, which will run into the. Tauherenikau River, about half a mlie distant. Solid matter will ba burnt in incinerators.

Hospital and Social Halls, While the camp is on the northorn side of the road, the hospital, canteen, social halls, shops, and' other places of commerce-and amusement are situated across the road. The hospital is being run up m record time, and it is on the same plan as the Wairarapa ward recent y erected at Tronthain, being of tile kiosk type with open sides that can be closed if desired. A week ago there was 110 sign, of tho building. ; On Sat-, urday it was up with weather-boarding nnd the sarking on the roof. It has to be finished by' December 17 for uso by the ' military authorities, its rapid construction may he taken as pemg typical of the way iu which buildings grow m Featherston camp. . The hospital will have a wator system of drainage installed with a soptic tank atcached. Next to the hospital are tlie medical inspection (quarters, where men may await medical inspection under cover, and the dental quarters. Further on will be the social institutes o£ the Church of England, Roman Catholic Church, and the Salvation Army. The Church of England hall is nearly completed, and is similar to the one at Trentham. Next again will be the canteen,' a huge building, and behind it will be the club rooms of tho Wairarapa Patriotio Society, picture shows, billiard rooms, and a shooting gallery are also going up. . Lighting and Power. An important part of tho camp is the powerhouse. Here two sots of (engines and generators, each of 125 horse-power and driven by producer gas, have been installed. A trial run of the plant is expeoted to be-made to-morrow. One of these sets is sufficient to light the camp, drive the pumps, and any other machinery that is likely to be installed, find there will always be one in reserve. Wherever possible, the ctreet lamps will be fixed to the ends of the hutments, with poles at places whe~e tliis arrangement, will not be sufficient. The cookhouses are of the latest pattern, and from each a supply of hot water is conducted in insulated pipes to the washingup place beside it. All the bread for the camp is baked in tlie ovens. Another good arrangement is:the placing of tho Army Service Stores and the' supply stores in a compact square. The milkhouse is floored with concrete, and the cans stand ill a few inches of water, and 'are sprayed with cold water. The butchers' shops, too, are as clean as a new pin. These stores and all others with foodstuffs have walls made up almost entirely of wooden louvres, which .may be opened or closed, while inside them is .fine wire gauze. The officers' mess is close at hand, and the port office is on the other 6ide. Headquarters offices and the guardroom complete' the array of buildings at the entrance to tho camp. The officers' quarters aro in numerous smaller hutments 1 situated throughout the'Oamp at convenient distances from the men's hutments.

The Post Office. A place likely to be frequented mucli by both the workmen and the soldiers is the post office. It is in a compact and well-arranged building, and includes the public office, with, counters for parcels post, letters, money orders, Savings Bank, and for telegrtms; there is a large room, fitted with bunks for the staff, who will live on tho premises; and adjoining it is a kitchen. A postmaster's office, telegraph operators'room and lobby for private boxes complete tho building. Until the soldiers go into camp a small staff, it is expected, will be able-to cope with the work. With the advent of the men in uniform, however, a much heavier task will be presented and a larger staff required. Punctually at 8< o'clock this morning the office was lo be opened, much to the satisfaction of all at present in the camp.