ABOUT THE CAMPS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2655, 29 December 1915, Page 5

ABOUT THE CAMPS

♦ —— '.. SETTLING DOWN AFTER HOUDAYS THE MAN WITH THE HAM. t — : , The soldiers in camp at Trentham aiict ' May Morn have settled down to worlc after the holidays. The Ninth Itein- | forcements will bo the next .troops to • leave for the frcnt; and their musketry training is being pushed through. Yesterday from 6 a.m. till G p.m. the mounted men were at the ranges, from which the rattle and roar of rifle firs sounded' almost continuously. The soldiers' course, which the Ninth aro now goilig through, includes the ranges from 200 to 600 yards, and it is expected that the Ninth will compare well in marks- "" > manship with previous reinforcements. A Night Attack. Whon tho Ninth Infantry marched across the Rimutakas, the whole of the programme of manoeuvres and bivouacs was not completed, owing to wet > weather. _ Among the items omitted' [ was the bivouac and night attack at a ' point close to Wallacoville township. At the time it was stated that this portion 1 /of the training would be carried out later. Yesterday morning the troops marched out of Treutham Camp, and their skirmishing and outpost work was. to terminate for the day 'at .Wallace-■ [ ville, where the force was to divide into two parts, one of which would form the attacking party in a night attacK, to be made early this morning, upon the other half of the troops. In the afterheavy rain fell in the Upper Hutt district, but it was not expected that it would cause any deviation from the plan of the manoeuvre?. The men will march back to Trentham about midday to-day. Relics of Christmas. _ In many of tho hutments the decorations of flowers and flags, placed there for the Christmas dinner last Thursday, ' still remain, the men having.taken care to keep the flower's fresli. The dinner ■ is still,spoken of, and incidents cbnnectl ed therewith recalled. 'It was inevitable, with each hutment competing with its neighbours for pride'of place m decorations and other things, that a certain amount of "pinching" or borrowing should have taken place. One lady,' it is said, found a soldier stealthily withdrawing sprays of flowers from her vases. On 'being remonstrated with, he . ' said he was only desirous of decorating the walls of his hutment.' Unfortunately for him, he was recognised as an occu- ( pant of an adjoining hutment,'and'was summarily ejected. _ But the palm in ths/"art of.commandeering for that day Ws been given to "a soldier who walked boldly into the distributing hutment, and, picking up a ham, bolted up the . street. Despite tho hue • and ; cry, -he got away, and the ham no doubt formed an "extra" on his hutment's-menu.; No Waste of Food. Since Trentham and May Morn-were invaded by about 800 ladies, the domestic side of the camps has been freely discussed, and the question of whether any undue waste of food, occurs" fully debated. After tho Christmas dinner there was a great deal of uneaten food left, which had' to be thrown away. From this fact and the statements or soldiers that no food is allowed to be kept in tho hutments, some people have jumped to the conclusion that the same ' amount of waste occurs at every' meal ia tho camp. But such is not the case, hi ordinary circumstances there is little waste, the Camp Commandant, Colonel H. B. Potter, having personally investigated and adjusted trie whole question of food supply. It is inevitable, with 5000 men in camp, that a certain amount of broken food should be thrown out, but it is a comparatively small amount. For obvious reasons no food 13 nllowed to be kept in the hutments, but the amount of waste at the Christmas dinner is in no way an indication of the ordinary camp arrangements as regards food.