IN THE CAMPS
WORK OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. An interesting resume of tho work carried out by tho Church of England Military Altos Committeo is given m a booklet issued by that organisation* I row. this it is gathered thiit when Trentham Camp first came into being the committee put up an institute. i\ow, atter various additions and extensions, it is large enough for any parade, for wlncli it is freely used. At the far end on one side is the chaplain's room, on the other Bide a chapel, j.catly and reverently luruished for prayers aud private devotions. The main social hall is fitted up with games; there is .1 quiet room tor N.C.O.'s, and iu the clock tower the library, where at night classes aro held in all kinds of subjects,, and above it the assistant chaplain's room. The vicar ot St. Jolin'6, Trentham, found out tnat round about the camp were soldiers wives aud mothers, living for the most part in single rooms. He has placed his Sundny-school room at their disposal, and B. email committee of local church-women has undertaken to make their solitary lives more sociable. : Featherston Camp sprang up. Hero, too," says the report, "an institute was necessary. We were not quite'as iortunato here as wo were at Trontham in the site allotted to us. Our Building is cramped for room, though we covered every inch tho authorities allowed us. Our first permanent chaplain was Chaplain Cruickshank. When he went to the front his place was taken by Chaplain W. H. Roberts, who had returned from Egypt. Under Chaplain Roberts a beautiful chapel has been erected and suitably equipped. Tho N.Z.M.C. has its training camp at Awapuni, near, J/aimerston North. With tho full approval of Surgeon-General Henderaon a email but adequate institute has been erected there. There the Holy Communion is celebrated regularly, and at other times the building serves as a quiet place tor the men. Near Auckland there is a training camp for Maori soldiers at Narrow "Neck. Military regulations prevent the Government placing ft Governmentpaid chaplain there, for tho number of men in training is below the required amount for a ..•.haplain. We have, however, been permitted to fiend a chaplain in on tho condition that the church finds his salary. Chaplain W. l'razer, a Maori in spite of his name, has been appointed, and wo have to find about .£2OO a- year for him. "Soldiers • return from tho front and we have a responsibility to them. Inere are some at Hanmer, for instance, va consulted the vicar, and following ms advice we have not erected any building there; but he has beon supplied with what he needs for the men. At Rotorua there is a much larger body. We w.ere late-it was not the fault of any one in particular—and the Salvation Army (all credit to them!) got in first, and built an institute big enough to accommodate all the invalid soldiers iv.ho are likely to be in Rotorua at any one time. It would bo folly to double-bank. The spiritual wants of cur church soldiers are provided for. The vicar gives a good deal of his time to them, and Mr. Barnard Brown, a devoted layman, holds services and is r.ho agent of the church, recognised by the military authorities, for the soldiers there/*
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19170908.2.10
Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3185, 8 September 1917, Page 3
Word Count
555IN THE CAMPS Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3185, 8 September 1917, Page 3
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.