A GREAT QUARTERMASTER

Lake County Press, Issue 3184, 10 March 1927, Page 3

A GREAT QUARTERMASTER

Majop Peter Mackenzie. Under the above heading the special reporter of the Dunedin Star at the Camp of the First Battalion (Otago Regiment) held last week at Matarae, has the following to say in reference to Major Peter Mackenzie, of Lake Wakatipu, who acted as quartermaster at the encampment:— “ Cool, resourceful, and eeemingly equipped for any emergency whatever that might arise —courteous always, and mindful of everyone else’s comfort before bis own ; that in a word or two described the battalion’s quartermaster, Major Peter Mackenzie, of Queenetown No one goes to bed later than he does, and no one—not even the cooks, and the lark is a late riser compared with them—is about before him- in the morning. He is never bustled. If all the tents were blown away in a gale he would still speak with the same soft drawl, and probably he would have the camp set up again with almost magical quickness. His good-natured, fresh colored face is to be seen everywhere about the camp, his quiet voice hei#d as be supervises this or that. Hie keen grey eyes miss nothing that is going on. If he undertakes any task it will be drae. and done thoroughly.

Plainly anyme who undertakes the work of providing for over a thousand tmn is attempting a massive task, and how efficient the man must he who can issue the food for those men in less than two minutes, as has been done quite often, particularly towards the close of the camp, by which time the rasss orderlies are more acquainted with the method of food distribution.

The system is that two moss, orderlies from each tent—226 orderlies all told assemble at the call of the bugle. One seotiou goes through the cookhouse, each man taking the cooked food wait ing in stacked trays, while the other goes round the side where there are dixies of tea plased in long lines, and the men can almost take the dixies on the run. In no case did the issuing take more than a few minutes after the three blasts of a bugle signalled the orderlies on.

The success Major Maokenaie has achieved as quartermaster can be afctri bated to his habit of keeping a very pereonal toaoh with every department of his work Ha is mindful of everything. If any kind of tool is needed for repairing about the camp be can prodooa it; if anything goes wrong he •an fix it. Last year he mad* all the furniture for the officers’ messes. He can do anything at all in plumbing work ; he can essay engineering tasks. In all his work he never leaves anything to chance Neither does he leave anything to the other fellow that he can do himself. On the morning of Sunday, when a great storm rose soon after midnight, with high wind and heavy rain, he was instantly up aud about, securing things ia the cookhouse, keeping up the fires that would otherwise certainly have been extinguished, and making certain that in the morning the men would get a hot breakfast. He saved the situation admirably. On Monday night be courageously dealt with a petrol fire, getting hia forearm badly burned. One would naturally think that such a capable quartermaster must have had years of training. Not so. Ho was first in the position of quartermaster at the battalion camp three years ago But be is a soldier of long experience, a Volunteer officer who joined the Queenstown Rifles in 1902, and who has had eontinaaus service since, including the war. He was appointed a major last year. Matarae may see many more camps, but no camp there er anywhere will see a more capable quartermaster than Major Peter Mackenzie. The troops do not know how much they owe to him.”