LIFE IN CAMP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17078, 29 January 1916, Page 7

LIFE IN CAMP.

WHEN THE SUN SHINES. QUESTIONS OF RIGHT AND WRONG. (By L. S. FANNING.) (Specially written for the " Lyttelton Times.") Wednesday made soldiers at Trcntham sigh for a coat of ico or at least a piece in tho bottom of a long glass. The higher officers at Headquarters had to retain their full dress (tho outward garniture), but sergeant-majors and sergeants were able to shed their coats and resta. The women's fashion has spread among the military, who have a rosy exposure of neck and breast in these sultry days. The sun gained in power from hour to hour on Wednesday, and so before evening the supply of lime-juice was almost exhausted. In the afternoon the camp was almost as quiet as a Spanish village is during siesta. Between three and four thousand men marched off for the regular mid-week dip in the Hutt River. This column, singing in glad anticipation or splashes and frolics below the cool willows, stretched out over half a mile, in close order, four deep. While they were refreshing themselves in pleasant reaches of river, men with dripping faces hammered by the forgo fire in the artillery park, and a comparatively mild crackle of musketry came from the range. Happily,a light southerly, rain-laden, crept 4n at nightfall and cooled the camp. . , Of course, die men are not obliged to go as far as the river for a cold bath. The hot showers have to be worked on a time-table, but a cold shower is easily available several times a day if desired. During hot weather special precautions are taken to safeguard the men s health. The inspection of the hutments is frequent, and thorough, and these buildings are opened up well to give the fresh air good gangway. There is also no stinting of disinfectants; a faint odour of diluted lysol meets the vagrant nose at various points about Trentham.

THE COMPULSORY SHAVE. A civilian (who does not like length of beard) should shave every day; with a soldier it. is not a case oi should, but must. At Trentham it is not compulsory to use the razor before physical drill (which begins at 6.30 a.m.), but the face must Ik- smooth by 9 a.m. (the hour of the regular assembly for the main work of the day). The authorities do not insist on perfection m shaving, but the tare must bear evidence of"recent attention by a keen Mace. Members of the Instructional Staff are particularly pitiless 0:1 any delinquent; they have a caustic wit and humour for'slackness or '■slovenliness. Naturallv the nveros soldier is scon able to shave quickly amid difficulties. The fancy is said to be about evenly divided, between safety razors and the plain blades. IX THE GLOAMING.

Lately the electric lighting plant has begun to feel the heavy loading—the increasing calls for lomps. Therefore, numbers of hutments have been obliged to revert to candles occasionally. Ilio "bush candlestick "—a bottle—is not usually available, but a substitute is easily'found: If a fixed light is wanted it is arranged by setting the candle in some of its own grease on the tame. A bayonet serves as a portable candlestick in some huts, and it looks wel.l. with the flickering light glittering on -the polished steel. Soon this kind of ingenuity may not be needed, for the electric installation is being improved. POSITION OF MARRIED MEN. A few married men have enlisted as a means of escape from domestic liabilities, and annoyances or troubles, but such cases—practically wife desertion—are exceptional. The average married recruit is a man with .a high sense ot honour—a man who does not lightly part with wife or children. , The usual practice of the married private is to allot 5s a day (35s a, week) to his wife, and he retains Is a day (7s a week) for tobacco, stamps and sundries. A wife who is opposed to her husband's enlistment can take action to keen him in New Zealand if she can furnish evidence that the mans change oi occupation might involve hardship or social humiliation for herself or children bv Teason of a. sudden drop in the housekeeping money or by tie compulsion of the wife to. add to the husband's allotment, bv uncongenial toil. An affidavit, signed by a Magistrate or two Justices 0 the Peace and sent to Headquarters, "puts the acid 1 on the husband" (as an officer remarked). , j„ Jn an odd case, after a man has made reasonable provision for Jus wife, thewoman may make a hostile demonstration, but her vehemence may.be in vain. A woman thus situated invaded one of the camps, two or three weeks a ? o, and she decried her husband as a "s'i»ak" and « rotter." • Finally she said'that be < : looked like a .criminal in his working suit of denims. This language availed nothing. M™\* showed that the man had treated' the woman fairlv. Moreover,, she had lather sooilt her ca.se by coming to the camn in a motorcar, instead ot o> t.ne much cheaper railway. PICKED FOR INTELLIGENCE. Now and then one may see men of comparatively light build in a mibtwy picket A question brings an answer that the selection for this important work is rathe.- on a basis of brain than of brawn, but it is all the better if exceptional intelligence and physical strength are in the one body. i" e picket has to be tactful; the members may call on the civil or military police for' help if soldiers in town a.re not in a. mood to listen to reason, but. every effort is made to avoid resort, to torce. Tho military police keep order in the trains, "red-caps" patrol the cit.s streets, and the " piefceteers have a general supervision. They may also have a special duty, such as a search for missing men. The picket forms the guard to th-> train for any soldiers who arc placed under arrest in town. A MAN WHO HELD UP A TRAIN. A good story is told by an officer who was on duty when the Ninths were entering tho embarkation trains. The departure of one was delayed by an individual whose view of life was as roseate as the flush of his face. He ma\ have been one of the "strays, packed up that morning. Anyhow, he had managed, to get a quantity of stimulant which made him hilarious. The officer ordered him to step on to the train, but the man preferred to have a genial argument. Then the voice of authority became stem and peremptory. "Go in. You are keeping the train waiting." the officer said. '"'Let. it wait," burbled the merry one"lts the first time a train has waited for inc.'" Tt was a momentary satisfaction ; strong hands gave the jovial soldier a rapid, undignified hoist into the nearest vehicle. AN UNLAWFUL FATIGUE.

Once in a while a private, as orderly to an officer, takes his turn at putting

a polish on accoutrements, but there is a limit to the duties. 'The other day an officer commanding a company had occasion to look through tho huts of his lines. In one he saw, a soldier (in the temporary role of orderly), washing socks, not his own but a lieutenant's, "You are not the lieutenant's washerwoman," the officer remarked. "Get out." So the bucket bad to be abandoned, and the lieutenant had to make other arrangements for the completion of the laundry job which had been foisted on to nn unsophisticated orderly. Happily, that kind' of imposition is rare. The average colonial quickly learns the limit of an officer's power in tho arrangement of orderly tasks.