LIFE IN CAMP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue XLIX, 3 January 1916, Page 4

LIFE IN CAMP

VIEWS OP "VOLUNTARYISM."

THE SOLDIER WAY 05? THINKING

(By L. S. Fanning.)

Calling For the Twelfths, and the number for tho Eleventhsi is not yet .complete ! There is » feeling about Tren.tham iLhat tlio quietness of the recruiting in these days cannot bo explained wholly by the desire of men to have their "holidays with tho- full freedom of, civilians in mufti. Officers and soldiers alike hint rather than say that, with tho 31,000.men. who have gone to the atrout and the 9000 who are in training, New Zealand is within measurable distiuxecs

of tho end of "voluntaryism" to maintain reinforcements at .tho rate of 2500 a month. One- may also heav sceptical remarks about the Government's reso-lution-to turn tho hose of , local-body eloquence on. eligibles, or those who are believed to be eligibles. A cynic; says that the .harangued"- and homilies?..may win some recruit*, not .by argument,"rfiofc by moral suasion, but by the preference of the camp's peace .to the warfare waged by members of Gity 'Councils, Borough Councils, County Councils, Town Boards, Road Boards, Harbbur Boards, Drainage' Boards, Education! Boards, School Committees, Rabbit Boai'ds, and Noxious Weeds Boarcla, and any other boards and councils (describable as "local bodies") that may , volunteer for moral-suasive work with tho pen or the tongue on, .behalf of the Government. ' ( Of course, the great majority votoafc the camp is for national service, >vhicbi means much i the • same ■as tho bogey word "conscription." To the .soldier mind,- which soon develops a habit of direct .thinking, the "sooling" of all manner of local body heavy-weights? oi» to tho young man whose fancy has notyet turned to war is pa-actically a roundabout, tiresome, time-wasting! schome of v compulsion. "Why not cut out the local v bodies? - Why not have <i plain simple system oif equality of sacrifice or equality of service?" is the average soldier view of tho* situation. The log(cM soldier' mind has also 'this conviction:, "When 'voluntaryism' fails to bring sufficient eligible** into the camp, then 'voluntaryism!' <loos not'so much, mean 'the right to' volunteer' as tho right nob to volunteer.' " ,' ' * ' THE WAITING WHEEL.

Already officers- and non-commissioned o officers for the 13th Reinforcements ;are ' in, the third week of their 'training". A which -will" be completed "by-the time , that tho men, of this'draft orffcer camp-, X in" tho jniddla of February. . In the headquarters office' the type- >- writers are ever clicking' briskly about the business of men, coming or going, "In-in-jn!" "Out-out-out!" the ping'goes. Listening..thus one night—when the music, of merrymakers in." a ij social hall mingled with the machines. . monotonous chant—tho \ writer v , thought of a ifew lines of Swinbourno in "The' ~ Garden of Proserpine":—"" , , > '. "She,waits for each and cthei". She waits for aIL men'' born.; - Forgets the Earth, her mother,'! •'" f Tho time of spring and com '' But the goddess here is tho,one of,/. (War, Minerva. The'writor y also thought" •; _nf one of the Fates, Clotho, weaving a military suit for this man; or that, .whose' \, thoughts now may .be very ,far, from •' khaki-(for himself). ' But;'the .suit »-is taking shape*; it will' ,be on© of'&L'oizes (ready-to-wear), arid the QuartermasterSergeant will do.his best! tofarrahg© for* a geod fit'. . - . '.-.■ «-.>.i" -•' ~ A man is using his brawn brain ■■. for a living; ho'.goes »to tho pictures once in a wlrile, 'or to'the races, or to meetings of the Philosophical InstituteHe is -really interested' m< the war;-he" cheers, the soldiers wherever lie sees them on their way to 'Trenitham ( or. to„: . the transports, but he has a he.himself was not horn to-be a,soldier. ■ Put' the wheel is -waiting for 'liinii and '. destiny Jias a jiace for' .great ,* I rim. kl'owly, silently-, thejwh'eel works and turns, and lifts up ithat man and drops him. into Trentham for , one of - those suits of ,31 sizes. * „ ■ . , A SOLDIER- IN". SIXTEEN > WEEKS/ " That ■civilian who still-' has -a i tached view of the caanp should bo, something of a i&oldier*ift sax- ' teen weeks from the day when the wheel drops hun,and turns to,pick -up others/"' like him. At Tromtham , the* recruit''for the infantry has two, ,-weeks''drill with.out arms, then, three weeks' elementary drill with arms, and' one week of ihuskot- • ry. He is now at the end, of ; hia sifcthweek, and he is passed on jiikau (soon to be Teplaeed by, tin© iiew' , camp- at Featherston). Here'in. the first three 1 weeks he has drill and individual training (outpost duties and, entrenching) t Platoon training fillsT in;.itihe next two weeks, and then.-coiries a leave! 1 This is followed by two -weeks of. oohv. pany training; which concludes wath the - march over the Rimukak'as and the night \ operations on. return, trek .to Trentham at the end of the"fourteenth week.'; There is now ft- week'of soldiers', ipvusketry (as [distinct from 'the recruits' course), and opportunity is taken to .complete the.'outfit. The final week'is devoted >to further advanced training. | SCHOOLING THE"OFFICERS'. I Prospective officers and non-epmniis-sioned officers go into camp eight weeks , ■ ahead of "We men. Tho task, of. the instructional staff' i«j not only to >traan tho officers and "non-coms," .but to •teach them how' to teach, for -these graduates, under, supervision, are en- ■' trusted . Math the-training of, the ..rank and file. An 'officer may have the status of lieutenant-colonel when he enters.the \ camp, but ho ! has to go through tho ; complete, elementary 'course. He is put through his' -paces by a staff scrgt.major. ' A great Tegreti of these "S.M.'s" tied to the instructional post "* at tho training grounds, is that they are not permitted to go to the front, and they belieYO.that no promotioni ■will come to thc-m hero during tho war K period. One dixf thoy start au aspiring ''non-com." alt A i and ' tnke bim »to Z.i He is a sergeant v witji'full voice and a conn- / dent manner. , His ambition goes beyond the stripes; he looks for the stars, and applies to an "S.M." for aid, which is gladly given. Constantly a staff scrgt.-major._is concerned importantly in' tho* inakinjr of an officer/ but is not made an officer '"himself.

v "C.8." FOR THE NEW YEAR. < - About six hundred soldiers, who over- ,', stayed their Christmas leave, received ti sentence of "CB." (confined to barracks) ' for the New Year Saturday and Sunday. On. Tuesday a special picket) wont to Wellington, and picked up 23 ■ ' men who should have been then at Trcn- > tham. On arrival at night, they were * run straight dnito' tho "klink" (as the camp prison is termed), but this was no, ■hardship. Though they came in a* an, inconvenient time they Jiad a good meal, by the •.•Oommandai'iti's orders. The prisoners' food is always" tho same '.as' tho rations of v tho free. Tiie orderly sergeant 6f each company that happens •to havo a member interned has the* responsibility <oi seeing that proper' food and bedding are provided. Neglect'.in • a sharp reprimand, forgone duty- of the- suba-ltem to : ,tlie >captain of J the. day ds to report legit}.niato grievances of prisoner. -Perhaps the sign,of,the lock-up against .aman-jm ( " '- the records proves to be tho nioro painful partf of, the pimishment. „ ' ;-.; s On Christmas Evo about'three th'tva- ■ • sand' railway tickets (a total value ,of _ ,/„ ab'out 'JBISO) were, Ibsiiqu at the Tren- • * tham Canrp, to the 'men who A'ecoiv'ed*." 1 leave" (which ' Was 'general). _''"