BUSY HOURS FOR THE NINTHS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3227, 19 January 1916, Page 54

BUSY HOURS FOR THE NINTHS.

By L. S. Fanning. During the past week or two tho armourer at Trentham has been very busy with the overhaul of tho 9th Reinforcements' rifles. Early in the morning one sees a group near the quartermaster's stores, and there is a rapid calling of names and numbers. Before a weapon is returned to a solider the firing mechanism is quickly tested in his presence, as a guarantee that it is in good working order. This is the time for him to speak if he is not satisfied. Other kinds of stocktaking have gone ahead briskly, and payment has been required for articlesflost or strayed. Tho hours have been full of hustle for all hands and heads, but chiefly for the Headquarters Staff. The railway orders for Saturday were issued on Wednesday night. Tho provision is for four trains, departing \t 7,8, 9, and 10 a.m.—two with about 800 passengers each and two with 700 each —a total of about 3000.

NO PEACE FOR THE ORDERLY SERGEANTS.

An odd lay miud —it would have to be a very lay one —may imagine that '' orderly sergeant" is another name for chaplain. Each company has its orderly sergeant, chosen by its own officer commanding, who takes care, if he is wise, to pick a man of patience and perseverance, quickness, alertness, adaptablenoss, and endurance, for even the O.C. may have to be saved now and then by a resourceful OS. As a modern ship in distress calls " S.O.S. " by wireless over a waste of waters, so an O.C, in a momentary difficulty, may signal 0.5., with a certainty of comfort. The O.S. is one of the buffers between the Headquarters office and men and things outside. He has to keep up'the company records and rolls, and flits about from pillar to post on all manner of missions. His working day may begin at "any old time" and end similarly. This week orderly sergeants have been seen working in their room between 3 and 4 a.m. Nightly, at 10 o'clock, they parade for orders in Amac road, in front of the Headquarters office. They listen carefully to a. sergeant-major, and they make notes as a surety for accuracy in execution, for the pood O.S. has a horror of mistakes. For these long hours, and all these tossings to and fro, the O.S. has one sustaining consolation, he is on a fair way to a commission if ho desires to be an officer. Every ambitious non-commissioned officer has an opportunity to qualify by examination for a commission. Some "non-coms." of the Bth, who psesed tho tests, have been retained for the 10th and 11th, and it is expected that the value of these officers will bo seen in the training of the men entrusted to them. A BIG PAY DAY. On Wednesday the escort brought £22,000 into Trentham. This sum was a fortnight's pay for the whole camp. Officers draw the amounts duo to companies, and distribute the money comfortably. Tho sight of the escort, with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets, is enjoyed by people who happen to be near the Bank of New Zealand while the soldiers, seated grimly in a van, are waiting for the precious boxes. The men receive their wages in notes and silver net (without microbes), for the paper is new, and with it 3 brightness, freshness, and crispness it is delightfully different from tho ugly, limp, germ-laden slips of "filthy lucre " which pass from hand to hand among civilians. A PERMANENT BAND. The making of a permanent band, about 25 strong, for Trentham, is in progress. Up to the present, bandsmen have been drawn from various units, and they have been obliged to make this musical exercise fit smoothly into their other work. This "double-banking" has been a little irksome Tho advantages of a permanent band are too obvious to need stressing, but there is an additional benefit, apart from music. Tho bandsmen will be also permanent orderlies. The present system provides a rotation of orderlies; every soldier has a turn, and this frequent changing is vexatious and time wasting to the headquarters office. THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE. The Trentham camp's telephone exchange grows amain. Tho recent enlargement of the switchboard provided for 25 direct connections, of which 20 have been fixed, comprising offices, stores, hospital, and other important buildings of the camp, the homes of tho Headquarters Staff and the May Morn camp. Three wires link Trentham with Wellington, and one of tho three is exclusively for the Defenco Department. The littlo exchange is very busy throughout tho day, for the rings average between 500 and 600. Tho working day is from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. —ordinarily done by two men. but occasionally, " when things are thick, one man has the whole run. When the attendant goes Ho rest he switches the hospital wire and a Wellington wiro on to his bodside, and if there is a call on any other wire the bell will ring just outside his room, only a few feet away from hie sensitive ears. SUNNING THE BEDS. Any sunny morning one can see beds slipping out of the hutments between two pairs of hands. The stretchers, with palliasses, blankets, bags, and other articles,

have a day's airing while the building is well scrubbed out. This happens about twico a week, but, of course, not all companies choose the same clays. With doors and windows open, the hutments do not lack ventilation in these summer days. BUCKJUMPING COMPETITION. Wednesday night finished the buckjumping competition at the circus, and the silver cup went to Corporal Garlick, of Pahiatua. It was evidently a popular win, for the judge's verdict was cheered heartily. Then i; was announced that a clever rider of the circus company would mount a " local outlaw," alleged to be the property of the Defence Department. Beforo the professional had a chanoe to saddle up, a soldier called out: "I'll have a go." This waa Private Johnson, who won a huckjumping competition at Invercargill some time ago. Ho took careful stock of the outlaw—but the circus folk knew more than Mr Johnson. They arranged the straps and the flanking rope to make the outlaw " some buckjumper," as an admirer remarked. Somo thought that the rider did his somersault at the first buck, and others held that ho curved out at the second. The writer saw a momentary whirl of horse and man, and then only the horse. Happily the ambitious rider was not hurt—and thus he had better luck than another soldier, who fell backward under a curvetting buckjumper. Tire injured man had to be taken on a stretcher to the hospital. After the downfall of Private Johnson, a. soldier (who was rudely arid irrelevantly reminded that he had ruddy hair) rushed into the arena. He was evidently eager to try the " outlaw," but ho was shouted out of the ring. The soldiers wished to see a professional at work, and they did witness a, taming of the shrew. By this time it was after 10, arid the, leave was only till 10. "I suppose we'll get C. 8.," said one soldier, but they all felt that the authorities would not be hard on men of the 9th Reinforcement. A quarter of an hour later, nearly a mile away on the main road, the writer heard shouting which swept him back to football days. Ho knew that the programme was finishing with a hurdle race for soldiers (on buckjumpers), and the noise which drowned the moreporks' notes was a chorus of boyish merriment at undignified " spills."