REGIMENTAL CAMP

Southland Times, Issue 22492, 29 January 1935, Page 5

REGIMENTAL CAMP

SOUTHLANDERS AT GARSTON.

CHURCH PARADE AND VISITORS’ DAY.

A correspondent forwards the following particulars of the activities of the First Battalion of the Southland Regiment, which is at present encamped at Garston:—

A church parade was held on Sunday morning, when the service was taken by Chaplain A, Macfarlane, of Riverton. In the afternoon the camp was thrown open to visitors and a large number oi people from the surrounding district showed their interest in the camp and its appointments. The large field adjoining the camp was filled with motor cars; scant respect was shown to parking regulations and the Invercargill traffic inspector would have had a busy time had he been present. The band of the First Battalion, Southland Regiment, is filling a prominent place in the affairs of the camp, and it is fortunate that so many bandsmen have been able to stay for the whole time.

A visit to the quarters of the medical section reveals a very keen squad under Major Gibson. The bearer section from the Southland Technical College cadets is also assisting. Although the numbers on sick parade so far is negligible (a disappointment to these boys) it speaks well for the sanitary and hygienic arrangements. In the medical tent the section has been busy making tests of the water from the various nearby streams, and these have all been graded according to their standard of purity. Naturally the work of the camp has not been without its diversing side and more than one trainee has unwittingly provided free entertainment. On Sunday afternoon one territorial, eager to show his horsemanship, borrowed a visitor’s horse and issued a challenge to a small member of the fair sex. This was promptly accepted, but when the horse on which the “mere man” was mounted reached the lines where the camp horses were tethered, he decided that he had gone far enough and suddenly stopped; not so his rider, who continued his journey unmounted for some yards, leaving his fair opponent to canter home an easy and popular winner.