“SCOTTIES’ IN CAMP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 10, 13 January 1941, Page 4

“SCOTTIES’ IN CAMP

HAPPY RECOLLECTIONS OF WANGANUI

RACECOURSE AND SPRIGGENS PARK TRAINING SCHEDULE MILL START TO DAY

"The men who were in camp at Spriggens Park during the OctoberDecember. period were delighted when they learned that they would be in camp at Wanganui again, as they had the happiest recollections of Wanganui hospitality and looked forward to renewing many friendships here,” said Major J. L. McAlister. M.C., camp commandant at the Racecourse, where members of the New Zealand Scottish Regiment, comprising B Company (Auckland) and C Company (Wellington) are in camp. Major McAlister is also in command of the Spriggens Park camp, where the first battalions of the Taranaki and Hawke s Bay Regiments are encamped, and at the Racecourse there are numbers of the First Battalion. Wellington West Coast Regiment. The majority of the men went under canvas on Friday, following preparations made by an advance detachment, and they are all comfortably settled in their quarters. The camps were open to visitors yesterday afternoon, and a large number of Wanganui people visited the Racecourse, where the only drawback was drift sand carried by the high wind. The Auckland and Wellington Companies of the N.Z. Scottish Regiment, together with reinforcements, will undergo three months’ training, and there is also a detachment of A Company (Wellington), New Zealand Scottish, who came into camp in November and will complete their three months’ schedule after having had three weeks’ Christmas leave. In all there are upwards of 500 men in the Racecourse camp, including 200 from Auckland.

C Company < Wellington) Scottish is staffed with officers and non-commis-sioned officers from A Company (Wellington). who had a refresher course at the C.D.5.1., Foxton, from the end or November, and there are also some officers from the First Battalion, Wellington West Coast Regiment. C Company (Wellington) Scottish officers comprise Lieut. I. H. MacArthur. Second-Lieutenants E. J. Bull. J. W. Gendall. W. M. Spedding. M. D. Davidson. W. D. Leuchars, D. Lorimer. J. E. Boult, and G. L. Webber. Attached from A Company is SecondLieutenant D. S. Dean. Major C W Ronaldson is in charge of B Company (Auckland) Scottish, and has associated with him SecondLieutenants R. R. Champtaloup. J. A. Connelly. R. R. McGregor. N. H. Moody E. Hood, B. R. Grant, and D. G. Graham. Captain B. Lewis is in command of the First Battalion, Wellington West Coast Regiment, and associated with him are Lieutenant F. P. Fawcett, and Seconn-Lieutenants R. Brittain, D. Orton, and D. Young. The camp medical officer is Captain H. D. Berney, of Masterton, and Lieut.-Col. A. Muriel. M.C., is the camp padre. Lieut.-Col. Muriel saw service with the Australians during the 1914-18 Great War.

The camp adjutant is Second-Lieu-tenant r. B. Hewitt, of A Company (Wellington) Scottish, and Captain R Parnell, of the First Battalion. Wellington West Coast Regiment, is camp quartermaster. Elementary training will be carried out during the first week, commencing to-day, and during the second week the partly-trained men who came into camp last November will pick up that part of their training programme—fielderaft and platoon and section tactical work—which they missed. A progressive programme on the same lines as was carried out during the October-December camp has been mapped out for the newcomers.