80 NEW BUILDINGS COMPLETED

Camp News, Volume 1, Issue 9, 9 February 1940, Page 4

80 NEW BUILDINGS COMPLETED

MODEL TOWNSHIP NOW IN SIGHT , Almost simultaneously with the declaration of war, work was started by the Public Works Department on the erection of the new mobilization cam)) at-, Trentham. and already there have been 80 new buildings completed, with more to follow that will place the camp on a footing that the soldier of 25 years ago never thought possible. There are now 140 men working on building and road work in the camp. A start will be made within a few days on the first of 32 new huts, each 132 feet ,by 18ft. 6in., which will accommodate 40 men apiece. This will see the end of the tents in the camp for the men, and an officers’ dormitory is also being erected which will re-place-the standard public works tents now being used by most officers fox’ sleeping quarters. The old hospital of 1914-18 is being converted into a dental clinic ami alterations are being carried out to make the building thoroughly modern. There will be a surgery, waitingroom, accommodation for those who have -had major dental operations, mechanical laboratory, X-ray room and dark room. There has also been erected close to the hospital block a main X-ray room, 38 feet by 19 feet, to be used for hospital purposes. There will be an X-ray record of every man who passes through the camp for eventual overseas service.There are now three miles of paved ways in the camp, some fine paved drill squares and grass plots. Tarsealing is proceeding all the time, and those areas still to be sealed are kept dust-free meantime by the constant work of a water-sprinkler. The principal highway in the “mobilization camp is as wide as a main road. The reading is under the supervision of Mr. H. Polson. Messrs. D. Banks and W. M. Sharp are clerks of work for the considerable building projects. Beautifying Scheme. A beautifying scheme is being carried out in conjunction with the utilitarian works, and one of the features of this will be Camp Road, facing the Trentham racecourse. The grass, is being removed from the roadside, and eventually flower plots will be laid down and other work done to make the camp surroundings beautiful. Round the old huts it has been discovered in cleaning up that outside there are many self-sown fruit trees, probably sprung from the fruit stones that were, cast out the windows by the soldiers of the last war. As new buildings have become available old hutments have been renovated and put in . up-to-date order. . There is in the camp, on loan from the Health Department, a special officer who attends to sanitation, drainage and other requirements of hygiene. His authority extends outside the camp and there he works in conjunction with the Upper Hutt borough inspector to ensure , that the effectiveness of health work done in the camp is not impaired by conditions outside the camp. By a special device of this departmental officer the camp has been rid of flies. Their . breeding places have been wiped out and attention has been given to parts outside the camp such as the rubbish tip where flies are likely to breed. With the building programme, the painting and other schemes of improvement well on the way, Trentham camp will soon be a model township not only from the viewpoint of living conditions but also aesthetic ally. / The first camp commandant, Major F. L. Hunt, made his influence felt in achieving this ideal an?l his preliminary work is being continued enthusiastically by the present commandant. Major McHugh. There is a fair number of returned soldiers engaged on various duties in the camp and the new generation of soldiers treats them with particular respect and consideration.