The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1915.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4004, 10 August 1915, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1915.

It IS Jlti vy qil“ 1 C' 1 i3' that ill l . 1 C.iO\i I Jiuieiit does not inti mi to await a reS).or t from the Royal Commission on ilu* question as to whether the I training of iurilnr reinforcements should bo proceeded with at I rciitliaur. Commission, it wiil he recalled, was requested to enquire, inter aha, | “whether sufficient saint; ry or other ( •‘reasons exist lor the removal of the “camp from its present situation.” On that particular point much evidence has already boon taken, bin, seemingly, the panic which overlook the authorities, most of the members of the Legislature and a section or the press has almost subsided and bias l soon to he only an unpleasant memory : To-day wo find that the• Commission | (to its great surprise) lias been notified “that the question of removal from “Trentharn is not now a question for '■its consideration”; there are perhaps between two and three thousand men at Trenthaui; ant! all the necessary steps are being taken to receive the men who will go to form the Eightn Reinforcements who are due at Tret, tham towards the end ol the current month. As far as can he gathered very considerable improvements have been proceeding at Trentharn ever since the great and very sudden exodus from the camp took place and, acting on the advice of a Medical Hoard, which consisted of Professor Cbamptaloup, Mr Hurley (Government Bacteriologist), Hr Harrison, Dr Hector, Dr Trudy King and Colonel Valintino, the decision to resume complete occupation of the camp was lately readied without awaiting (or feeling that such is necessary) any expression of opinion on the subject on the part of Mr Justice Stringer and his comembers of the Commission, Dr Martin and Mr W. Ferguson. The authorities, it- would seem, have, however, learnt more than one very valuable lesson as a sequel to the initial unhappy experiences in connection with the camp; for, in addition to seeing to it that the site will he more extensively drained and roaded and the men better housed, they have decided that the maximum number of men to he encamped there shall he 4000 instead of 7000. Tt is now also quite evident that no great scare would ever have taken place if the authorities had been hotter prepared to combat any possible epidemic and, in particular, if the regulation providing for the reporting of cases of sickness without undue delay‘had been more strictly enforced. As things have turned out there are even good grounds for the belief that, although sickness was allowed to become rife, the number of gravo eases was not nearly as great as most people were led to imagine. The plain fact is as lias been stated by' Colonel Valintine in his important evidence, that the troops were rushed out of the camp simply because it was erroneously thought that typhus had broken out. What is, however, now fairly well established is that the camp at Trentharn is, from every point of view, much ahead of the principal camps in the Commonwealth and firsthand evidence has also boon tendered before the Commission to the effect that Trentharn compares well with Salisbury Plain, Curragh and other noted training grounds in the United Kingdom. As regards the question of sickness our troops liave certainly fared badly enough but not so badly, it would seem, as the trainees in Australia, where, in addition to many thousands of cases of measles and inJiuenza, the dreaded cerebro-menin-gitis also put in its unwelcome appearance. It may also here bo mentioned in this connection —on the authority of Mr Long, President of the

Sequci '"3 ttie t«j£ Camp ; s a;ib.

Local Government Board—that at Homo sickness has also boon very prevalent among the troops, but the exact extent has not been disclosed. According to Mr Long the position at Homo has been that “in addition to “a curious on threat: of measles among “adults having affected the soldiers “(which had rendered fresh measures •‘to combat the disease necessary) “some thousands of eases of spotted “fever have also been reported.” We do not know if it he the position that the Defence authorities in this Dominion did not realise that the investigations hv the itoval Commission would oxteover sueh a lengthy period ; but jy is evident that no further delay \.srs advisable in coming to a final jfci'diot as to whether the Tre.ethauf camp should again bo used or asjro whether oomnDto arrangements i'm' new permanent- camps should atJmee he made. Like time and the tide, which will, of course, wait for no man. war will not permit of endue delay on the n'li't ol any nation in the making of all its necessary military preparations. What we fee] in the matter is that then:' need bo no fur-

ther misgivings as regards the suit-* ablciioss of Trenlham Camp. On this important question the authorities have now had the best advice obtainable in the Dominion and it will he only a matter of a few weeks at the latest when the Home camp specialist who lias been secured will be at his new post, and can he depended upon to lose no time in having the finishing touches made in connection with the arrangements.