MENDING THE ARMY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12540, 11 May 1915, Page 7

MENDING THE ARMY.

"WORKSHOP FOR HUMAN ALTERATIONS AND REPAIRS.

ORDER OF THE BATH

(By Ernest Townley.) General Headquarters, British Army in France. "When you come to the front yon discover on<j of the reasons why Irishmen were created it was so that they might become Army medical officers and "jolly" the sick, the wounded, and the worn-out into health and. strength again. By a. happy arrangement of things, many of theni w-ere too poor to go in sj» fighting commissions, so- they joiuSl the Army --Medical Sen-ice, and up ft file front their cheerful presence — mt to talk'about their skill, which may he no greater than others' —is a very present help in time of trouble. It was an Irish medico in each instance who showed me over two of the workshops at- the front where they carry on human alterations and repairs. Onp was a laughing, mercurial. adventurous, youngish, slim-figured man: the other a softly humorous, •solidlv-built. but light-footed old soldier whose hospital in South Africa was much praised. ARMY IN HOT WATER. You turn down a side street in one of the little towns behind the fighting linos, and vou run into the yard <if what before* the- war was a jute factory —a two-storey, brick-built place with long, wide shops. It is the famous bathing-place for men from the trenches, mi invention which lias done marvels for the health and comfort of the men at the front. It is fine sport to be in the bathing house when a company comes in for its tubbing. "With shouts and laugliter the boys dash into the. bathing-room-a large, cement-floored vat-house, with a tow oi great' iron vats on a platform running aeross;one end. Dropping their clothes on the floor, they snatch up their boots, run with them and drop.thom on a row of wooden slats, and then leap on the platform and v-nult over the side of the nearestvat with a cheer and a mighty splash. For a minute or two they wallow in.tne deep, hot. water, which is up .to their necks as they sit. Then arms go up, and the attendants put squares of yellow soap in their eager hands. What a lathering of faces and heads and filming backs and ■flashing limbs! You would think they were going in for a head-to-foot, shave. "Was over soap ami hoi water so thoroughly ei.ioved? The moment the men have stripped for the tub' their uniforms are picked up bv attendants and handed through a trao in the wall to a room where they are ('leaned and brushed. The under-, clothes and socks are carried to the vat at the end of the platform and piled in. until it is full. Then the iron I'd is damned down and- uiner-heatecl st<am, at » temperature of 220degs., ;= pumped through pipes. THEffcONVALESCENTS. "When the' cleansing is over', the clothes are taken to a workroom where Belgian women sit mending shirts for soldiers. All are patched and da mod aml fitted, where needed, with new buttons. The repaired garments are then issued again. A pile is kept ready an the batiiing-house, and each man shanded an outfit as soon as he is- dry. Before - the bathing places were invented, the- .fmen could only bunn or throw away'"their underclothes when they secured a new supply, for they had no means of cleansing them. The bathing houses thus effect an enormous saving in clothes, besides helping to keep the meirm health and comfort. It was in another little town that the other Irish' doctor took me through his workshop—another jute factory, turned into'a convalescent hospital fo'' men who have been slightly wounded or have "run down." It is a very large building, all on the ground floor, with no partitions, although it n's nowdivided with curtains into a number oi wards. The ambulance motors bring the men to its doof.s. usually in the evening, and they, are'-"-put to bed at once in a long ward running down one sid-e of the building. Next morrii'ng they pass into the long bath corridor—this '.'* outside the wall of the. main building, so the bathi steam does not enter the wards —and w-tyle- they tub in small baths, of the ordinary household pattern, _ their clothes are removed for cleansing.

They are them given bed's-in one of fhe large wards —there is room for hundreds of men in the place, and here they rest until they feel lit again and inclined' to get up. "Wards are ,<-et arart for meals and 1 for table games. 'At one vAe of the hospital a. ohapel has been formed by hanging 'high and thick curtains.

ALL MADE USEFUL

In one part of the building the chiropodist "holds daily levee. Many of the, patients are suffering, from foot trouble, and here there sores are healed and they are given friendly advice on how to keep their feet fit. The chiropodist has one or two assistants — taken from among the patients themselves, and set to help other-'. That is one of the jolly features of the place -—as: soon as men are able to get about they are asked if they can help 'to any wav. and thev are given something tr. do." . .

Some of the convalescents put in time in a carpenter's shoi> which has been rigged up. Another—R.H. A. reservist, who was at Mons (he lives at "Walthamstow and worked at Ronoo's) —ibeilng convalescent, but not quite fit for R.H.A. toil, has '.had a shed put up for him outside, and here he exercises his former trade of tinsmith. Thev bring him all the oatmeal and biscuit tins, and he turns them into natty drinking' mugs, with handles, and various- other kinds of utensils. The aim of the whole place it to get men '-back to the army again." Only those who are likely to become fit n two or three weeks are admitted. More, serious injuries or illnesses ' are sent direct to other hospitals. Most of the men brought here are well again after ton davs or a fortnight's- rest. Tr thev do not mend they are transferred to 'hosnitals at the bn-c. About 6000 men- have been admitted- here, and getting on for half that number have already returned to the firing line.