H.—l9b.

66

[j. P. FRENGLEY.

27. Do you consider that drying-marquees should have been provided long before ? —Facilities for drying arc essential at all times. 28. And if they were not provided in a camp holding from four thousand to five thousand men there was an error in administration ? —I must say that drying facilities are necessary. They were not there : therefore the conclusion is clear. 29. You spoke yesterday of Colonel Firth, R.A.M.C., on the question of the hutments: do you approve of their holding fifty men ?—Certainly ; but he says twenty-four men. 30. Why did you not stick to his regulation number of twenty-four ? —Because the design provided amply for fresh air. His huts, as I explained yesterday, provided only for a very small inlet of air— —1 square inch to 60 cubic feet—whereas our plan provides for something like ten times that amount. Practically it is an open-air shelter. Therefore you could put a very much larger number of men into the huts, and you would probably never reach the degree when either the moisture, temperature, or amount of CO_ had increased to anything like an objectionable amount. 31. The Chairman.] If you could always ensure a hurricane you might have a building of unlimited size ? —No, sir, the fifty men to a hut appeared on the Defence plans, and we were advised that was suitable for military purposes, and we offered no objection to that number from a health point of view. 32. It was from a military point of view, as regards discipline ? —Not from an infectious-diseases hospital point of view. 33. Dr. Martin.] Do you not think they should be built in echelon—one behind the other ? —No, not in our New Zealand climate :we get so much sun and wind. I speak as a Dublin man. 34. You are quite satisfied with the present way of placing the huts instead of building them in echelon ? —Yes. 35. The Chairman.] With regard to the question of summer and sunlight, we have a letter from a correspondent. Can you make any observations with reference to the sunlight there ? —I have not been out at the camp in the early morning, but I have been there late in the afternoon in the winter, and found that the camp gets the sun until late in the afternoon, even in the winter. 36. Is the Health Department in sole charge of the infectious cases ? —The military authorities are in sole charge of infectious cases by means of military officers appointed. 37. Dr. Martin.] You are not responsible to any military authority ? —I cannot say that. That is a question which Colonel Valintine should answer. lam responsible to him. 38. You are satisfied with the sanitary arrangements at Trentham Camp now ? —Some improvements require to be made. 39. Do you suggest any ?—The surface drainage has to be improved. 40. And has the Health Department carried out any inspection of Trentham Camp recently ? — We have special officers there, Major Finch and Captain Sydney Smith, who was the District Health Officer at Dunedin. 41. He inspects from the sanitary point of view ? —He is the sanitary officer for camps. 42. There is no occasion for public anxiety about sanitation now ? —Not the slightest. Of course, in weather like this you cannot get ahead very fast, but I may say that all necessary improvements will be carried out with the greatest possible speed. 43. The Chairman.] The erection of the hutments has prevented the completion of the surface drainage : could you have had good surface drainage until the hutments were practically finished ? —It would be very difficult to plan out the drains to catch the water off the roof without the hutments being erected. 44. Could you have had a complete system of surface drainage before the hutments were put up and while the ground was being cut up by the traffic ?—No, sir. 45. Do you suggest that owing to the state of national excitement this epidemic is worse than it would have been at a quieter time ? —I think that at other times the men would have said, "We are all right " ; but now they are being frightened—undoubtedly I think the population is. 46. Do you think that the epidemic of influenza among the civil population is worse than at ordinary times ?—-I do. 47. Do you suggest as to the future housing of meningitis patients that they should be put in one central fever hospital ?—A cerebro-spinal meningitis case does not stand moving well. It ought to be treated wherever it occurs. 48. You would send bacteriologists to the various centres of camps ? —Captain Sydney Smith will be there to examine the cases. 49. Is he a bacteriologist ?—He is qualified. As the holder of the diploma of public health he must have studied the subject. 50. Dr. Martin.] I have asked my questions so that the public will know that the epidemic is under control ?—Yes, it is under proper control. 51. Would there be sufficient facilities out at the camp for investigating cases of meningitis ? —Yes, sir. 52. The Chairman.] So that the matter would not have to be brought by train to Wellington to the laboratory in the cold, as has been suggested ? —Precautions have been taken to permit Captain Sydney Smith to bring in the organisms. 53. When was Captain Sydney Smith first in a position to take charge ? —I do not know. 54. A week or a fortnight ago ? —He came up last Sunday fortnight; he has been three Sundays in Wellington. 55. Dr. Martin.] It has been suggested that men with measles have been hiding in their tents and not presenting themselves for medical inspection : would you blame the Medical Officer entirely in that case, or the military authorities : would you not blame the company officer ? —I think most decidedly that the blame is attachable to the man himself. It is possible to deceive the most careful doctor,