G. 8088.

259

H.—l9b.

buildings are placed on the west side. The hutments are arranged in square blocks, with ample space between the blocks, but only 18 ft. between the huts. A block of eight rows of huts occupies 43,000 square feet, including spaces between the huts, which gives about 53 square feet per head, calculated on the basis of fifty men in each hilt. Each hut is about 140 ft. by 22 ft. by 9 ft. to collar-tic, pitched roof with gabled ends, wood frame and flooring, galvanized corrugated iron sides unlined, iron roof with patent felt under on wire netting and battens spaced 2 ft. apart. The floor-level on piles is about 18 in. above the ground-level. The huts are divided crosswise by a wooden partition. Entrance is at each end by double doors, 6 ft. by 7 ft. The eaves project about 21 in. The lighting is by nine windows in each side, with top-hung sashes opening at the bottom. Window-frames are in pairs, each pair about 7 ft. by 2 ft. 9 in. The sill is about 3 ft. 6 in. above floor. There is an opening at eaves-level on each side extending the full length of the building (140 ft.), between the top and intermediate plate and roof battens, in all about 8 in. deep. Dining-tables and forms are placed down the centre of the huts, and four food-cupboards are Iked at the entrance. At the window-sill level there is a 12-in.-wide shelf. In some of the huts the men have erected rough bunks. The hospital stands alone on the west side, and is built of timber' weatherboards, iron roof, with lath-and-plaster finish inside. The operating-theatre is small, and has no top light. 3. Dr. Martin] Did you see any arrangement for heating the operating-room?— Not when I visited it. The ward runs approximately north and south, and has accommodation for eighteen beds. A veranda is placed at the end and on the west side. The site for the camp is too flat. A gentle slope with a -northerly aspect is preferable, to ensure drainage. 4. The Chairman] Did you see such a site out there as you mentioned : is that gentle slope available at Trentham? —I did not see any such site. The soil and subsoil may be porous in their natural state, but the continual traffic must consolidate the soil and prevent the surface water soaking away. Fine sand and earthy matter in the subsoil may become clogged with solid matter from the drains and become like the Campagna near Rome. The presence of mud and water on the surface, unless drained away, is bound to create damp and unhealthy conditions. A system of surface drainage of roads and paths should be undertaken at, once. With the amount of drainage that goes away from that camp I would like to know where it goes to. It may go down on to a hard strata and come up again on to the ground. With regard to the hutments, these are erected too close together to allow of free circulation of air and ventilation, and they are wrongly placed with the major axies running approximate!)' west-north-west and east-south-east instead of north and south, which would allow the sun to shine into the huts on both sides and to warm and purify the air between them. The huts should also have been placed in echelon, with a space of at least 40 ft. between the rows. The hospital ward is rightly placed in relation to the sun. Notter and Firth in their book describe the Docker' huts: "In the German Army the Docker huts are largely used, and are said to answer well. They have recently been favourably reported on in this country. They are made of wooden or iron frames, covered with a special kind of felt lined with canvas. . . . These huts are portable, and are well ventilated by windows, cross-louvres, and ridge ventilation, and can be easily warmed if desired." Notter and Firth recommend, with regard to barracks and hut barracks, that " The selection of the site is of first importance. Fall of ground from building in one direction at least; axes of buildings to run north and south to permit the sun's rays to fall on both sides; free circulation of air around buildings. Aspect should never be sacrificed to prospect. Water from buildings should be rapidly removed to prevent dampness. Sick men especially are very susceptible to impure air. Division of men among numerous detached building's, arranged in lines, and placed so as not to impede the free movement of ailaround other building's and the incidence of the sun's rays. Wooden huts to have 50 to 75 square feet of floor-space and from 500 to 850 cubic feet, of air-space per head. To be ventilated in eaves and ridges and with outlet shafts. Warming will assist ventilation." In the planning of the huts a unit spacing should have been used. Apparently the spacing was determined by the widths of the iron sheets, and not by the requirements or the purpose of the building. The huts should have been planned to accommodate fewer men, to avoid the serious risks mentioned in section 42 of the Army Council Regulations concerning military hygiene (section 42, Chapter ix, page 18). The crowding of fifty-odd men into a building small enough for twenty-five, contrary to all the recommendations of the Army Council ajrd other authorities, and the general principles governing the planning of these places, is indefensible, especially when it endangers the health and even the lives of the flower of our men. In this and other matters it is a pity that the " blessed agencies of prevention " were not more used. The huts, we are told, were erected primarily to afford more comfort than the tents afford; the evidence, therefore, that comfort was not particularly studied falls to the ground. To accommodate fifty men in each hut means that the spacing is less than 3 ft. centre to centre —almost direct personal contact. 60 square feet of floor-space and 600 cubic feet of air-space per head is ample when the ventilation is efficient, and it should be so arranged as to give as much airspace where it is most needed— i.e., at the sides of the building. Huts with, say, 6 ft. bed-spacing would require to be about 20 ft, wide. The floor-space is more important than the air-space, provided the ventilation is satisfactory. In the " Manual of Elementary Military Hygiene, 1912 " (section 4-2, page 48), it states, " Disease increases from overcrowding. Whether the infection is spread through the air, by personal contact, by water, by food, from latrines, or by insects, the more people there are in a particular area- —for example, in a barrack-room, billet, or tent- —the larger will be the number that come within the range of possible infection, and the more concentrated will be the dose. For instance, if fifty men live in one barrack-room and one of them is suffering from consumption, any of the remaining forty-nine are liable to catch the disease; but if the number is halved only twenty-four will be exposed to infection. The same