"TOO LATE.

PRIVATE POLLARD'S DEATH

LETTER TO SICK SOLDIER RETURNED UNOPENED.

Fresh instances of mismanagement and red-tapeism in connection with the Trentham camp are reported almost daily. A particularly sad and deplorable case was that of the late Private J. H. Pollard who died of septic pneumonia in the Berhampore Hospital on July 2, and unopened letters that are now returning to his relative in Sydenham but add to their grief. When Mr Charles Pollard, of Strickland learned that his brother was in hospital with the measles, he at once despatched a letter to Trentham imploring his brother to let the family known his condition, and stating that he himself would proceed to Wellington to look after his brother if his illness was becoming serious. This letter was posted in Sydenham on June 27, and on Thursday, July 8, it was returned to Mr Pollard unopened. Private Pollard died on July 2, four days after the letter reached the camp. The envelope bears the postmark of Trentham and reached there on June 28. As Private Pollard was then in hospital, it was sent first to Berhampore and then to Kaiwarra, but why the sick soldier never received his letter remains a mystery. If he had received it, as he should have, on the day it reached Trentham, he might possibly have replied, and through the ready intercession of his family his life might have been saved.

The family now have the further anguish of knowing that Private Pollard may have felt himself neglected at the very time that their help and sympathy would have been most dear. Thev are also fully convinced that if they had known their brother's condition earlier they could have saved him from a neglected and a bitter end. It is small comfort to the relatives of Trentham victims to be told that all will soon be well with the camp. They have drunk deep of the cup of sorrow, and it is too late to offer mild palliatives to their grief." [Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16906, 12 July 1915, Page 9]

"Trentham was originally a “canvas camp” consisting only of bell tents to accommodate the recruits. These tents were gradually replaced over the course of 1915 as long wooden hutments were built, each of which barracked around 100 men. Other administrative, service, and recreational buildings also began to be put up, along with roads and drainage systems. By July of that year the still only partly built camp had a population of 8000. Overcrowding and inadequate sanitary arrangements led to an outbreak of measles and meningitis that caused several deaths and created a national scandal.  The subsequent commission of enquiry led to hygiene improvements and the creation of satellite camps to cope with overflows in troop numbers. The population of Trentham camp was also restricted to 5000 men." [Upper Hutt Library]