Overview
Tues Nov 4
Up at 5 am – Freyberg + I went out to horse-lines + had bath under horse-trough tap – very refreshing – no one else took it on. Fed, groomed, and watered horses. Freyberg + I went on fatigue duty in dining-room, thereby getting
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first go at breakfast. Ordered on parade at 10 am. Last night over 200 more men came up from station on foot so that the number of “specials” in camp is 966. One section of these went out to Island Bay to exercise horses – the rest including Levin troops rode down to Lambton rly [railway] station to escort to camp a batch of horses. We went up round Mount Cook, along Webb St, + to Lambton via Terrace + Lambton Quay. On reaching station a crowd of some hundreds gradually collected + slowly edging nearer gave us a fusillade of entertaining but very improper remarks re farms + our personal appearance – no answer was given them. The Right Hon W Massey + several other MPs appeared on station + later on terrace of Parliamentary Bldgs + we gave them cheers as we rode past with the horses on return to Barracks. The grounds of the present Parliamentary Bldgs [Buildings] are now being beautifully laid out in lawns
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etc + enclosed by a low stone wall. Easy afternoon – in evening we were on foot parade on the highest part of Buckle St – we were not called out so held an impromptu concert – we had a gay time – Hector McDonald gave some comic items which we much appreciated – we took turns to go on picket duty to control foot traffic along Buckle St. During the evening two men were arrested by regular policemen for stone throwing – one was found in possession of a big bar of lead. About 10 pm a “permanent force” soldier was injured in some way + was taken to hospital. The remaining windows of the “Royal Tiger” hotel were broken by the mob. Later we marched in but went to bed fully dressed ready for alarums. The snoring at midnight was awful – steam-boat whistles, cross-cut saws + the ripping of calico all going together.