It is said that a picture says a thousand words, and this postcard of the Takapau Divisional Camp of April-May 1914 is such a picture. While it tells part of the story of the neatly 4839 Territorials who attended the camp, it also provides an insight into the tremendous logistical effort by the Defence Stores Department to provide the stores and equipment required by the largest Territorial camp ever held in New Zealand.

Between April and May 1914, 18,882 Territorial Soldiers of New Zealand’s citizen army attended five main camps across New Zealand. 

• the Auckland Military Districts camp was at Hautapu, near Cambridge,
• the Canterbury Military Districts camp was split between Kowai, near Springfield, with the Marlborough and Nelson units camping at Tapawera, near Nelson.
• the Otago Military Districts Camp was at Matarae, in Central Otago
• The Wellington Military Districts were held at Takapau in Hawkes Bay.

To oversee the management of the Camp Equipment and other Ordnance Stores required, the District Storekeepers of each Military District were appointed as Ordnance Officers for the duration of the camp and provided with a staff of eighteen Territorial Soldiers trained in the duties required of an Ordnance Depot.

The District Storekeepers were

• Honorary Lieutenant William Thomas Beck, District Storekeeper, Auckland
• Honorary Lieutenant Arthur Rumbold Carter White, District Storekeeper, Christchurch
• Honorary Lieutenant Mr Owen Paul McGuigan, District Storekeeper, Dunedin
• Mr Frank Edwin Ford District Storekeeper, Nelson
• Honorary Major James O’Sullivan, Defence Storekeeper Wellington

Based on the numbers that attended the Takapau Camp and the Camp Equipment scale of 1913, the following quantities indicate the Camp Equipment required. Provided from the Defence Stores in Wellington, two trainloads were required to move the stores from Wellington to Takapau to pre-position before the camp.

• Axes, felling, helved, 122
• Axe. Pick, 160
• Buckets, Water, 1937
• Basins, Wash hand, 2023
• Boilers with lid, 20 Gal, 100
• Boilers with lid, 9 Gal, 100
• Candlesticks, bayonet, 2023
• Choppers, Meat, 100
• Crowbars (if required) 190
• Dishes, meat, 1711
• Kettles, camp, 1543
• Lantern s, stable, 348
• Racks, arm, tent (Large loop), 1259
• Spades, 274
• Shovels, 274
• Tents, circular, complete, 1773
• Marquees, 65
• Ropes, picket, 20 yards 115
• Brooms, bass, 128
• Sheets, ground, 8350
• Rakes, iron 16in ,128

How much of this equipment was available in the District Storehouses is unknown. However, it is known that in 1914 the NZ Military had a sufficient stock of tents to accommodate the whole Territorial Force at the full establishment, including

• 3651 tents (circular)
• 181 marquees,
• 30 operating tents, and
• 98 bivouac tents

The concept of the Camp Ordnance Depots was that as the unit advance parties arrived, the required number of camp equipment stores were issued from the Ordnance Depot to the unit Quartermaster Staff, usually under the control of the Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant.

On completing the camp, the RQMS was required to return all the stores to the Ordnance depot and remain available to finalise any accounts for losses and damages. Following the closedown of the camp, the stores were then loaded onto trains and returned to the District Stores, ready for the next activity.

The Ordnance Depots also held a stock of clothing and equipment available as replacements or for sale. For example, the Takapau Camp Ordnance Depot sold 1000 boots and 250 blankets.

The Divisional Camps of 1914 were only the second time Ordnance Depots had been established at annual camps and proved successful. There is no doubt that they would have stood up again for the planned camps in 1915. However, the logistical framework of the 1914 Divisional Camps served as a dress rehearsal for the August 1914 mobilisation and contributed to the raising and dispatching overseas of the largest, best trained and equipped force to be dispatched from this country in the 20th century.