WAR TOPICS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 95, 24 August 1942, Page 6

WAR TOPICS

f%Mm Beacoft J

DOMESTIC ARTS IN ARMY

HUSBANDS LEARN One of the incidental effects of Army life is to improve the domestic value of husbands, active and prospective, beyond the mere masculine accomplishments of Avood chopping, lawn mowing and odd carpentry. Wives and fiancees may be surprised to know just how many of the domestic virtues their menfolk acquire in the Army, especially in a camp which has all the conveniences of a modern town —except women to do the domestic work.

The process is particularly noticeable in New Zealand's biggest inland camp, where, except for the nurses and the Hospital cqolting staff, no women arc employed. In other camps nearer towns and cities the soldier may evade his responsibility to the undarnccl sock and. the buttonelss shirt by passing them on smarts to a sympathetic woman, but here he must do the job himself. His technique may not lie according to Wei don's for a start, but he soon gets the idea that knitting and splicing are separate crafts.

He has to learn, because the Quartermaster enforces a strict order that socks and garments will not be replaced at the public expense unless genuine efforts have been made to keep them in repair. When they degenerate through J'air -wear and tear and show signs of having been under the needle, they are, of course, replaced from store.

The first lesson that the Army gives the raw recruit is the very domestic one of how to fold his blankets and laj r out his gear, and from his first morning in camp he is broken into the routine of sweeping out and tidying-np before he eats. His first meal brings the realisation that there is nobdy but himself to do the Avashing-up.

In feminine circles Monday is traditionally Avashing day. In this camp it may be any day, for in evciy battalion area there is a permanent washhouse, with continuous hot water, tubs and electric iron facilities. Electrically driven fans circulate the hot air in the attached drj'ing rooms. These services arc among the full-time ones carried out by the Camp Quartermaster's staff. Do they sound better than having to get the copper going on a winr ter's morning, and then mayhap helplessly watching the Avind and rain play with the washing for a couple of days. The soldier who cares to pay can, of course, send his washing to a private laundry outside the camp, or he may engage the services of one of the semi-professional "washermen" who augment their Arm}' pay by takjing in washing. However, the majority of the men do their own laundrying. and you may on occasions hear discussions on the merits of rival soaps .and washing powders, or the proper way to handle woollens, which would amaze wives and mothers who imagine that man takes no interest in the laundry except when he can't find a clean shirt.

Admittedly, wives' who attempt to capitalise the. domestic habits Avhieh their husbands acquire in the Army will encounter diiT'iculties. I.f the husbands have Lven in the big North Island camp Avhieh suggested this article, tlu-y may. when asked to do the washing or other household chore, reply that things Ave re different in camp. To that the astute Avifc' may counter, "Give me the same facilities, dear, and I don't mind doing it myself.'" Maybe that will be one of the post-Avar methods of getting all modern conveniences added to the home.

WEDDING IN CAMP CHAPEL

UNIQUE CEREMONY For the first time in New Zealand a Nuptial Eucharist was celebrated in a military cam]) c.hapel on August 12, when a soldier and his bride were married at the Church Army Institute in the Dominion's largest inland camp. The couple were Pte Harlcy Matson Johapson, son of Mr and Mrs L. S. McAsey, of Hawera, and Lorraine Hannah, daughter of Mr and Mrs K. J. Goile, of Ohakune, the service was performed I) 3' Captain Harold Irving, Church of England Chaplain to the Forces, and was attended by a number of civilian and military friends.

Sergeant K. J. Goile, in Home Guard uniform, gave his daughter away. The bride's twin sister, Mrs Gommings, young widow of the present war, whose husband was killed in Egypt, acted as matron of honour. Ptc A. O. Burke was best man.

Set in the masculine atmosphere of a military camp, the service was an impressive one, as through the solemn ritual of the marriage service there intruded the undertones of war. the impatient stuttering of machine gun on one of the camp ranges, and the faintly heard commands of instructors on a near-by parade' ground. During the service Sergeant-Major T. J. Kirk-Burnand, the wcll-knoAvn musician, officiated in the. chapel organ, and his unit also provided a guard of honour with fixed bayonets. An unofficial nad unrehearsed ovation was given the bridal party as they left the chapel by a battalion of soldiers which had just been dismissed from the adjacent parade, ground. Following the' service a reception and wedding breakfast were held in the Church Army Hut. During the reception it was remarked that although one or two weddings had previously been held in camp chapels, this was the first time that the Cull service of the Nuptial Eucharist had been celebrated under such circumstances.

BRITAIN'S OLD BONES

HELP TO MAKE AIRCRAFT, SHELLS, TANKS AND SHIPS

Britain's dogs are not allowed to bury their bones these days. Collected from households and butchers' shops, the bones are now producing glue for aircraft and nitro-glycerine for high explosives. One ton of salvaged bones gives 2cwt of grease, yielding nitro-gly-cerine for shells, lubricating oil for guns and tanks and 3cwt of glue in the making of aircraft, tanks, guns, ships and shells; lcwt of. feedingr ni£at and bone-meal, providing the protein ration for 450 pigs for one day of 8060 hens for one day; and f)e\vts of fertiliser sufficient for 4% acres of land. t Local authorities in Britain are recovering bones at the rate of over 10,000 tons a year. The raw bones go to the factory where the first step, in order to recover the tallow, is to sort out any fatty material 'which i- s melted separatedy. The sorted bones are then crushed and conveyed mechanically to large steel vessels holding 10 tons.. Benzine vapour is passed through these vessels to sterilise the bones anil remove the grease. The grease is recovered from the beir/ine solution and purified to give bone grease for the manufacture of candles, soap and glycerine. The bone is next conveyed to a resolving drum which rubs off the meat and line bone. This is collected and made, into protein animal feed and bone.' meal fertiliser. The polished bone provides the glue so essential to aircraft production and the residue, left in the vessels is used to make bone Hour fertiliser or a supplement to cattle food. T-hc glue is also used in shell cases and fuses, in making fire-resisting and camouflage paints, and in the production of thousands of miles of gum mc d ta p c for A. 11. P. Pnrpo 5e s.

One factory alone in England produces weekly fiO tons of grease. 50 tons of glue, 100 tons of feeding stall's and 50 tons of bone fertiliser.

THE OTHER MAN (Author Unknown) Perhaps he sometimes slipped a bit—■ Well, so have you. Perhaps some things he ought to quit— Well, so should you. Perhaps he may have faltered —why Why all men do. and so have I; You must admit, unless you lie, That, so have you. Perhaps if we would stop and -think, Both I and you, AVhcn painting someone black as ink, As some folks do, Perhaps if Ave would recollect, Perfection we would not expect, But just a man half way correct, Like me anil you. riu just a man who's fairly good. I'm .just like you, I've done tilings I never should Perhaps like you. But thank the Lord I've sense to sec The rest of men with charity, They're good enough if good as me —■ Say—men like you.