FEVERISH ACTIVITY

Evening Star, Issue 23376, 20 September 1939, Page 2

FEVERISH ACTIVITY

NEW; MOBILISATION GAMP

PUBLIC WORKS "LIGHTNING" PROGRAMME

[Per United Press Association.]

AUCKLAND, September 19. Working 12 hours a day, more than 1,000 men aro constructing Auckland’s mobilisation camp at Papakura. With buildings rising like mushrooms, tho scene changes daily, and with the labour of an army "of tradesmen concentrated on an area of 25 acres the Public Works Department is directing a lightning programme that is considered to bo without parallel in tho history of the Dominion. Two hundred acres of land that a fortnight ago grazed sleek dairy cattle are involved in the full development, but the present efforts aro directed to the preparation of two battalion areas which cover approximately 25 acres. In two weeks they have become a forest of timber as the work in varying stages proceeds in the construction of more than 80 buildings, in addition to those contained in tho Public Works Department settlement.

The works extends far beyond tho actual boundaries of tho camp. Miles of reading, lingo open drains skirting the area, tiled sub-soil drains within, the laying of pipes for water and sewerage and electric power—the reticulation of these aro but a few of tho tasks undertaken by the department. Comparatively little of this work is visible to tho layman, for whom the scene is dominated by tho feverish building activity. In the maze of timber the men appear as ants, their mass activity being matched by the noisy symphony of saw and hammer that overwhelms all other sound. State departments and private contracting firms are co-operating in tho rapid advancement or the scheme, which is expected to be complete within a few weeks. The camp will be no tent town. Comfort and utility have been combined in the plans, and the 2,000 officers and men to be accommodated at Papakura will sleep on beds in roomy hutments, eat in well-fitted moss rooms, and have every facility for recreation.