LIGHTNING GROWTH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20047, 20 September 1939, Page 9

LIGHTNING GROWTH

1000 WORKERS ENGAGED QUARTERS POE 2000 .MPA' r.'i». OPERATIVE EFFORT ; I’t.r Press Assot-nition.l AIJCKiDAND, trus day. Working 12 hours a lay, more loan 10C0 men ore constructing Auckland's ■mobilisation camp at Papakura. With buildings rising like mu.-.!,-rooms, iho scene changes daily ana. 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 be without parallel in the history of the Dominion. Two hundred acres of land that a fortnight ago grazed sleek dairy cattle are involved in full development, but present efforts arc directed to the preparation of two battalion areas whien cover approximately 25 acres. In two weeks they have become a forest of timber as work in varying stages proceeds in the construction of more than 80 buildings in addition to those contained in the Public Works Department settlement.

Many Tasks Involved

The work extends far beyond the boundaries of the camp. Miles of roading, huge open drains skirting the area, tiled sub-soil drains within, the laying of pipes for water and sewerage, and electric-power reticulation arc but a few of the tasks undertaken by the department. Comparatively little of this work is visible to the layman, for whom the scene is dominated by the feverish building activity. In a 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 (inns are co-operatives in the rapid advancement ot the scheme, which is expected to be complete within a few weeks. The camp will be no lent town. Comfort and utility have been combined in the plans and the 2000 officers and men to 'be accommodated at Papakura will sleep on beds in roomy hutments, eat in wellfitted messrooms, and have every facility for recreation.