FOOD AT PARETU CAMP.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5255, 23 March 1928, Page 2

FOOD AT PARETU CAMP.

• COMPLAINTS EXAGGERATED. NEW ARRANGEMENTS MADE. With reference to the rumours, of discontent of the men at Paretu Camp, where a number of unemployed are working, an inquiry was md.de today by. our reporter, and it was found that the matter has been greatly enlarged upon. The complaint was that the food supplied was not good.

Although several have left the camp, tihey ha,ve gone to jobs near their own homes. 'When . the camp was started at Paretu some difficulty yas experienced by the Public Works Department in getting an experienced caterer, and as the. supplies come by steamer, which calls ‘ once in six weeks, it can well be realised that to cater for 60' or 70 men at short notice was no easy task. .Alterations have now been made, and a capable man has 'taken on the work. „ The camp is only provided as a convenience for the men, who are not bpund in any way to go to the cookhouse. Last year the experience of the department was that the men, once they got 'on the job, settled down and bached, and. the cookhouse was eventually done away with. The outcry .seems to have come from one man, and not the majority, as was rumoured, and thoise who have had experience will, readily realise how difficult it is to cater for a large number of men in an out-of-the-way pllace.