FRUIT IN PLENTY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3289, 16 July 1943, Page 7

FRUIT IN PLENTY

ORANGES & MANDARINES TROOPS IN NEW CALEDONIA LETTER FROM PTE. L. ROBERTS Oranges, mandarines, paw paws, passionfruit, pineapples, vegetables and eggs in plenty are now being secured by members of the 2nd. N.Z.E.F. serving in New Caledonia states Pte. L. Roberts in a letter to the Hauraki Plains Gazette. Pte. Roberts writes as under:— “ It is just after 9 p.m. and as I am on shift till 10 p.m. I have grabbed these few minutes to write these few lines. Mick Jamieson is here and has just cut up a pineapple which I managed jto secure for him yesterday. It was my day off yesterday so I took the opportunity to go out with a lorry and gather fruit for the hospital. “We left camp at midday and set ont for , where each Wednesday the natives and' French' have the fruit picked and stacked in heaps for us. The first place we went to we collected 100 dozen mandarines. These all had to be counted which took quite some tiipe and we even had to help carry some of them over the creek. The next place we stopped at we ■ collected some eggs and the Frenchwoman insisted that we have a cup of coffee and something to eat which we did.

“We then went down to another small farm and.' .collected 8(1 dozen mandarines and a few more eggs; this place was owned by an Indian, married to a French woman. He could speak a few words of English and was very hospitable towards us. “ I must say that the New Zealanders have a great name on this island and are thought much more of than any other soldiers who have been here. “The next stop brought us to a small village where dozens of children caine out to meet us, accompanied by the older members pf the families. «Here we got oranges, mandarines, paw paws, and a few vegetables. After loading this all on, we decided that we had a fair load and as we still had four places to visit, we would go back to camp and have tea and collect the rest after. We arrived back in camp at 5.30 ; p.m., but I was too full of mandarines to eat any tea.

“We were on the road again soon after six, and at our first stop collected another 100' dozen mandarines and a pineapple which I bought for myself for a quarter. When we arrived at a farm of some Javanese they had ready for us, oranges, mandarines, eggs and passion fruit. A place owned by a Frenchman was our next stop and here they had oranges and mandarines for us. Our last stop came at another Frenchman’s where they had ready for us a few pineapples.

“After a long and pleasant day we arrived back in camp and had our truck unloaded by 7-15 p.m. A hot shower cleaned the dust off me and I was soon in bed. “The patients at the hospital are certainly getting the benefit from the fruit and also our own boys who have fruit gathered for them by another of our trucks which goes in a different direction. “To look at this place one would wonder where the fruit grows, but hidden under the mountain and down by the streams are small groves which supply an abundance of fruit. “Well that has been a bit of a description of how I spent my last day off from the hospital. We are kept fairly busy here, having on an average, one operation per day and for the past fortnight it has fallen to me to look after the surgical ward.”