Carrying the Railway into the Far North

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 171, 10 October 1927, Page 14

Carrying the Railway into the Far North

Pioneer Camps are a Model of Social Organisation

SPIRITUAL AND BODILY COMFORT T>TJILDING a railroad in the Far North is no easy task. The assembling of a strong force of men, the necessary plant and equipment, and the efficient supervision of railroad headquarters and front camps are in themselves a job calling for long experience and marked organising ability. On tlie Okaihau-Rangiahua section of the North Auckland railway selfcontained little settlements have

sprung up as if by magic. Their occupants are the pioneers of the line, the bright steel track that will wind its way after them into the heart of the roadless North. The section at present under construction begins at the railhead, Okaihau, and terminates some 12 miles away at Rangiahau. No. 1 Camp, the headquarters, is situated at Okailiau. Here dwell the engineers, overseer, paymaster, and all those coming under the heading of staff. Here also are situated the office, fitting shop, store, stables, carpenters’ and blacksmith’s shops, locomotive-sheds and all the other necessary factors for the distribution and repair of material. The camp contains hut accommodation for 50 single and 30 married men, and a boardinghouse flanking the single lines on the lower side. Hot and cold showers are laid on in a bath house in the single lines. About the camp there is an appearance of permanency which is not noticeable in the camps further on. Gardens are the rule, not the exception; wireless sets no longer cause comment when in the course of erection; motorcars are parked alongside many houses whose dwellers are handy to the pictures, shops and metal road — altogether a compact, tidy little township, which is a credit to the department and the people who live in it. Between No. 1 and No. 3 camps four

steam-shovels are operating. The running cost of this machinery is low and large outputs are attained. Labour costs on these machines have been reduced to a minimum, each shovel being worked by a party of six men and a ganger, including the driver and firemam. AT THE FRONT The railhead of the construction tramline is technically called “the front,” and this is at present situated at No. 3 Camp, although there are four miles of formation work well in hand between the railhead and No. 4 Camp, %vhich is situated in the Waihou Valley. No. 3 Camp is a self-contained community, and possibly on this account, somewhat self-centred. The single lines contain between sixty and seventy hutments and the usual bathhouse with hot and cold showers. The tramline runs between the single lines and the boardinghouse, which is largely the centre of the social life of the camp. Dances are held in the dining-hall, music being supplied by a string orchestra which has been organised among the Maori residents in the camp. Access to the metal road from here

consists of a mud track, running up an almost perpendicular hill for about half a mile; hence the self-contained camp. There are at present 235 men employed on the section, with a monthly pay-roll of approximately £4,500. MEDICAL SERVICES Some twelve months back a medical association was formed among the workers and a doctor appointed, who visits each camp once a week. The experiment was a pronounced success, and recently on a ballot of the membership it was decided slightly to increase the contribution and so enable the committee to add free hospital treatment, including maternity and children’s cases, to the benefits of the association. There are at present only four men on the section who are not members of the association, of which the engineer is chairman. Incidentally the medical officer does not tie himself down solely to ministering to the bodily ailments of the members. He also dispenses spiritual comforts at well-attended Sunday schools at Camps 1, 3 and 4. Between thirty and forty youngsters attend at each camp. The department has a well-appointed and well-staffed day school at No. 1, which, with the laying of the heavy rails and the ensuing school-train, will be able to accommodate the children

from No. 3, who now have a fairly stiff walk to the local school at Marangai. “The work is going ahead splendidly,” said one of the men on the job, “but what they are going to haul over the line when it is finished is a problem for the politicians who planned it. Ours is an easier task; we have only to build the road!”