MUCH INGENUITY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 December 1940, Page 8

MUCH INGENUITY

NEW ZEALANDERS PROVE VERSATILITY MEETING PROBLEMS IN DESERT. MANY USEFUL CONTRIVANCES MADE FROM' SCRAP. (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F. in Egypt.) EGYPT, November 20. “Ask the New Zealanders” has good prospects of becoming a catch phrase among British land forces in the Western Desert. Probably because of the diversity of callings which they followed before the war, members of the N.Z.E.F. have had many opportunities of proving their versatility and ingenuity. These qualities have shown themselves in countless ways, meeting problems of warfare and of personal well-being alike. Enthusiasm has had much to do with it, for experience has shown that the average New Zealander rarely condemns an idea until he has thoroughly tested 'it. For examples of skill in probing mechanical mysteries, it is natural to turn to the engineers. The most spectacular case known is that of a member of the field park engineers who has what his friends call a hideous delight in taking bombs apart “to see what makes them tick.” His chief fancy is a delayed action type which the enemy dropped in some desert areas.

Like, others in his unit, this man knows exactly where to place a rifle bullet so that it will explode the bomb’s main charge without destroying its value as a specimen for his research. The result is that he is now probably more conversant with the mechanism of this not-so-secret weapon than are the Italian pilots who used it. A cartoon drawn for the unit’s magazine shows him crawling over the desert with a rifle in his hand, and a bomb running fearfully away. His hobby has a point, however, for as a result of his Work and that of others with the same bent, higher authorities were supplied with valuable data.

In fifteen minutes’ walk through this same company’s area, I saw the chassis of an unserviceable truck being converted into a useful trailer, a welding flame solving a mechanical problem for the artillery, an electric lathe in action in a mobile workshop, road signs being painted, and a miniature joinery factory turning out a wide variety of products. In the area of another company of engineers concrete mixers were chewing up tons of .sand and cement, and pneumatic drills were biting into solid rock. A soldierblacksmith worked at his anvil in a foundry open to the hot sky. A medical officer in an Indian regiment has a New Zealand soldier to thank for a useful optical instrument which is now part of his equipment. The officer found that he frequently had to deal with cases of filings and similar small pieces of metal lodging in the eyes of his men. He mentioned this casually one day to the commanding officer of a New Zealand signals company. The result was that he became the delighted owner of a device which uses magnetism to draw iron particles from the eye. A signals corporal, skilled in instrument mechanics, had fashioned it from odds and ends in his workshop. Railway construction troops helping to prepare defensive positions in the New Zealand sector provided their own camouflage expert. He was a commercial artist who had made a study of the art of concealment more or less for his own satisfaction. He was able to put his knowledge to valuable use.

In the more personal affairs of the troops there are many examples of the way in which obstacles have been overcome. Contrivances that seem small in themselves all help to make life easier under trying conditions. Typical of these is the “colonial oven,” an extraordinarily successful cooker that has been adopted by almost every unit. Standing in the open air, it looks like a small incinerator. The walls and top are built of petrol tins cemented together with wet mud, and the chimney and interior lining are made from whatever materials the cook is able to lay hands on. An oven like this, which turns out perfect roasts and baked dishes for a company of infantrymen, even has a compartmentin which plates are heated.