THEY RE ON THE JOB!

Dozerdust, Volume 1, Issue 5, 9 July 1943, Page 5

THEY RE ON THE JOB!

K This road will be ready tomorrow P answered Gordon Berry, as the bulldozer lumbered past; 1 ' we work twenty-four hours a day, twenty-five if we can find J em he concluded, as he left to have a word with lan Brownlee who was handing over to Spr Bishop after a six hour shifts' lan volunteered the information that the work on the road had only begun that morning? Dusty and tired he grinned : 11 Thats how we do things 11 , he said as he moved off, while the bulldozer continued tearing up earth, stones and tree roots that had never known anything harder than the bare feet of the natives. To road making are added many other activities details of which must be left to the historians. One of the most unusual tasks that had to be mastered was the construction of the r Bure V This begins with the cutting and gathering of suitable grass, stripping the Naiouli Tree of its bark; followed by the erection of the framework and the thatching with grass and bark. Essentially a native building, it is found useful for many purposes in tho army. Tho buildings now erectod aro a tribute to the versatility and skill of tho men who did the job. Other men have done equally good work which covers the twenty-fours hours and includes tho erection of tho camp as well as their task of unloading the boat® This is tho work of the Wharf Section who have to be a self-contained group. From the moment tho boat bort, they aro ready and the speed with which tho work is carried out speaks for itself® Perhaps that is why, like their khaki and blue puggree, the presence of the Works. . Service Engineers is -now familair to N.Z, and other troops in New Caledonia. Formerly stern and wild, this Island is now being tamed for all time. It is not for nothing that men with experience in Now Hebrides, Singapore and Fiji as woll as skilled construction workers go to make up tho Unit® Savoring a wide aroa as their work does, they are called upon to undertake many different types of work. And they do it. '