HOUSING TROOPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23479, 17 October 1939, Page 9

HOUSING TROOPS

MAGNITUDE OF TASK ALL AHEAD .OF SCHEDULE THE MINISTER PLEASED "I was very pleased' with what I saw; everything is ahead of schedule," said the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. Jl. Semplo, last evening, on his return from a day's inspection of building construction and other works at tho Naval Base and the Auckland coastal defences, including Motutapu. The Minister remarked that the defence works programme throughout tho Dominion had called for an enormous amount of building, including no fewer jLhan -750 individual structures with a total floor area $f .3,000,000 square feet,. Ho was glad to say that not a single job was behind timo,_ and practically every one would bo finished beforo the estimated date. This had been made possible by the large amount •of mechanical plant which the Government had immediately available for levelling and draining (sites and for roadmaking, and by tho .organisation which enabled tho construction of timber buildings to be started anywhere with tho least possible delay. The magnitude of the work could be understood, added Mr. Semplo, when it was realised that new or additional buildings wero required practically at every point where troops wero stationed, and there were great numbers of such points all over the Dominion. The Government was determined that good accommodation should be provided for the defence forces, and that their health should not be allowed to suffer for lack of proper living quarters.