PRISONERS DO WELL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 307, 29 December 1942, Page 6

PRISONERS DO WELL

ITALIANS IN CAMPS

AUSTRALIAN IRRIGATION

SYDNEY, December 20,

Italian prisoners of war in camps in southern New South Wales have ? gained on an average nearly a stone n weight since they reached Australia. They have irrigated more than 1000 acres of virgin soil, on which, in 3i months, 193,5001b of vegetables and 36 tons of green fodder were grown. Prisoners not only supply their own camps, but provide a surplus, which is transported to other areas.

Started primarily as a means of keeping prisoners occupied, the experimental cultivation scheme now extends over 1250 acres, of which 836 have been irrigated. Prisoners and internees have constructed nearly 50 miles of irrigation canals. Utilising natural resources, they have built sewerage plants, a model dairy, poultry runs and recreation halls. Bush timber is cut by the prisoners, transported to the camps, and used for nearly all constructional work.

Prisoners of war work an eighthour, six-day week, for which unskilled men are paid 7id a day. Carpenters, boot repairers and other skilled tradesmen receive 1/3 a day. Workshops have been set up and skilled tradesmen carry out practically all repairs to farming implements.

Two Italian prisoners, one of whom worked in a spaghetti establishment in Rome, look after the camp's poultry section. From 350 fowls they secure 600 dozen eggs a month. Prisoners have just completed a big flume, which will Irrigate a further 450 acres. The prisoners are provided with facilities to do their own tailoring and repair their own shoes. They are provided with appropriate clothing and rations in accordance with the Prisoners of War Convention. Inside the Italian compound prisoners have erected a shrine. Each compound has its own leader. Compounds have their own modern hospitals, in which patients are nursed by Italian medical personnel under the supervision of Australian medical officers.