VEGETABLES FOR FORCE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25160, 16 April 1947, Page 3

VEGETABLES FOR FORCE

ABOUT 100 ACRES UNDER CULTIVATION

A.E.S. ACTIVITIES IN JAPAN (By the New Zealand Press Association Representative with the Press Delegation in Japan.) Although the growing of fresh vegetables for the New Zealand force in Japan began as an experiment, tests have proved most successful and the scheme has . spread from the initial testing ground to all units of the brigade. This will enable those units to supplement the normal Army rations, and consequently the diet of the troops will be more varied- than the existing scales allow, and more interesting. There is a total area of about 100 acres under cultivation among the units. The main difficulty in the first place was to obtain suitable areas uncontaminated by the Japanese method of fertilising by using all the human waste available. Another difficulty was to secure an adequate supply of lime and fertilisers, and to procure seeds. These problems have now been overcome, and as the season progresses so will the critical shortage of fresh vegetables be alleviated. This appearance of the Army into the vegetable farming sphere was promoted by the agricultural expert of the New Zealand Army Education Service in Japan, Lieutenant A. V. Allo, who was an officer of the Agricultural Department before joining J Force. The Army Education Service itself has been highly praised by the Com-mander-in-Chief of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, Lieuten-ant-General H. C. H. Robertson, and by many visiting American officers, on the substantial progress of its activities' in the New Zealand Brigade. Use of A.E.S. Courses Approximately one man in four is making use of A.E.S. facilities, whether it be trade training, some specialist subject, or lucation itself. Results have been excellent, and good progress has been achieved in every field. Each A.E.S. section with a battalion has a comprehensive and well-stocked library. The general reading of the troops, however, is somewhat surprising. Books on Japan are not often read. New Zealand literature is scarcely touched. There is a steady demand for text-books on a wide variety of subjects, and an almost overwhelming demand for westerns, detective stories, and “thrillers.” Fiction of all grades is also widely read but books on world affairs, politics, international problems, and the like enjoy only a very small demand.

Figures of subsidiary formal education attendances tell an interesting story. At Chofu, the base area of the brigade, 152 men are learning to play the piano, and are being taught by Japanese women piano instructors, who hold very high qualifications; 192 are interested in petrol engines; 12 are learning the Japanese language; and four are studying arithmetic and its variations.

At Yamaguchi, headquarters of the 27th Battalion, 16 are interested in typing; 20 are learning Japanese; 24 are taking courses in elementary education; and 16 are learning Spanish. At the Divisional Cavalry Regiment 129 are taking piano lessons and 33 are learning Japanese.