ARMY BREAD

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 41, 17 August 1916, Page 7

ARMY BREAD

BIG MILITARY BAKERY

BUILT AT FEATHERSTON CAMP

TO BAKE FOR 9500 MEN.

A strange low-roofed building, "65ft long by about 45ft wide, and with four squat chimneys protruding from it, has Jately made its appearance at Featherstou Camp. It has been erected alongside 'the railway line, and to all intents and purposes is now completed. Many guesses have been indulged in as to what it is intended for, but few have guessed aright. It marks a new departure in catering for the requirements' of the New Zealand Reinforcements in training —the establishment of a big military bakery which will soon be supplying "the staff of life" for no fewer.than 9500 men encamped at Featherston, Tauherenikau, and Papa-wai. When visiting Featherston Camp yesterday, a Post reporter had his gaze attracted by the building with, its four squat chimneys, .and noticing smoke issuing from them he was prompted to make enquiries. He found it a fully-equipped bakery, with the first trial baking in full swing.

NEW BAKERY DESCRIBED

The building has been, specially designed with a view to economic working and the baking of first-class bread. It is divided int» three main compartments, each stretching the whole length: These are: —(1) The ovens and furnaces, (2) the bakery where the dough is kneaded, scaled and moulded, and (3) the bread store, the bakers' compartment occupying the centre. Altogether there are four great ovens, each 10ft square by about 18 inches deep and possessing its own furnace, the heat being conveyed by 6-inch pipes which traverse the top in rows. The heat is gauged by means of specially-attacffed pyrometers, and an added virtue to the ovens is 'that they are floored with Oamaru stone, which, with its smooth, even surface, facilitates the use of the long_-handled wooden shovels. The whole of the ovens and furnaces are set in a solid mass of brickwork which stands about 10ft high from the level of the floor.

The bakery itself is a model compartment providing ample room, and is well lighted and ventilated and fitted with every convenience. For the purpose of saving unnecessary labour the flour is shot into elevated bins from the railway trucks, and these bins opening .out into the bakery, the bakers, by manipulating small slides, are able to fill their troughs as desired by wheeling the troughs under them. The troughs, in which the flour and yeast are mixed, are of large size, and are readily converted into tables or benches upon which the baker performs his art. Each dough is allowed eight hours before being thrown out _on the board for treatment. The stoking compartment being entirely separated and the ovens being heated T>y hot air no fumes or smoke can thus penetrate 'the bakery; in addition, the floor has been laid down in concrete, thereby eliminating the possibility of any dirt getting into the bread.

The bread store adjoining presents, tiers of racks capable of holding 8000 loaves.

HUGE BAKING CAPACITY.

The capacity of each oven is 300 21b loaves per hour.- With the four ovens going full time for the whole twentyfour hours, the bakery is thus able to produce no less than 28,800 loaves per diem, or, in other words, by working day and night it could supply the daily bread rations of 37,0G0 men. It is not proposed, however, to go in for continuous baking, but to limit the production to 7000 loaves per day, which will be baked during ordinary hours, and will meet the requirements of the 9500 men, who when the 17ths return from their final leave will be encamped in the Lower Wairarapa-.'

To run such a. bakery, of course, it is necessary to have a fairly large staff of expert bakers. This has not been overlooked. Through the Army Service Corps, ten experienced bakers have been provided, and, as the whole -of them wear the King's uniform, the bakery is not military in name only but in fact. The staff is under the charge of Sergt.-Major H. Weldon, himself a master baker, who has had many years' experience of A.S.C. work in the" British Army.

SUCCESSFUL FIRST XEIAL.

WhoiiJTlie Post representative visited the bakery yesterday, . he found the staff, as already indicated.. busily engaged in the 'first trial. The furnaces were going, the ovens were getting hot, the dough was ready, and the khaki bakers were hard at work cutting off chunks and scaling and moulding them into shape. At each table or bench there was a deftness of touch which told of an accurate eye and a practical hand. The rows of dough grew rapidly; the ovens became hotter still. At last the rows were complete; one stroke of the knife supplied the finishing touch for a row at a time: the ovens were at the required heat, and in the loaves went. What would be the result —success or failure ? The answer was supplied an hour later, when the oven 3 were opened, and it was found the loaves were done. In went the, longhandled shovels, and in a seemingly never-ending procession out came the hot loaves, all nicely risen, with beautifully browned crusts, crisp, and crackling, and not too much broken! The atmosphere was filled with the delicious aroma of sweet, new-mado bread. How would it taste? That was tested during the evening meal, when the first production of the new bakery was in much demand, and was found to be as good as any commercial loaf mado in New Zealand.

The trial was thus in - the fullest sense a pronounced success, and augurs well for the future bread supply of the Lower Wairarapa camps. . During the trial Major H. H. Wright, A.S.C., Director of Supplies and Transport and Inspector of Army Service Corps, and Capt. I. N. Petty, Supply Officer, Featherston Camp, were present, and were much gratified at the result. CAMPS BAKING THEIR OWN BREAD. The new bakery, it is expected, will not bo in full working order until about a "fortnight's time. Its career will be followed with not a little interest by the public at large. One great advantage will be that it will effect a considerable, saving/ in the present cost tlirough having to rail the bread used at Featherston from town, while another benefit will be that the present crushing of the loaves through railway cartage will be-obviated. This latter should be specially appreciated by the men. With the establishment of the Featherston bakery the whole of the bread consumed in the New Zealand Reinforcement Camps will be military-made, a field bakery supplying the whole camp having been established at Trentham some months ago. This may fairly be considered a feather in the cap of the New Zealand Army, and particularly of the A.S.C., to whom the erfcent chiefly belongs.

Lieut. George Massey, son of the Prime Minister, who left New Zealand us ;i platoon commander in the Rifle Brigade, and who until recently lias been in the trenches with that force, has been appointed adjutant' to his battalion.