IMPRESSIVE FIGURES

Evening Star, Issue 25894, 11 September 1946, Page 5

IMPRESSIVE FIGURES

DEFENCE WORK DURING WAR OVER £50,000,000 WORTH (Special) WELLINGTON, Sept. 11. “ More than £50,000,000 worth of defence woilk was carried out during the war,” states the first annuaWeport of the Ministry of Works, which was tabled yesterday in the House of Representatives. Of this amount, £47,624,477 was expended by the Public Works Department from September, 1939, to March, 1946, and £2,852,381 was spent by the Housing Construction Department. The major items under the former heading were: — -Army, £15,569,932. ! Air Force, £15,218,907. Civil defence, £7,101,944. United States forces, £6,163,230. Navy £3,570,464. “ Apart from aerodrome construction,” the report states, “ 17,104 acres of land w’ere used for military camp construction, 292 miles of roading were metalled and sealed, 1,023 acres of ground were levelled, 604 acres of ground in the precincts of camps were metalled and sealed, 145 miles of subsurface and stormwater drains were laid, 302 miles of water piping were laid, 167 miles of sewerage pipes were laid, and 160 miles of fencing were erected. Military hospitals, with an aggregate capacity of 9,400 beds, were erected, and convalescent depots and camp hospitals for 1,100 patients were constructed.

“ More than 20,000,000 square feet of defence buildings were erected, as follows:—On aerodromes, 4,764 buildings, covering 5,393,008 square feet; others, 28,296 buildings, covering 15,376,282 square feet —in all, 33,060 buildings, covering 20,769,290 square feet. “ By March 31, 1945, 94 air stations had been constructed in. New Zealand and six aerodromes or airstrips in the Pacific. . ‘ It has been estimated,” the report concludes, “ that the provision of the accommodation for New Zealand and, Allied forces during the war involved a programme equivalent to the construction of 17 new towns, complete with all services, each with a population of 10,000. The timber utilised in the construction of 28,885 prefabricated huts and other buildings would have been more than sufficient for 37,000. houses.”