Mr Semple’s Machines As War Winners

Northern Advocate, 27 June 1939, Page 6

Mr Semple’s Machines As War Winners

(Per Press Association. Copyright.l CHRISTCHURCH, This Day.

Emphasising the value of mechanised units in the Public Works Department for defence purposes if occasion arose, the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, said in an interview yesterday that he had discussed their uses with Major-General J. E, Duigan, Chief of the General Staff, and leading engineers in the department. All were agreed that the mechanisation the department possessed today was equal to anything in the world, and superior to that of most countries, and would be one of the most powerful factors in the defence of New Zealand.

“We can build roads through virgin bush over mountains overnight, because bulldozers and angledozers can work on gradients of one in two,” said Mr. Semple.

Rapid Construction

“We can erect temporary bridges, we can build forts, and we can make gun emplacements in hours where these

works would have taken days hitherto. We can dig trenches as fast as you can walk. Before, men took days to build the same trenches. We can erect bombproof shelters with our powerful machines, and these could be used not only as vulnerable points but also to make shelters for women and children. “New Zealand has the latest tunnelling machinery in the world, and the workers are creating records with it. Machines and men could play a very important part in this essential phase of military engineering.

Emergency Bases

“Emergency townships and bases for the storage of commodities and supplies can be built in the mountains quickly by mechanised units. Where bridges were destroyed the department can build crossings in a few hours when in the last war similar work would have taken weeks. With modern equipment engineers can rapidly burrow underground to provide very necessary dumps for fuel and food.’’

More than 800 men employed on irrigation works in Canterbury today offered to enroll in the internal defence force following three addresses by the Minister.