DIET IN CAMPS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 11 March 1943, Page 4

DIET IN CAMPS

WELL LOOKED AFTER, SAYS MR FRASER REPLY TO URGENT QUESTION (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) Wellington, This Day. A plea for a better balanced diet and supply of wholemeal bread to soldiers in camps was made by Lieut. J. B. V. Cotterill (Government, Wanganui) in an urgent question in the House of Representatives last night. The Acting Minister of Defence, Mr Fraser, said there was constant supervision by dietetic experts and any alterations considered necessary were made without demur. Experiments had been made at one South Island camp and they showed that a good deal of the vitamin content of food was being wasted. There was also a cookery training school in the North Island, which he believed was operating with considerable success, but whether all the army cooks were thoroughly efficient and up to date he could not say. He knew that the Officer Commanding in New Zealand and also the officer who commanded the Second New Zealand Division overseas, insisted on attention to diet. Civilians might have gone short of fruit and vegetables in New Zealand because the army received preference. An adequate supply of wholemeal bread was made available to all camps, but unfortunately many of the men would not eat it. Milk had been increased from the original ration of half a pint to one pint per man daily.