MOBILISATION CAMP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23918, 20 September 1939, Page 4

MOBILISATION CAMP

WORK AT PAPAKURA MORE THAN 1000 MEN ENGAGED BUILDINGS RISE LIKE MUSHROOMS (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, Sept. 19. Working 12 hours a day, more than 1000 men are constructing Auckland’s mobilisation camp at Papakura. With buildings rising like mushrooms, the scene changes daily, and with the labour of an army of tradesmen concentrated on an area of 25 acres, the Public Works Department is directing a lightning programme that is considered to be without parallel in the history of the Dominion. Two hundred acres of land that a fortnight ago grazed sleek dairy cattle are involved in the full development, but the present efforts are directed to the preparation of two battalion areas which cover approximately 25 acres. In two weeks they have become a forest of timber as the work in varying stages proceeds in the construction of more than 80 buildings, in addition to those contained in the Public Works Department settlement. The work extends far beyond the actual boundaries of the camp. Miles of reading, huge open drains skirting the area, tiled sub-soil drains within, the laying of pipes for water ~ and sewerage and electric power—the reticulation of these are but a few of the tasks undertaken by the department. Comparatively little of this work is visible to the layman, for whom the scene is dominated by the feverish building activity, ’ In the maze of tirpber the men appear as ants, their mass activity being matched by the noisy symphony of saw and. hammer that overwhelms all other sound. State departments and private contracting firms are co-operating in the rapid advancement of the scheme which is expected to be complete within a few weeks. The camp will be no tent town. Comfort and utility have been combined in the plans, and the 2000 officers and men to be accommodated at Papakura will sleep on beds in roomy hutments, eat in well-fitted mess rooms and have every facility for recreation. ,