NEW ZEALANDERS PREPARE

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXII, Issue 15466, 29 September 1943, Page 4

NEW ZEALANDERS PREPARE

FOR TROPICAL SUMMER IN PACIFIC ISLANDS (Official War Correspondent N.Z.E.F.) NEW CALEDONIA. Those who can look back on more than half a year in New Caledonia ‘ never cease to wondei at tli© transformation in living conditions at all the New Zealand camps. Where once the sole evidence of Army habitation amid acres of gaunt trees was an array of tents with muddy, log-strewn approaches and a few wh.sps of smoke from a rough cooklouse, now the lay-out i s systematic the felled trees cleared and used as firewood, the dilapidated cookhouses replaced by clean, concretefloored structures. Perhaps it was well that tbe New Zeaiandei’s cam© here at the height of the hot, wet, mosquito-ridden summer, for that hat'd school of experience that taught them to fend for themselves bred a spirit of resourcefulness that is now showing results. Th : s island is a queer topographic mixture The north-east coast is wild and steep, jumping sheer into on© of the two mountain ranges that run the length of the country In some ways this coast resembles the southern portion of th© West Coast of the South Island, but despite heavy tropical rainfall, vegetation is less luxuriant than in New Zealand. A few mountain passes cross the ranges to the undulating grasslands of the south-west coast, where th© eucalyptus-like maouli tree grows in great abundance. Plentiful rivers grow sluggish as they reach the sea, and are fringed in the main with low-lying marshes, breeding places for the mosquito. Siting camp positions was therefore no easy task, and some of the areas originally selected are no longer in use. Jt was impossible to avoid the mud and mosquitoes in several areas, though now that th© winter is well advanced mud is a transitory nuisance that lasts only an hour or two after ram, and most of the mosquitoes hav© succumbed to the re-alive chilliness of the nights. Tli© New Zealanders ar© well prepared to meet the exigencies of the coming summr. They have impioved their camp roads and tracks with load upon load of shingle, dug twofeet deep trenches round tlieir touts, and walled up the- sides with bamboo. coconut leaf matting, or the thick, soft, pulpy niaouli bark. The bure-typ© building they had learned to fashion in Fiji has been adapted to New Caledonian style with niaouli bark, grass thatching or woven coconut leaves. Bure walls normally stand about five feet high, with a gap of two or three feet to a wideoaved and steedly gabled thatched roof. The buildings can be made of any size. They are found in any New Zealand camp on tli© island. Thanks to the efforts of the people of the Dominion, through the National Patriotic Fund Board, the men hav© an increasing number of recreational facilities with which to (ill in their leisure hours. They build tlioir own fiables and chairs, but most mess rooms now have dart boards, chess and checker sets, radios, playing cards, table tennis and quoit games. Outdoor sporting gear is arriving in good quantity. ,Th is is winner—the dry season of the Tropics—when temperatures in. New Caledonia hover round 55 to f>() degrees by breakfast time and may rise to 80 degrees at midday. Nights a.r e chilly in the hills, but on the average th© winter is well-nigh perfect New Caledonia is at its best just now. Not, a rosy best, but at any rate a great improvement on thos© sticky days in the early part of th© year .