MILITARY CAMPS IN DOMINION

Southland Times, Issue 24162, 26 June 1940, Page 6

MILITARY CAMPS IN DOMINION

CAPACITY TO BE EXTENDED BY 50 PER CENT.

The capacity of the three military camps at Burnham, Trentham and Papakura is to be increased by 50 per cent., according 'to the Minister of National Service and of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple). He made this statement in Christchurch when discussing the employment of men on public works and dealing with the work for which they would be required. Exact figures of the accommodation of the camps could not be given, but this would be the extent of the increase. * Mr Semple said that the number of men engaged on public works who were actually on the pay-roll of the Public Works Department was 13,000, a figure which was approximately the same as when he took office as Minister of Public Works after the election of the Labour Government in 1935. He said that the peak figure reached on the public works was 24,000. The present figure of 13,000 was not only no more than the number when he took over the portfolio, but it was less than the average for some years before that, 15,000 or 16,000. The figure, however, did not include some 2000 employed by private contractors carrying out public works and some 1500 to 2000 employed under subsidy by local bodies. “The increase in the accommodation of the camps will require the use of the men and machinery of the Public Works Department,” Mr Semple said. “Some 3500 men have been employed on the military camps up to the present. We could not take off such men, because we could not drill and train others to take their place. “There had been a lot of criticism of the number of men on public works made without understanding of the position,” he added. “The number is now down to 13,000, and we could not have made further reductions without interfering with the vital necessities of the country.” Mr Semple went on to give details of the construction of aerodromes and camps, and emphasized the value of good roads and bridges.