DEFENCE WORK IN DOMINION

Southland Times, Issue 25335, 11 April 1944, Page 4

DEFENCE WORK IN DOMINION

FIGURES SINCE START OF WAR (P.A.) WELLINGTON, April 10. Facts and figures which tell a striking story of defence construction work undertaken in New Zealand since the outbreak of war were given by the Minister of Works, the Hon. R. Semple, in I an interview. He said that sufficient timber and roofing material have been used to erect 20,450 houses. What that meant might be better appreciated by the fact that to date the, number of State rental houses was only 15,612. Hospital accommodation had been built for New Zealand and Allied forces to provide 12,253 beds and a staff of some 11,500, making the total hospital population about 23,700. Sinpe the outbreak of war 260 new camps or defence posts had been constructed for the Army, 64 for the Navy and 41 for the Air Force, a total of 365. The new establishments were apart from extensions to existing-camps. Some camps to accommodate 5000 men were ready for occupation within two months and complete in every detail within six months of receipt of instructions to proceed. With greater urgency as the result of Japan’s entry into the war, the extensions at one camp to provide for 7000 additional men were completed in two months. Store buildings totalling 978, covering an equivalent of 125 acres, had been built and in addition to the figures already mentioned 39,500 other camp buildings had been erected covering an equivalent of 278 acres, besides which 7462 tent decks had been supplied. Defence construction work also extended Ho the Pacific, 1919 buildings prefabricated in New Zealand having been sent forward.

WATER MAINJS AND ROADWAYS Other striking figures were 56. miles of water supply mains laid, 44 miles of sewer drains dug, 81 miles of loading formed, 1,000,000 square yards of sealing carried out, and 500,000 feet of piles driven for the Navy and for wharves, using 600,000 super feet of timber. There were 90 aerodromes and landing grounds in New Zealand, some of which, not including five in the Pacific, were constructed during the war. The construction work covered 11,000 acres and the total length of the runways was 163 miles. Reduced to an 18foot road, this would be 4400 miles. There were concrete runways equivalent to 80 miles and sealed, and stabilized runways covered 220 miles of an 18-foot roadway. Aerodrome construction and maintenance, not including buildings, cost over £4,500,000. . This performance was even more creditable in the light of the personnel and plant sent overseas. Plant, including compressors, tractors, bulldozers, crushing plant, road graders and other earthmoving machines, to the value of over £500,000 had been sent from the Dominion to various theatres of war. Machinery worth £140,000 sent to Singapore was lost. The bulk of the plant sent overseas was for aerodrome construction. Two construction squadrons of Public Works personnel, each of 16 officers and 132 other ranks, were sent overseas. The Public Works Department was also called upon to find personnel for railway construction and maintenance overseas, -these groups totalling 40 officers and 1268 other ranks, mostly from the department.