Feeding the Forces

Arawa Guerilla, Issue 8, 1 November 1942, Page 5

Feeding the Forces

FURLOUGH ! “Hail, smiling morn!” we gaily sing, As, rising ere the trumpet blows, (A most unheard-of kind of thing), We fill that kit with dirty clothes We’ve put aside as they have come, A present for the wife, or Mum. Then, hearts so carefree, heads so high, We pack our goods, and lash them tight, Make straw from palliasses fly, Make sure our Shoes are newly bright, Then off at 9 to B.H.Q. For ration cards and warrants, too. With new-ironed felts on heads astride, We even give the Serg. a smile, Our webs and rifles flung aside, And bed for once in neatish pile. Out of this vale of tears and woe, To furlough’s Paradise we go. But every lining has a cloud, The days flip by on stream-lined wings, The battle-dress becomes a shroud, The merry heart no longer sings. We fly to Heaven with smiling face, ' We crawl back to the other place.

HOW many soldiers realise the tremendous problem that is involved in supplying- them with food, especially a variety of fresh vegetables? With so many men withdrawn from civil life and a large number of visiting troops to sustain, the vegetable question becomes a very serious one. However, very efficient Tom Rashleigh, the Camp Supply Officer, and his band of Ration-hounds have done wonders in the past in their tapping of local resources to supply the troops with an incomparable variety of fruit and vegetables, all drawn from local gardens, and thus as fresh as the proverbial daisy. But at last a comprehensive scheme is under way which will not only relieve the burden on rations, but will mark a move towards guarding against the inevitable fluctuations in the quality and quantity of our food supply. This is the Services’ Vegetables Scheme, which has recently been inaugurated by the Department of Agriculture, and which is coming into operation throughout the Dominion. As yet the project is in its initial stages, and the services are still drawing on supplies on hand, but before the end of. the year the scheme should be able to supply not only all the vegetables necessary for all the forces in this area, but to have a surplus as well for other centres. A few miles from camp, the scheme may be seen in full swing; 56 acres of splendid land have been completely laid down in vegetables and the astonished eye gazes upon hundreds of millions of seedlings just popping above the ground. In one bed alone there are 15 miles of carrots and parsnips, and this is not the largest of the beds. The seed-boxes which stretch seemingly to infinity contain enough lettuces to constitute a paradise for a thousand rabbits. Leeks, peas, beetroot, spinach, cabbage, silver beet, peas, cauliflowers, etc., etc., are there in embryo, and the neat, efficient look of the whole vast area argues well for the

success of the project. Rotational crops have been planted and provision made for both winter and summer supplies. Assuredly the men in this camp may look forward to a constant supply of a wide variety of the choicest and freshest vegetables, most of which will be served only a few hours after being cut. There is no more enthusiastic booster of the new scheme than Tom Rasleigh. He has every confidence in this Departmental plan to assure for the soldiers the so-necessary nutritious food, and he ought to know!

Staff "Pat” Ward continues to supply from his bulging canteen lair everything from a razor-blade to a box of chocolates. It beats us how he does it. He must have secret agents lurking in all the warehouses in th? Southern Hemisphere. And “Pat’s” cheerful smile is wider than ever now. For after months of struggling alone to cope with his huge trade, he has secured an efficient assistant in the person of Sergeant Bidwell.