EVERY MAN A "KIWI".

Dozerdust, Volume 1, Issue 17, 9 October 1943, Page 6

EVERY MAN A " KIWI ".

WORKS SERVICE. ENGINEERS IN ACTION,

SPEED and efficiency arc the dominant factors with the UNIT now under way on « t , job where Bunday and monday merge into one; whore tho dawn brooks on a scene . j i of screaming saws, an orchestra of ham- .V mering, clanking machinery and rattle of trucks. * ♦ * THE job is a hospital -- / / not just a make-shift that can be bunged up jorryfashion; not moroly a- place in which bods can bo made up, a few' hand basins poked in a corner in sone outhouse. ♦* * THIS will bo a series of buildings \ incorporating all tho aids which tiodsioftl science and surgory *7ould require in . ' in somo of tho finest hospitals in the i. world, to construct such buildings • under tropical conditions gives rise to problems that tax tho ingenunity of designer, engineer and builder.

# ADVANCE parties of surveyors moved Into tho naiouli woldorncss, to plot and plant . they wore followed by a toam of bulldozers, graders and drain digging machines, to scoop out of the hillside terraces for ward sites* for administrative blocks, . for camp sites and all tho incidental buildings to bo erected, tho drain digging closely followed tho bulldozers and graders, tho terraces made , . shon comes the. M template n .and pegs mark tho spot whore non and machines ■ are ■ soon digging and p reparing for. pilosj a group specialising in setting piles move in, and when they'novo on to the next site thoy are followed by carpenters who do tho floors, who in turn glvo way to groups doing walls» < and finally cones tho detail doing roof ( and roofings 3 ‘doors, windows, hotting and other accessories aro added by other details so that thoro cones into existence almost ccmploto wards in a matter * not of nooks, but of days 3 tho allication of kaisor principles in handling prefabricated so© - tions constructed in naw zonland has .boon applied with a thoroughness and efficiency that has mads onlookers realise what n,z t ors can do when thoy got down to a job. * * * TO construction prob * lons must bo nddodthoso of sanitation which, in conditions presented by new Caledonian climate, makes attontion to tho smallest detail a natter of vital importance#, a drainage system had to bo worked out in conformity with local conditions I from tho blue print it had to become a practical and effective undertaking, ■ to drainage must be added a reading system that fits in with the re - quiromcnts of this minaturo village in the process * of creation* to sanitation, &roads must bo added a water supply and lighting system not only ade- . quate for wards, aerating theatres, xroy, optic — ian and dental, but also for administrative per - sonnol. and it must bo renonbored that the latter includes such as rogristration, postal, pay, records and discharge offices o ♦ ♦ ♦ FROM medical, surgical and’ administrative one moves to recreational facilities. hero too one is impressed by tho'thoroughnoco with which this aspoct has boon planned to ©cot tho requirements’ of patients and staff, tho site chosen for the hospital is situated in one of ’the loveliest spots on the island; placed on the side of tho valley tho terraced formation overlooks the whole valley. ( continued on next page )

a valley that is fringed with palms through which a wide rivor lazily moves to the sea; tho background, or one should say, tho whole sotting sits hidden by mountains from the great outer world. * * * THE fforegoing sketch of tho scope and ramifications of the task WORKS SERVICE has under way is too inadequate to convoy what is ivolvod in constructing A HOSPITAL, security doos not permit mention of details - details that convoy, size, use made of modern development in medical science, and, above all,tho way in which difficulties have bc'n overcome byresourcefulness, skill and of officers and mon’, what can ba underline is tho oneness with which every man in the UNIT has responded to tho call for his boat - - every man has boon a KIWI ♦ tho homes from which the mon have come nay rightly feol ' proud of tho achievement in now Caledonia, and, in common with our fighting units, WORKS SERVICE has wade a nano for itself that recAove® high praise from units other than from our -own shores.