<I>

  <&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One</&>
  <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies</&>
  <&>Victoria University of Wellington</&>

  <&>side one</&>
  <&>1:02</&>
  

  <WSC#DGI135:0005:JG>
      <O>tut</O> and um i looked at this ad and i thought yes i might
      as well apply for that because one of the categories they had
      was for an agriculturist animal husbandry officer

  <WSC#DGI135:0010:JG>
      i thought well that's me you know farm boy you <.>just</.> er
      that should be easy enough and um so i applied and duly i er
      came to wellington which was an adventure in itself

  <WSC#DGI135:0015:JG>
      it was sort of the biggest trip i'd ever done in my life

  <WSC#DGI135:0020:JG>
      had er morris er thousand van and er i camped at wanaka and er
      it took about three days to get to wellington and three days to
      get back

  <WSC#DGI135:0025:JG>
      <.>i</.> er you know i just thought well i don't care if i don't
      get it i mean i've got a great trip anyway er

  <WSC#DGI135:0030:JG>
      to actually get across to south east asia was beyond belief

  <WSC#DGI135:0035:IJ>
      when you came to wellington then they would have er interviewed
      you er tried to find <laughs>out</laughs> whether you were <{><[>suitable</[>

  <WSC#DGI135:0040:JG>
      <[><?>oh yes</?></[></{> yes it was an interesting day the
      interview in the sense that er there are a lot of extremely er
      <&>2:00</&> good minded um wellington burghers er of a certain
      section of society that probably didn't pay regular er union
      fees to the boiler makers or the freezing workers union

  <WSC#DGI135:0045:IJ>
      <O>laughs</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0050:JG>
      yeah and i did an interview and they asked all sorts of
      questions

  <WSC#DGI135:0055:JG>
      one was how would i treat animals if i came across a foot and
      mouth outbreak and i just said oh i'd shoot them <O>inhales</O>
      er which of course was the given answer in the veterinary world

  <WSC#DGI135:0060:JG>
      if i'd gone round in vietnam where i came across foot and mouth
      which i did a lot and started shooting them i would have been
      shot immediately

  <WSC#DGI135:0065:IJ>
      <O>laughs</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0070:JG>
      because er animals can survive for many years <&>2:36</&> with
      foot and mouth <&>one minute eight seconds of IJ monologue</&>
      <&>3:44</&>

  <WSC#DGI135:0075:JG>
      and once you realised that you were working in an environment
      where you didn't have a lot of support in the sense that you
      didn't have a warehouse at your disposal from which you
      distributed largesse <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0080:IJ>
      mm <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0085:JG>
      er you rolled your sleeves up or in my case you took off your
      <&>4:00</&> safari jacket and down to your black farming singlet
      and er put on a pair of obriens boots and got stuck in um

  <WSC#DGI135:0090:JG>
      <.>s</.> there was no glamour <O>tut</O> it was just a matter of
      doing a job and the job was to work in certain refugee camps
      around that area er and do what you wanted to

  <WSC#DGI135:0095:IJ>
      <{><[>so there you are</[>

  <WSC#DGI135:0100:JG>
      <[>so no one</[></{> told you what to do

  <WSC#DGI135:0105:JG>
      no one said oh your <.>prio</.> priority one is there there and
      there

  <WSC#DGI135:0110:JG>
      you set the priorities

  <WSC#DGI135:0115:JG>
      um you worked out what you could do and what was the most
      effective

  <WSC#DGI135:0120:JG>
      um i made contact with the ministry of er agriculture officials
      and er worked in the animal health field as much as possible and
      got all sorts of vaccination and immunisation programmes going
      <O>inhales</O> but more importantly i wanted to work in er
      establishing market gardens and things like that and er and
      you'd go to a refugee camp and you'd start talking about this
      and they'd say that's all very well that's great you know market
      garden wonderful but we haven't got a well <,> so in actual fact
      i <&>5:00</&> spent um probably a lot of my <.>first</.> even up
      to six months in vietnam digging wells <O>tut</O> er and getting
      people to dig wells um and providing cement at the right times
      <O>inhales</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0125:JG>
      i found that if you provided cement for the casing and the upper
      works of a well we're talking about something which is um <O>tut</O>
      a little over a metre in diameter and can go some ten metres
      down if you provided the cement too soon um you could actually
      be passing the local market the market nearest to the village er
      to which you had distributed the cement some two days before

  <WSC#DGI135:0130:JG>
      you could pass that market place and find the same cement on
      sale

  <WSC#DGI135:0135:IJ>
      <O>laughs</O> <{><[><O>laughs</O> mm</[>

  <WSC#DGI135:0140:JG>
      <[>so er</[></{> i tended to deliver the cement when the mixing
      er when it was mixing time and things like that

  <WSC#DGI135:0145:JG>
      i can remember some <&>6:00</&> rather violent arguments with
      village chiefs over things like that <O>tut</O> er

  <WSC#DGI135:0150:JG>
      i in fact picked a village chief up once and carted him across
      the room and put him against the wall

  <WSC#DGI135:0155:JG>
      he was threatening me with his rifle and i had accused him of
      selling cement er because i'd just seen it and the cement wasn't
      there and the well hadn't been finished so you know everything
      sort of added up and er he started threatening me with his rifle
      so i just picked him up and marched him back of the room

  <WSC#DGI135:0160:JG>
      er it seemed <.>that</.> what one would do in a high <{1><[1>country</[1>
      hut er if someone was threatening you and er so i did that with
      him and the next time i called at the village he put down his
      rifle and um in this most disturbing <.>hou</.> habit for a new
      zealand bloke who's come from the high country um that asians
      have er he walked round the village with me hand in hand <{2><[2><O>laughs</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0165:JG>
      i found that harder to deal with</[2> than the rifle

  <WSC#DGI135:0170:IJ>
      <[1>mm</[1></{1>

  <WSC#DGI135:0175:IJ>
      <[2><O>laughs</O></[2></{2>

  <WSC#DGI135:0180:IJ>
      <O>laughs</O> yes it's not quite the <.>kind</.> kind of thing
      you'd see round the average shearing shed or wherever <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0185:JG>
      we didn't hold hands a lot in the <&>7:00</&> high country jack
      <{><[>no we didn't no no and if you did</[> um i think there
      would have been an awful lot of talk but that's the way it was
      and those were the sort of adjustments you had to make that you
      were working in a different society

  <WSC#DGI135:0190:JG>
      the other thing i think you realised very early on was that
      though you would never become a really competent linguist that
      as long as you are talking through an interpreter everything you
      say and the whole programme you're trying to get across and the
      help is someone else's interpretation and um so i tried to learn
      basic vietnamese as soon as i could

  <WSC#DGI135:0195:JG>
      i speak apPALLing paddy field vietnamese

  <WSC#DGI135:0200:IJ>
      <[>no no <O>laughs</O></[></{>

  <WSC#DGI135:0205:IJ>
      mm

  <WSC#DGI135:0210:JG>
      with a southland accent

  <WSC#DGI135:0215:JG>
      <{><[>at that time i still</[> burred my rs

  <WSC#DGI135:0220:JG>
      it wasn't until er i joined broadcasting some years later and er
      was told the r's had to go er if i wanted to get a living out of
      this microphone nonsense um that they disappeared so <,> to <.>th</.>
      i suppose there's a bit of an actor in me um in the sense that
      <&>8:00</&> i'm quite happy to gesticulate and wave and perform
      and mime and what not and you can get on just fine

  <WSC#DGI135:0225:IJ>
      <[><O>laughs</O></[></{>

  <WSC#DGI135:0230:IJ>
      mm

  <WSC#DGI135:0235:JG>
      with a few basic words and er and all the nice gentilities er
      cos i know there were times particularly when i was er i suppose
      <.>i</.> slightly aggressive with some of my approaches cos i
      was used to going out and building a bloody fence <,> getting on
      with the damn job rather than going through even at a hamlet
      level er the protocol that went through and the consideration in
      the time honoured way because we just don't relate to the
      traditional values that people have in making decisions within a
      hamlet or village structure

  <WSC#DGI135:0240:IJ>
      now you had to be something of a wheeler dealer didn't you

  <WSC#DGI135:0245:JG>
      <O>laughs</O> we were um yes i mean we would make the average
      second hand car er merchant in new zealand er <O>tut</O> look
      like a bank of england er executive i suppose in some of the
      things we got up to

  <WSC#DGI135:0250:JG>
      we did not have a regular supply <&>9:00</&> system in the sense
      that um you could just draw on supplies

  <WSC#DGI135:0255:JG>
      there were sources of supply <,>

  <WSC#DGI135:0260:JG>
      there were supplies that should have been readily available for
      the work we did

  <WSC#DGI135:0265:JG>
      it was controlled by local officials

  <WSC#DGI135:0270:JG>
      generally they wore an army uniform

  <WSC#DGI135:0275:JG>
      they had a couple of pips or whatever it was that they wore on
      their shoulders

  <WSC#DGI135:0280:JG>
      they were army officers working in a civilian field and they
      seemed to be very fat and they seemed to live very well and
      their wives wore a lot of very expensive make up <,>

  <WSC#DGI135:0285:JG>
      in other words they were milking the system <O>tut</O> um and we
      could never get the stuff out

  <WSC#DGI135:0290:JG>
      er i do remember throwing one out of the road of <.>a</.> a
      warehouse door um and getting in and just helping myself to the
      cement and hearing the little click of automatic rifles

  <WSC#DGI135:0295:JG>
      <{><[>red</[> cross officials would be horrified to hear all
      this er <.>the</.> the good people of new zealand <.>who</.> who
      um encouraged us to go there and do the good work but in actual
      fact to do the good work you <&>10:00</&> had to get a rid of an
      awful lot of avarice and er and selfinterest so it was very
      difficult to get the supplies that we should have had <,>

  <WSC#DGI135:0300:JG>
      the american army was a wonderful storehouse

  <WSC#DGI135:0305:JG>
      it's the best equipped army in the world and at that time was
      probably the most poorly trained <O>tut</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0310:JG>
      um both the new zealand army and the new zealand red cross were
      very good at er appropriating on an individual level

  <WSC#DGI135:0315:JG>
      i mean colonels didn't go round flogging things in the new
      zealand army

  <WSC#DGI135:0320:JG>
      the privates and the sergeants were far too good at that at er
      acquiring bartering trading whatever <O>tut</O> so for new
      zealand beer or for something else we'd guarded in some other
      way or for holding a party <O>tut</O> um at which some new
      zealand nurses may be in attendance um one could um get a lot of
      cement

  <WSC#DGI135:0325:IJ>
      <[><O>laughs</O></[></{>

  <WSC#DGI135:0330:IJ>
      so you'd <.>i</.> you'd invite the americans and say look
      there'll be some girls here er so long as you supply some <.>c</.>
      cement <&>11:00</&>

  <WSC#DGI135:0335:JG>
      no we would never say there'd be some girls there

  <WSC#DGI135:0340:JG>
      one we would get killed by the new zealand girls <{1><[1>women
      the nurses</[1> er who were there but we had parties from time
      to time

  <WSC#DGI135:0345:JG>
      they knew about that and um they would suggest that they have a
      party at our place and we'd say fine and will there be some er
      nurses there er take potluck <{2><[2>and</[2> sometimes there
      might have been sometimes there wouldn't but er i don't want to
      start a lynching now and <.>i</.> i certainly didn't get lynched
      then um <O>tut</O> but no it's not as if we were trying to use
      new zealand women <.>in</.> in the wrong sort of sense but we
      were part of a community where there were um <O>voc</O> european
      women which of course for <.>new</.> er american soldiers seemed
      to be a very attractive state er but those were all VERY
      professional women who did an aMAZing job

  <WSC#DGI135:0350:IJ>
      <[1>mm mm</[1></{1>

  <WSC#DGI135:0355:IJ>
      <[2><?>mm</?></[2></{2>

  <WSC#DGI135:0360:IJ>
      <O>tut</O> so you had your pet schemes

  <WSC#DGI135:0365:IJ>
      you had your ways of doing things

  <WSC#DGI135:0370:IJ>
      <{><[>what were <.>you</.> <.>what</.></[> what were some of the
      things you did <&>12:00</&>

  <WSC#DGI135:0375:JG>
      <[>yes we did <.>we</.></[></{>

  <WSC#DGI135:0380:JG>
      <O>tut</O> <.>w</.> i think the first thing you did was you made
      friends with quarter master sergeants in the u s er army

  <WSC#DGI135:0385:JG>
      officers weren't any use at all

  <WSC#DGI135:0390:JG>
      um it's the sergeants that control the supply of any army and um
      <O>tut</O> and they were friendly chaps

  <WSC#DGI135:0395:JG>
      occasionally new zealand or more particularly australian beer
      would wander their way <O>inhales</O> um and we would help them
      out

  <WSC#DGI135:0400:JG>
      you see they have <.>a</.> a thing in the american army called
      an annual inspection <O>tut</O> and er everything has to be
      virtually the same as it was last year and everything is <.>absolutely</.>
      all the books and the parade grounds and everything are
      inspected <O>inhales</O> and sometimes there can appear in a
      yard of a quarter master sergeant an awful lot of the wrong
      things or too many of something and one sunday morning a quarter
      master sergeant rang me and said i'm getting an inspection on
      tuesday and i've got far too much cement

  <WSC#DGI135:0405:JG>
      can you help me out <O>tut</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0410:JG>
      he had seven <&>13:00</&> and a half tonne of cement and we took
      the lot

  <WSC#DGI135:0415:IJ>
      <O>laughs</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0420:JG>
      um and we er <,> we carted it all and we had wagoner jeeps which
      is a fourwheel drive er we had two of those fourwheel drive type
      station wagon <O>tut</O> a land rover and an international
      harvester fifteen hundred weight truck australian assembled and
      it had a motor like <.>a</.> a missile and steering er like a
      drunk

  <WSC#DGI135:0425:JG>
      <.>i</.> it was something very seriously wrong with it and we
      carted that seven and a half tonne in little more than a morning
      um er a three four mile <.>dis</.> er distance i suppose and
      stacked it on our verandah and put it under plastic and so that
      <.>was</.> we had that there oh <.>it</.> that was about three
      months' supply and we got that through having good contacts with
      the man in the first place really on a human level

  <WSC#DGI135:0430:IJ>
      mm

  <WSC#DGI135:0435:JG>
      er no bribing and no payment

  <WSC#DGI135:0440:JG>
      um he liked us and we <.>ma</.> well we made sure he did and he
      was a good guy anyway <&>14:00</&>

  <WSC#DGI135:0445:IJ>
      <O>tut</O> john did you ever get caught out or come close to
      getting caught out <,> the schemes

  <WSC#DGI135:0450:JG>
      <O>laughs</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0455:IJ>
      <{><[>cos it</[> wasn't strictly according to the book was it i
      suppose

  <WSC#DGI135:0460:JG>
      <[>no</[></{>

  <WSC#DGI135:0465:JG>
      well no it wasn't but <.>i</.> of course in a society like
      vietnam and in the society that was imposed upon it at that time
      through the war and um overseas interests there wasn't an
      existing structure anyway in the true sense <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0470:IJ>
      mm <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0475:JG>
      in that we lived outside vietnamese law um in that sort of er
      sense um <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0480:IJ>
      and what about your masters er back in <.>the</.> the red cross
      hierarchy

  <WSC#DGI135:0485:IJ>
      um i mean they would have perhaps frowned on what you were doing
      <.>or</.>

  <WSC#DGI135:0490:JG>
      no i think they were um amused by it and pleased that we were
      able to survive because <{><[>to get things done yes</[> because
      the new zealand red cross there's no way that they could have er
      sent across cement and construction materials and things like
      that

  <WSC#DGI135:0495:JG>
      i mean they were fabulous with the little things <&>15:00</&>
      that we needed whether it was seeds or certain drugs sewing
      machines for setting up sewing centres in um in villages er
      school equipment and things like that

  <WSC#DGI135:0500:IJ>
      <[>for the new <.>zealand</.> yes</[></{>

  <WSC#DGI135:0505:IJ>
      mm <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0510:JG>
      um after all's said and done american army cement was destined
      for er for vietnam <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0515:IJ>
      <?>mm</?> <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0520:JG>
      it's just that it wasn't used for um mortar and placements and
      er and dugouts

  <WSC#DGI135:0525:JG>
      it was used for wells and drains and schools and things like
      that and village dispensaries

  <WSC#DGI135:0530:IJ>
      <O>inhales</O> now the war of course was going on all around you

  <WSC#DGI135:0535:IJ>
      there wasn't a front line

  <WSC#DGI135:0540:IJ>
      it was <.>the</.> the viet kong were in the er in the jungle so
      you <.>w</.> it would have touched you

  <WSC#DGI135:0545:IJ>
      you would have come into contact with it during the course of
      your work

  <WSC#DGI135:0550:JG>
      yes yes um i mean they were sort <.>of</.> they could be
      anywhere or er everywhere but of course at <&>16:00</&> that
      time um after the test um er of sixty eight which was their er
      <latch>

  <WSC#DGI135:0555:IJ>
      big offensive <{><[>mm</[>

  <WSC#DGI135:0560:JG>
      <[>their</[></{> huge offensive in the sense that they totally
      disrupted vietnam in every way um and after that of course there
      was <.>a</.> a long slow regrouping and um so there wasn't
      nearly as much activity during our time there in many respects
      as there had been in the preceding years <O>inhales</O>

  <WSC#DGI135:0565:JG>
      um but yes it happened from time to time that you would get a
      warning shot across your bows in certain villages um

  <WSC#DGI135:0570:IJ>
      so what er literally you mean when you were working in certain
      villages what you'd come under mortar fire or something <{><[>like
      that</[>

  <WSC#DGI135:0575:JG>
      <[>no no</[></{> no it'd <.>be</.> just be stray er a k forty
      seven um shots just across <.>your</.> you know it was fired
      across you bows so to speak when you were walking from point a
      to point b point b being just a bit too close into the bush for
      their liking and <&>17:00</&> working in a <.>b</.> village or
      hamlet in that case um <O>tut</O> that was of strategic
      importance still because though it was in one of those sandy
      plateaus it was very close to a range of hills

  <WSC#DGI135:0580:JG>
      um the village decided that they would have an official opening
      of these wells and they had done <.>them</.> a couple of them up
      that were closer to the road with red kiwis on them and red
      crosses and my name was on one and um <foreign=Vietnamese>hong
      tuk tu tan telan</foreign=Vietnamese> was on another

  <WSC#DGI135:0585:JG>
      that is new zealand red cross in vietnamese <&>17:32</&>
</I>
