GAS WARFARE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 110, 19 February 1935, Page 5

GAS WARFARE.

PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS. NEW SYSTEM IN BRITAIN. rPnited Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, February 18. The "News-Chronicle" says that the Committee of Imperial Defence will issue shortly to local authorities throughout Great Britain complete plans for protection of the population in case of gas attacks. Seven years of investigation by the Anti-Gas Committee, on which there are leading scientists and military experts, have resulted in the drawing-up of a book of instructions of several hundred pages. The population will not be equipped with gas masks, as experiments in gasproofing hopes . have shown that one room can be made gas-proof comparatively simply by placing chemicallysaturated curtains oyer the doors and windows. It is also not considered necessary to build vast dug-outs like those of Germany, where one dug-out shelters 4.5,000 people. The instructions provide that each local authority will be responsible for its own district, will form an anti-gas committee, and will enrol all municipal workers and thousands of doctors, firemen and policemen. The instructions include: (1) A system of alarms to warn the public of impending attack. (2) Speedy location of an attack and isolation, of the affected area. (3) Protection of water and food supplies. . ~ (4) Storage and protection oj antigas substances. (5) Establishment of decontamination centres. , (6) Training of school children and organisation of special ambulance transport services.