REFUGE ROOM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 19

REFUGE ROOM.

INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN. GASPROOFING METHODS. NO IMMEDIATE DANGER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, April 21. Detailed instructions were issued late tliis week by the Minister in charge of the State National Emergency Service (Mr. Bruxner) concerning precautions that should be taken by the civil population in the event of war. Mr. Bruxner emphasised that the instructions were not being issued because there was any danger at the moment, but merely so that if ever the Government had to issue a warning that war was threatened, people would know what to do. He said that if such a warning was ever given every householder should do the following tilings: Prepare and equip a refuge room; arrange to darken the house at night; clear any loft, attic or top floor of movable inflammable fittings and furniture; assemble appliances to fight fires; if living in a large town, send children, invalids, elderly people and pets to relatives or friends in the country. Describing how to make the refuge ri.. n gasproof, the instructions Btate that all cracks or openings, such &s under window sills, in the ceiling and around doors, must lie properly sealed. To achieve this the following instructions are given: Paste paper over the whole lloor, round the skirting boards, whore pipes pass through the walls and owr ventilators. Plug keyholes, waste or overilow pipes and chimneys with paper or sacks. Seal the front of the fireplace with a sheet of plywood and adhesive tape, and windows with adhesive tape or pasted paper. In sealing doors, nail a piece of wood paddedwith felt to the floor so that the door when closed pressed tightly against it. Fix a damp blanket outside the entrance door if the door opens inward, or inside the door if it opens outward. To prevent splinters from broken windows being blown into the room and leaving openings for gas to enter by, it is recommended that windows be covered* on the inside with at least two thin sheets of a tough, transparent paper. It is stated that the refuge room should contain the following articles: Domestic necessaries and amusement devices, water for drinking and firefighting, food in airtight tins or jars, spare resealing materials and, to deal with any incendiary bomb, a longhandled shovel, a box of dry sand or earth and a chemical fire e-" -uisher.