INFLAMMABILITY OF FABRICS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27441, 30 August 1954, Page 3

INFLAMMABILITY OF FABRICS

Mr*Nash Advocates Precautions SUGGESTION ENDORSED BY MR BOWDEN (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 28. A suggestion by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nash) that inflammable dress and other materials should be treated to make them non-combus-tible was supported by the Minister of Customs (Mr C. M. Bowden) in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr Nash said there was much danger in inflammable materials. He knew of one case where a dress caught alight three feet away from a heater. If people’s lives were to be menaced by the sale of such materials, action would have to be taken to prevent the materials from being made available to the public, said Mr Nash. He suggested that consideration be given to the treatment of inflammable dress and other materials to ‘‘delacquer” them and make them non-com-bustible. . . . Mr Bowden said he agreed with the suggestion. He would to investigators in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, who were examining methods to safeguard the wearers of such materials. The Minister said that, although the public knew the danger of allowing paper to get too close to fires or heaters, they had to be educated in the dangers of wearing inflammable materials. There were cases of inflammable materials in hats being set on fire while a cigarette was being lit, yith disastrous consequences to the hair, heads, and faces of the wearers.