GAS ATTACKS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 290, 7 September 1928, Page 11

GAS ATTACKS

DEFENCE OF LONDON AUTHORITIES ALIVE TO PROBLEM NEED OF KEEPING ANTIDOTES SECRET (United Press A , ssoe ' nti ° Electrlc Telegraph.—Copyright.) (•’Tinies” Cables.) (Rec. September 6, 10.15 p.m.) London. September 6. Recalling the- criticisms following the recent air manoeuvres that the authorities are apparently making no effort to provide London with some form of defence against poison gas attacks. “The Times” aeronautical correspondent says: “On the contrary, the authorities are alive to this problem, and are actively searching for an antidote for civilian use.” The correspondent points out. obviously tlie more successful that antidote the less necessary it is to demonstrate it, and to advance with secrecy is a national necessity, even though it may give an impression that nothing is being done.” Japan recently rehearsed a gas attack, serving out gas masks to the population, but the correspondent sltvs: “If London’s preparation for gas attacks is the storage of ten million gas masks ready for distribution, then London is not prepared now, and will not be for many years to come. It is also clear that huge underground shelters are valueless, especially against a heavy gas of the mustard type, which creeps along and lies on the ground. Such shelters may be effective against explosive bombs, but against gas the logical refuge appeals to be roofs and upper stories, where the gases cannot reach, or will become Innocuous in contact with the free air currents.” Tlie writer adds: "The only effective protection must rest in the use of some readily a equited material, and not in the issue of special apparatus from a central store. That is Hie ideal aimed at, but the extent to which tlie authorities have been successful is necessary to be kept secret, as an announcement of a particular defence measure would inevitably lead to a further experiments to find a gas to defeat the antidote.”