DIGGING OF SHELTER TRENCHES

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 125, 20 February 1941, Page 9

DIGGING OF SHELTER TRENCHES

Warning Against Hasty

Action

Men experienced in excavation work in Wellington yesterday issued a warning against too precipitate action by householders on a statement made the previous day by the mayor, Mr. Hislop, on the digging of shelter trenches for protection against possible enemy attack. .Mr. Hislop said that circulars would shortly be sent to every household telling people how to construct trenches 7ft. deep and 3ft. Gin. wide which would give almost full protection against anything but a direct hit. He stressed the necessity for a waterproof covering end adequate drainage. One of the comments made yesterday was that such a trench would make a very large hole in the average backyard in Wellington, for there are few gardens to entrench within the central radius of the city proper, aud the excavation of the ground to a depth of 7 feet would not only be a serious hindrance to mobility, but would also form a hole into which the whole of the immediate area of ground would drain. As some of Te Aro Flat is only eight or 10 feet above high-water mark, notably on the reclaimed section of the city, it was going to be difficult, if not impossible, it was said, to drain every individual trench. In the residential areas it would be most awkward to have such trenches. There would not only be the danger of creating a large waler-hole (which might easily be a danger to children), but the digging of such trenches might also be attempted in loose shingly ground, where it would be difficult to get the side walls to stand up without proper timbering. One considered opinion was that the construction of such trenches should be done only under permit, ami that something standard in the way of constructional plans should be prepared for the better guidance of those who wish to provide such shelters. The same condition should, it was thought, apply to people who might have a convenient bank on their property, into which they could dig to provide a lateral shelter. Ground differs in character in the Wellington city area, and people who might wish to tunnel out a shelter should not do so without expert advice. Accidents frequently occur among men used to dealing with earth in the mass, and it is not inconceivable that serious earthfalls might occur if an inexperienced man set out to dig a trench in a confined area and probably alone.