GAS EASY TO MAKE BUT HARD TO LOSE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6884, 13 April 1929, Page 10

GAS EASY TO MAKE BUT HARD TO LOSE

German Frankenstein CONTAINERS BURIED IN CONCRETE GRAVE AFTEB MANY EXPEBIMENTS. United Press Association —By Eleetri* Telograph —Copyright. LONDON, April 11. The Times Berlin correspondent states: —

Howevor proud many Germans have been of their poison gas inventions, the City Fathers of Cologne have learned to hate the very words poison gas. They found themselves in possession of a largo quantity after the war in a munition factory near the city, and they have found it very difficult to lose. They first tried burning it, but the fumes killed the rural vegetation, and the farmers protested. They next buried a yard deep under the factory. The latter was subsequently dismantled, and the fumes caused grave uneasiness. They then buried it in a deep sandy soil in expectation of it gradually sinking into oblivion. Instead it polluted the water supply. Questions were asked in the Prussian Diet, and it was decided to enclose the gas in containers and sink it to the seabed. The railway authorities pointed out that the transport of tho gas ’was dangerous, and fishermen feared that the fish would be poisoned. Burning of the gas was agai% attempted, but later abandoned. It was decided to reinter it where there was no water. A pit 20 feet deep was dug and a bed of reinforced concrete made. A coffin was constructed and in it containers filled with the gas were placed, and the lid affixed. The whole was covered with thick clay. But, unfortunately, many containers were overlooked, so the authorities are now debating whether to reopen the coffin or prepare another grave.