Curse of Poison Gas

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 637, 13 April 1929, Page 13

Curse of Poison Gas

COLOGNE’S LEGACY OF WAR Burning, Dumping and Burying Fail (United P.A.—By Telegraph, — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) LONDOX, Thursday. HOWEVER proud many Germans may have been of poison gas inventions the city fathers of Cologne have learned to hate the very name of it, says the Berlin correspondent of “The Times.”

THEY found themselves in possession of a large quantity of gas after the war. It was stored in a munition factory near the city, and they have not yet found a way to lose it. They first tried burning it, but the fumes killed rural vegetation and the farmers protested. They next buried it, a yard deep, under the factory. The latter was subsequently dismantled and the fumes caused grave uneasiness. Then they buried it in deep, sandy soil, in the expectation that it would gradually sink into oblivion. Instead, it polluted the water supply, and questions were asked in the Prussian Diet. It was then decided to enclose the gas in containers and sink it to the level of the sea-bed under the railways. It was pointed out that the gas might be dangerous to transport and fishermen feared that fish would be poisoned.

Burning was again attempted, but was abandoned. It was decided to reinter it where there was no water. A 20-feet deep pit was dug, and floored with 12 inches of impervious clay, and also a six-inch bed of reinforced concrete. Next a coffin was constructed of reinforced concrete, trebly insulated with tar and other impervious substances. The coffin was lowered into the pit, packed outside with two-foot layers of clay. Twenty thousand containers, . holding nearly two tons of gas, were dug up and placed in the coffin with a quantity of earth infected by the broken containers. A reinforced concrete lid was affixed to the coffin, which was ten feet underground, and the whole covered with thick clay. Unfortunately, many containers were overlooked, and the authorities are now debating whether to reopen the coffin or to prepare another grave.