LEAST DANGEROUS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20638, 29 January 1937, Page 7

LEAST DANGEROUS

GAS ATTACKS The various forms of air attack and the methods of meeting them were explained to the Medical Practitioners’ Union in London by Major Stuart Blackmore, of the Home Office, Gas, when used against a trained population, was described by Major Blackmore as the least dangerous form of air attack. The three major dangers, he said, . .ccording to a report in “The Times,” were high explosive bombs, incendiary bombs, and gas bombs. He placed gas last, because gas, in spite of its extraordinary dangers to an untrained population—evidence of which they had recently in Abyssinia —was the least dangerous of the three if they had a proper degree of training and equipment. A high explosive bomb was a factor against which it was practically impossible to provide adequate protection. The object of the Incendiary bomb was to produce widespread fire. For that reason incendiary bombs were not large. They weighed about 21b. It was much more difficult to deal with a large number of small sources of fire than a small number of large sources. Incendiary bombs were provided with their own oxygen and it was highly undesirable to put water or chemical extinguisher on them. The bombs burned at such a tremendously high temperature that chemicals applied to put the fire out would be broken up and would give off dangerous gases. Water and extinguisher should be applied to the area surrounding the fire ,and efforts should be made rather to isolate than to put it out. The method of dealing with incendiary bombs was comparatively simple. If one had handy a coal scuttle or a stout bucket in which there was two or three inches of sand and a scoop with • handle of about 6ft, it was possible to put the bomb into the receptacle and take it outside. It was incumbent on every doctor, nurse, and medical student in the country to know about gas. The Government recently acquired a factory for the manufacture of gas masks and the masks would be kept in readiness for use. It was not proposed to distribute the masks to the public in peace-time, because they were delicately constructed and it might be that if they were distributed now they would be found to be useless when the time came for them to be used.