SECRETS GUARDED IN WAR RESEARCH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17758, 30 January 1926, Page 19

SECRETS GUARDED IN WAR RESEARCH.

EXPERIMENTS PRODUCE REMARKABLE GASES. LONDON, December 15. At. the anti-gas school and chemical warfare experimental station at South Porton, which lies in a quiet part of Wiltshire, and is a place where work is done in the greatest secrecy, new developments are now being undertaken on a more extensive scale than in the past. Remarkable gases have been produced of which only the staff know the secret. i The erection there of a chemical warfare school enables training to be given in the use of gases and their antidotes. Such progress as is made will be carefully guarded by the authorities. As the result of investigations two new gases have been produced—one causes coma for several hours without harmful after-effects, while the other, a deadly poison, expands quickly when it is released from a shell or cylinder. ROADS CLOSED. In the last twelve months experi-

ments on animals have been tried at the station, which at present costs annually about £155,000. Over 500 officers and men from different units have been employed voluntarily on the work at various times. The whole area is confined, and the public are warned when experiments are being conducted. People on their way to market have to make a detour of many miles owing to the high roads and short-cuts being closed to traffic.