A NEW AND DEADLY MINE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 6524, 26 December 1917, Page 3

A NEW AND DEADLY MINE.

MOIiK 'MINK-SWEEPING lUSKS. The mine us an instrument 'i destruction has been used by the Germans in a manner consistent with her disregard of laws and international regulations in the conduct of the war. The mine apparently occupies au important place in the Herman programme, lor so profusely have mines been sown in the seas that a large fleet of sweepers is kept constantly at work clearing the u-iiturs of. a deadly peril. Too high a value cannot be placed upon the work dmie by these mine-sweepers. Their crews, are well aware of the desperate and dangerous nature of tho undertaking, and it is to tho credit of the nation that the authorities have not reipiired to ask twice for volunteers to carry on the work. Nearly everyone is familiar with the ordinary kind of mine namely, that with protruding horns, which when struck, cause the explosion, 'flic novel type which is being laid by the Germans consists of tlio usual body or shell case, from which proceed two metal arms. At the extremity of the arms there aro fixed glass tubes, containing a certain chemical substance. A slight shock is sufficient to break the uiuss tubes, and when this U done the chemical falls into n battery, which is set in motiou, and a spark emitted ignites the explosive