IN THE PLUMBER’S BAG

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 425, 17 November 1930, Page 5

IN THE PLUMBER’S BAG

THE FATE OF NATIONS PERILS OF BAD WORK A startling theory that among the pipes and putty and other oddments in the plumber’s bag may lie the fate of nations was propounded at a recent meeting in Bristol of plumbers from all parts of the British Isles. They had gathered to advance their national registration movement which socks to ensure that all plumbers are fit to be members of the profession. Mr Medley, a Manchester plumber, struck the first note in a ding-dong discussion on the perils of bad plumbing when he boldly declared that, bad plumbing killed more people than did soldiers.

The meeting then developed into a sort of plumbers’ confessional. Mr McKenna, of the Plumbers’ National Executive, extolled the qualified plumber as the only bulwark against sewer gas, and the one hope of survival for all who dwelt in houses—especially slum houses.

Another delegate, a foreman plumber, dropped his bombshell with the remark that he used materials

which disgusted him, but he had beer working to a price, and had no contro. in the matter.

Mr McKenna wagged an emphatic fore-finger. The plumbers, he said, claimed State protection of their craft from quacks, and it was in the public’s interest that they should get it. Many houses built to-day would ultimately become death-traps due to inefficient plumbing. Bad sanitation bred infectious diseases, and if local authorities would insist upon the highest class of plumbing work the extra cost would be more than balanced by the increased health of the people. Mr Fairclough, president of the Institute of Plumbers, raised cheers by his comment that a standard specifics’ tion was needed or a minimum standard of requirements for plumbing. It would not mean more cost to the public—it might, in fact, ho said, make plumbing cheaper in price.