Rope for the Navy.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 26, 25 December 1912, Page 2

Rope for the Navy.

Every one of the thousands of ropes used in the British naval service, from the smallest heaving line to the largest hawser, whether it be used on shipboard or in a dockyard, has woven into one of its strands a single red thread. Thia practice has prevailed since the days of Nelson. Many romantic suggestions have been advanced as reasons for this

red thread; but, as a matter of fact, the real reason is a simple and practical one—simply that it affords a sure means of indentitication of Government property, and if any rope containing the ted thread is found in unauthorised hands the presumption is that it is improperly possessed- It is, of course, forbidden that rope manufactured for private use comtain a similar thread, just as it is forbidden that any paper in the United States of America should contain bits of silk such as are placed iif the paper front which the national currency is made.