RAGS HELP THE BOMBERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 18, 27 October 1942, Page 6

RAGS HELP THE BOMBERS

SALVAGED RUBBISH BECOMES MAPS, CHARTS AND ARMY BLANKETS Britain's old rags, going into the factories at. the rate of hundreds of tons a day, are coming out in the form of Army blankets, surgical dressings, Air Force maps, Navy charts. Even old rope and, string reappears as camoutlage netting. One place alone is converting old clothes, sacking, carpets and rag sfcraps to the tune of 250 1 tons week. A cutting machine tears two tons of them up an hour. The shreds are shot, into a huge tank Avhere they are beaten to pulp at the rate of 50cwt an hour. Tbis muddy mass, pressed and dried, becomes felt for padding the seats of tanks and transport lorries, for packing aircraft for shipment, and for protecting armoured ears from vibration.

And old rags arc also being turned into the thousands of the wipers which munition workers need for taking the grease from shells before they are varnished, for keeping aero engines in order, and for varnishing aeroplane propellers. If the rags be of wool they be-> come uniforms, blankets, cloth lor ■"utility" suits and. dresses. AXIS ESPIONAGE IN ASIA According to a cable from Chunking. the Chinese Government is anxious over the fate of Stalingrad. The Nazi hordes would probably sweep through Afghanistan and join the Japanese and isolate China completely from the Allies. Axis agents are conducting propaganda and espionage activities throughout Free China, India and Burma. From a Buddhist iuonasti's' ■near 1. 11; i s ;i. Tibet, couriers and runners are employed to collect news and reports from 1/ndian and Chinese agents, which in turn are re-/ laved to Tokio, Rome and Berlin. Immediately before the war, Herr j von Goblenz, ex-licad of Lufthansa and brother of the 1 general of the same name, visited r libct with a number of botanists, entomologists and archaeologists. On his way back Herr Goblenz and his colleagues were detained in a prison in Khotan (Sinkiang. Chinese Turkistan, under Soviet' Control) on charges of suspected espionage. Almost, at the same time the famous Italian Orientalist, Prof. Tuchi, also visited Tibet, buit had to cut short his visit owing to hints from Tibetan authorities who did not like his activities, says

Tribune. ''These Gorman and Italian missions in collaboration with Japanese agents in Tibet laid the foundation of Axis espionage centres which arc now working against India and Free China from the sanctuary ot' Buddhist monasteries,"'