SAVED BY SOUP PLATES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 104, 3 May 1916, Page 7

SAVED BY SOUP PLATES.

THE NEW “ALL BRITISH” STEEL HELMETS. A special correspondent at the British Headquarters has written to the “Morning Post” to say that “the new ‘all-British’ s teel helmets saved many lives during the recent fight for the ‘Bluff,’ north of the Ypres-Comines canal. It's efficacy as a protection against shell and bullet wounds was proven many times previously, but the decrease in casualties at the Bluff due directly to this new plated head covering is worthy of special notice. I saw eight dented or pierced helmets today, the wearers of which suffered no. worse injury than slight scalp wounds, and some escaped entirely. All would have been killed had they worn an ordinary khaki cap. One helmet had been dented eight times by fallingshrapnel, while a jagged two-inch hole in the crown marked the entry of a shell fragment which caused a flesh wound. Another bore a deep fissure during the hand-to-hand fighting in the captured trench. The wearer of the helmet was not even stunned, and he was able to kill his antagonist." Still another had been dented by shrapnel unknown to the wearer. Several had been cut through by pieces of shells, but the net effect on the wearer was no greater than a smart blow across the skull with a club.

“The helmets are of grey painted steel, rather like an inverted bowl in appearance, and far from beautiful, but their very simplicity adds to their effectiveness. The head, ears and neck are fully protected. Soldiers call them ‘soup plates.’ A company wearing helmets and gas masks is a fearsome spectacle.” N.S.W. POLITICS, SYDNEY, May 1. The political situation is easier. The industrialists ’ representatives consulted the Hons. Holman and Hall, and it is understood that a basis of compromise was reached.