BATTLEFIELD DEBRIS.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 December 1917, Page 2

BATTLEFIELD DEBRIS.

repaired FOR FURTHER USB. One of the most curious of the minor industries created by the war is the business of repairing and refurnishing for further use the small debris of the battle-fields, says a special correspondent at French Army Headquarters. Every French army in the field keeps in constant activity a huge industrial , establishment, employing thousands of women and a considerable number of men, whose sole business is to repair, if possible, and, if not, to put to some sort of use, the discarded oddments of that Army. These establishments result in a daily saving of from half a million to a million francs, and provide employ-* ment for six thousand women. Everything is grist that comes to their mills. Damaged rifles, helmets, clothing, boots, belts and accoutrements kinds, down to buttons, are received, sorted, disinfected and patched up for further service. Articles that cannot be repaired are ripped up or melted down, and the material of which they are made put to some different use. The workshops are equipped with the latest machinery, driven by electricity, and reducing to a minimum the number of hands required. A big saving to the nation from this gleaning of the battlefields is thus secured.