CORRESPONDENCE. FLANNELETTE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8027, 13 January 1906, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

FLANNELETTE.

to thk editor. : Sin,-Life has certainly been put : into your " Leader" column of late, but ; leant quite "get the hang" of the • one this morning under the above • heading. Such terms as—"this atroci- • ous material," " flannelette loaded ■ with death," "hardly less inflammable ' than benzine," are really fine, and your ; hint that Mr Seddon should deal with the subject during the next session is superfine. Goodness knows that the L poor man will be hard up enough to i find questions upon which to wasto the next session or two, and if this flannclL ette were not, as y«n say, so " inflam- . niable," :'t might almost bo termed a r Heaven-sent one. If your remarks are really seriously meant, I should t advise you to get a few small pieces of , this "atrocious material," fold them ! separately and apply a lighted match to the folded end—not the torn edge, for there arc no raw edges in a gor- , incut—and you will be surprised with , what difficulty you make tho "ex- ; plosive" stuff blaze. No, Sir, the : averago jury knows absolutely nothing about this very useful material, upon which tons of absolute "rot" have been written by well-meaning porsons at different times.—l am, etc., W.G. January 11th, 190(1. [The average jury may know little but it knows that deaths from flannel, ette burning arc becoming too frequent m this country. For the year ending March last, for instance, there were H 7 deaths from burns and scalds—mostly all bums. Of this number MS were young children. Those receiving burns of a non-fatal nature are not counted. This heavy mortality has formed the subject of comment and debate more than once in the N r e\v Zealand Parliament; whilst the British Medical Association, as well as other similar institutions iu Europe and America, has frequently during recent .years passed resolutions condemning the use of flannelette on account of its inflammability. In regard to "W.G.'s" suggestion to apply a match to folded flannelette—well, children don't as a rule wear their clothes iu folds. He should Iry a match on his own flannelette, should he wear anv, and see how quickly the fluff conveys the blaze to the hair. Then he might understand how it is that the Medical Associations and the average jury want to sec the use of inflammable flannelette amongst children discontinued.—En.]