Page 9 Advertisements Column 1

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1915, Page 9

TREXCH-DIGGING MACHINES. There is a great likelihood, says the Scientific American, that the soldiers on the European battlefields may be spared the back-breaking experience of trenchdigging to a great degree by the utilisa. tion of machinery. Two powerful American trench-digging machines have been In operation for some time at the Canadian camps, where corps of men who will ultimately be sent to the fighting front in Europe are being trained. These camps have already furnished 100,000 men, and at the present time there are l")0,000mcn in training. These men are thoroughly acquainted with life in the trenches, but the trenches have been dug for them by the American machinery referred to, thus relieving them of the hard shovel work, This innovation originated in the mind of General Sam Hughes, commandant of the Canadian militia, and, according to the authority quoted, has proved quite successful. It is believed that the machines will soon be sent to Europe with the men who have been working about them. They are being operated under the control of Lieutenant-Colonel Low, of Ottawa. At Camp Sewall two of these machines dug seven miles of trench, 5y 2 ft deep, with a 2ft bottom, in 10 days. They are readily moved about under their own power and will dig trenches of any reasonable depth or width, with straight or sloping sides, and will deliver the dirt taken therefrom on either side or both sides of the trench,