314 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Sept. 
mistake to found village settlements outside our great cities—that we should 
rather endeavour to improve and increase facilities of the city itself. This 
bald statement, without any reasons whatever to support it, is, of course, 
exceedingly misleading. If there is one thing more than another which 
town-planners and all who have studied the housing problems of to-day 
are agreed upon it is that the only means by which civic life can be brought 
back to the healthy conditions of early pre-machinery days is by founding 
seft-contained village settlements or garden cities on the virgin soil, quite 
apart from the cities. In this way the productiveness of the country and 
the welfare and happiness of the people can be enormously increased. 
The problem of the congested city would then automatically right itself, 
for, given attractive settlements away from the city, the population in 
congested areas would migrate to them, the pressure would be relieved in 
the city, and consequently the possibilities of improvements arise. 
There was, I regret to say, only one paper read on the most important 
subject of to-day—namely, the repatriation of our returned soldiers— 
and the writer of this paper urged the liberty of the soldier to do practically 
what he liked with money to be advanced to him by the State. He 
considered that the problem had very little to do with town-planning, 
as the soldiers might wish to live in various parts and erect their 
homes there. This I consider a most mistaken idea. It is not in accord 
with the very exhaustive report presented to the British Parliament 
by what is known as the “Verney Commission.” They, after taking 
exhaustive evidence, came to the carefully considered conclusion that 
village settlements, not for returned men only but for all who could be 
induced to make use of their advantages, should be founded in various 
parts of the country, and the British Government voted the sum of 
£2,000,000 for the purpose of founding two such settlements. By the 
cables just received we learn that £5,000,000 has now been voted for 
housing schemes. 
During the conference, too, much stress was laid upon forming homes 
for soldiers and forming “ returned soldiers’ settlements."’ This would 
be a fatal mistake, and it is quite out of accord with the views expressed 
by the Verney Commission, which insisted — and, I think, quite rightly -— 
that the returned soldier must as soon as possible take his place in the 
civil life of the country. The conditions of the general social life of the 
country must be improved to such an extent that he can enjoy the rest 
of his life in the most favourable environment. S. H. S. 
Briquetting of Iron-ores and Flue-dust. 
The Briquetting of Iron-ores, by Guy Barrett and T. B. Bogerson. 
Paper read at Iron and Steel Institute, September, 1^17. (See 
Engineering , vol. 104, pp. 299-304, Sept. 21, 1917.) 
The Treatment of Blast-furnace Flue-dust, by Eugene B. Clark, 
Paper read at American Iron and Steel Institute. (See Engineer , 
vol. 118, p. 190, Aug. 21, 1914.) 
The Briquetting of Iron-ores, by Chevalier C. de Schwarz (Liege). 
Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute , vol. 82, pp. 9-29. 
The conditions for successful briquetting are—(1) The briquettes must 
resist a pressure of 2,000 lb. per square inch, and when dropped from 10 ft. 
on to a cast-iron plate must not break into dust ; (2) they must not 
