26 MARCH 1954, Page 18

Shot-Firing

A man in dusty blue overalls stepped out intei OF road and waved a tattered flag for us to pull up. We came to a halt and the flagman advanced and put his hand on the door. "They're firin' any minute," he said, nodding in the direction of the quarry. We waited for the detonations. " Any minute now," said the dusty man for perhaps the hundredth time. After a while there was a sudden crackle and a chain of explosions took place. The flag still held us up while in the cauldron of the quarry an official made sure that all the shots had been fired. When we eventually moved, the flagman beamed. " That's your lot," he said, We had been waiting something like five minutes that had