THE WAR EFFORT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1939, Page 12

THE WAR EFFORT

SMOOTH WORKING

CONTRAST WITH 1914

(Brltlsfi Official Wireless.) (Received December 6, 2 p.m.) RUGBY, December 5. Replying to the Address in Reply debate in the House of Commons, the Lord Privy Seal (Sir Samuel Hoare) contrasted the smooth working and efficiency with which man-power had been recruited, the supply organisation j set up, and the necessary financial Bills put through during the first three months of this war with the muddle and confusion in all three fields in 1914. i There were today between 1,250,000 and 1 500,000 men under arms, he said, and that would swiftly be increasing. Also there were nearly 1,750,000 men and women engaged in A.R.P. work. Turning to the field of supply, Sir Samuel Hoare said that today they could feel some satisfaction in the fact that they had already in being an organisation to purchase raw materials and an organisation for bulk purchasing. He would not go into details regarding the activities of the Ministry of Supply in view of the short session of the House of Commons to be held next week on this subject. He would only say ti\at the-value of contracts for munitions and equipment which had been placed since the beginning of the war was. £19,500,000. The number of ordnance factories now in production was thirteen and sixteen were in various stages of completion.