THE MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 202, 26 August 1919, Page 8

THE MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS

ASTOUNDING FIGURES. WHY AIR RAIDS CEASED. (From Our Special Correspondent.) 'LONDON, June 25. In making to the lloiidu of Commend, what might he called his apology for that much abused wartime invention,' the Ministry of Munitions, Mr. Ivelleway pave some figures concerning the product ion ami coat of guns, shells, tanks, motors, aeroplanes, and the like during the Ministry Vi reign. lie made many revelations, hut the one upon which public attention has concentrated is the 10.-M of material we sufTered during that never-to-be-forgotten period in the spring of MILS, when the (iermans seemed to be in tjie way to make good their, IniHnt thai they would puis-h the liritinhi back into tin , sea. During that (lernuui "drive" the llrilisli lost 1.(100 gu.n.s.| 70,0(10 tons ot ammunition (including li.»l) million roiiiiils for small arms), 4,(101) machine guns, 200,000 rlllc*, 700 Irenca mortars, and -2(10 ta-nks. The munitions loss represented aboutlv per cent, of our total stocks in: Prance at tlie time. Probably no army, l even in the course of this war, rtlllfered such devastating 10-ses of material, but the organisation which had been laid down came through that ordeal triumphantly- U the tune the (rerman offensive commenced there wa_s a good deal of industrial unrerit in this country.] Iri't tin- spectacle of the British so'dier ""'tamling .vith hit* back to the wall in defence of tin- Channel ports put our munition worker, en their mettle, and as a result of their efforts, ami the large reserve u'.iieh had been accumulated, wo were able within a fortnight to replace every gun lost, ami actually to increase. the is: .ililj-hnienl ; more than to make up ihe losses of ammunition, to «end mil I .(Km trench mortars for the 700 which had been lost, and to replace every tank :>y a much superior model. | Three months Liter, in our offensive which bejr.ui in At'gunt, 101S, tlie expenditure ro-e t > 2.fKK1.000 rounds, and *1.000 tons wvight in the biggest week, while in the culminating period in October the niggnji iveckVi expenditure amounted to J..".iK),000 round*. and Sfl.fKH) tons weight. On the day the i'.r-.l.fii Army broke the Ilindenb'.lrg line they fired "JM3.XI7 shells, the cost of! which was L'.-j suti.oiju, and the we:g;iti of winch «;i.- -10.<Hi0 tons. This war, a| greater number than was fired duriiiK the whole four years of the South African war. Taking tiie pre-war output of .-hcl!t. at .Vi.ixiu per annum, it means that a yearfl output of that tune was on lhat day being lired from our guns every SO TWO !UNl)R!:i) MILLION SHELLS. The total oiit.jr.it of shells up to the date of t!e- [innisl.ee wjt-i about JcHi.iiiMi.noo rounds. The number oil guns with the Army at. tiie outbreak of I war was tfti. <i;i r tutttl production of iriin-. during the w.u- wiir. Ji;.-i:>li. Ip to June. 11»1">. there had been accepted by the War Otliee for delivery to fh« Army I.4SG machine-gun-. J'iie total production up to December of last year Has nearly _'.">!I.U(K). and had the War con-tinuc-d we Mioukl now have reached an| output of 4.000 machine-guns per week, j The l>rit>!i Army lia.l in its possession I nt the outbreak of war about 100 aeroplanes. The Ministry of Munitions took over the responsibility for the production of aeroplanes in September, IDI7, the production then being at die rate of r>oo per molit i. At the d.ite of tiie armistice production bad been increased to 4.000 per month. Other ngures given were r-earcely less stupendous. For example. 15,000 tons of j'oj-c a were supplied in HUH alone. TIIK AIK RAID STOPPER. Mr. Kellevvay warmly defended the Ministry against many of critics, especially those who sought to make the public believe thai it was the home of "waste and muddle" because of certain strictures in the Amlitor-Gencral"* report. Mo.-.t of thcfP case--, lie explained, wee concerned will, experimental supplies, where the Ministry had cancelled contracts Producing a box from liw pocket continuing isome half a dozen bullets, he proceeded to point the moral of his tale. lie held up two bullets in turn, practically indistinguishable one from the other to the casual eye. Yet while t-he'German air raiders had r-coffed at the one. a single experience of the other had terrified the (iotha pilots so effectually that t'iev never returned. The Whit»unti..V raid of WIS was the l:irt (Jermnn raid of the war. Yet fhc enemy had planned another ami still larger raid for the following night. What kept tlKmi hack whs their terror of tiie new British bullet. The Ministry, therefore, was bound to go on ordering big supplies of tlie be-it available material at the mqjuent. though pretty sure that it, would soon be rendered obsolete by the invention of something better. Other interesting statements of .Mr. Ivelleway'included tiie following: — Tiie introduction of the system of costings has saved the country 300 million-; in the .Min'.-try of Monitions i11. , n< , . The DL-iposals Department has realised £l:i0.vlU0,00O to date, and is getting i=uch good .prices that it iis now a.vn-ed of profiteering! £550.000 wiw realised from the sale of motor transport in the last three weeks. lie gave a few examples of reductions in the price of certain standard munitions, between the time the Ministry was responsible for supplies and the date of the armistice:— Rifles fell in price from £1 1/ to £i H/. The number of rifles mi order r,m into several millions. The Vickcrs type of machine-gun, which was costing C 112, was rcilueed to fSO ai the nrmi-itiee. The Lewis gun. for which Wie pri.e triM £1(W, wa.s l.roiighl down to £li 2, a saving on this gun alone of nearly C 10.000,000. Kighteen-pcmnde.r shells, (if which H. 1.000.000 were bought, came down in price from £.'{ -J/ii to 12/. Tiie total expenditure of the Ministry of Munitions between the date of it-s Crdablislimejit and I lie end of the !;i:-t financial year wa< i: 1.5.{4.r>07.t1-11. hi the year ending March 31. 10HI. the Ministry's expenditure wae f±*2,7OIAS4: d> lniT it was f302.5!:8.741: 1!>1R. £i;;i!).2o(i..'ilti; ami 1010, £+7O,(MM),000. That vast sum of £1,834.000,000 is the price this country paid for the equipment of its armies.