ARMY ECONOMIES.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15774, 15 December 1916, Page 10

ARMY ECONOMIES.

LIMITING CONTRACT PR ICES. (from our own correspondent.) LONDON, Novcnibvr 3The War Contracts Department of the War Office has .succeeded in limiting the contract piiccs of most materials for the Army, notwithstanding the greatly increased demand for them. The cases of jute, cotton, wool, and leather havc already been instanced. Under the pressure of the military deAnatul, the production of all kinds oi' wire iu this country has been more than quadrupled. In six months the market price of wire rods for ordinary trade ;usc rose from £1- a ton to butat the same time Government orders were placcd at a. ton. For the •first time women have been introduced into tho barbed wire factories, and with great succcss. The supply of cutlery to the Army has incidentally revived the main industry of Sheffield. Since the end of last year the output of Sheffield in knives and forks for the soldiers has been trebled, the output of spoons lias been increased sixfold, and that of clasp knives had been doubled. The production of razors has been increased from 30,000 a week to nearly 100,000. and more than three-quarters of these are entirely machinc-madc. Many women havc been brought into this ■industry also, and the. old trade convention bv which only the sons of grinders could themselves become grinder*. has been put on one side. Horseshoe? have suddenly sprung into vogue again with horses. The trade, and Army requirements had fallen owing to prevalence of motor transport, and at the beginning of the war there were only four considerable horso shoe factories in the country. It. was impossible then to get' a.''hundred ' honsind pairs of horseshoes a mouth; the rate of output to-day is 2,000.000 pairs a month, all made in the United Kingdom. The, small farriers have been mobilised, and thev alone from their village smithies are supplying the Army, through collecting depots, with pairs of shoes monthly. Many discarded boots, half-worn boots from the wounded, are now repaired for re-issue to the troops. There are travelling repair shops on all the fronts, and repair depots at. many centres. At. Calais alone 22.000 pairs cf boots a week are being repaired for re-issue. When tho boots are. beyond repair the leather is sold t.o be reduced to pulp and converted into asphalt, rooting, glue, manure, and other products. Both in France and in t 1 " 1 United Kingdom discarded garment*, are sorted out at depots to make sure that nothing is abandoned that could bo returned to- stores, and the work of reclamation involves contracts for cleaning and repairing on quite a considerable scale. Woollen goods, which cannot he, salved, are sent to the Government stores at Dewsbury. where they are again sifted, and most of them put on the market as rags. This accounts for the .marked improvement of cheap, ready-made clothing since the outbreak of the war. By selling direct to the manufacturers, the State saves tho rag merchant's profits.