BRITISH MISSION IN AMERICA

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 27, 1 August 1917, Page 7

BRITISH MISSION IN AMERICA

MAGNITUDE OF THE ENTERPRISE

TWO MILLIONS SPENT DAILY

(Received August 1, 8.40 a.m.)

NEW YORK, 3lßt July.

Lord Nortbcliffe, in an exclusive interview to the Australian Press Association, gave the first detailed statement of what the British Mission is doing now. It has completed the general organisation of the staff,; and formed separata departments for each complete unit, dealing with such, subjects as munitions, finance, wheat export, the British air service, British shipbuilding, remounts, and overseas recruiting. , Lord Northcliffe said: "The Government's object in sending me to America was to superintend the expenditure of £2,000,000 daily for food, guns, munitions, oil, steel, horses, ; mules, cotton, locomotives, small arms, and a thousand other articles.- VVh'en the United States joined in the .fight against Germany, it became obvious that a controlling head should be sent here. An idea of the vastness of the operations may be gathered from the fact that we are spending weekly nearly three shillings per head of America's population of a hundred millions. Part of this money is advanced by the United States in monthly credits, but our indebtedness greatly exceeds these credits. The area over which the expenditure is spread makes the task extremely, heavy. Another task is to co-ordinate our demands for material, transportation, and ship tonnage with those of the United States, France, Eussia, and Italy, the object being to get the quickest shipment, and priority to the Allies. The board dealing with this matter is endeavouring to synchronise railway transportations and shipments, thus avoiding loss, of time. We are' also in charge of the recruiting of British subjects in the United States. I have able British experts at the head of each of the numerous branches, assisted by hundreds of Americans. Altogether, directly and indirectly, the British Mission numbers ten thousand. Few people here or elsewhere have any conception of tho^magnitude of the enterprise."