MUNITIONS ROMANCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 September 1917, Page 6

MUNITIONS ROMANCE

DR. ADDISON'S WONDERFUL STORY.

LONDON, July 12. Dr. Addison, in the House of Commons, told a wonderful story ot the work of the Ministry of Munitions. When the story of the Department came to be told, he said, it, would be a story of the courage and uncanny insAght of Mr. Lloyd George, of the la--bors of a band of helpers of a. unique and splendid character, and of the untiring and patriotic efforts of men and women, employers and employed, who by their collective efforts had provided an imperishable tribute to British genius and resource. , The vast increase in the demand for explosives, Dr. Addison said, necessitated the provision of a, number of additional factories, the design and equip ment of which was undertaken by Mr. Guinarf, an American engineer, who had provided for us a number of factories which would be of permanent value to peace industries. The House would form some conception of the magnitude of'Hhe production of explosives in the country when lie said that in March, 1917, the capacity for production of high explosives was more than four times that of 1916, and twenty-eight times as great, as that of .March, 1915. (Cheers.)

Passing to the quest inn of the supply of shells and shell components, Dv. Addison said recently such a state of production had been reached that the Ministry had been able to divert certain of the national factories (o"assisting other sections of the munition programme. The national tilling factories now employed about 100,000 persons, and were responsible for tilling about 85 per cent, of the shell ammunition. The cost of filling had been reduced by about 40 per cent, as compared with a year ago.

Dr. Addison then referred to the improvement wluch recently had been made in our ammunition. During the battle of the Somme reports were constantly beiiij» received that a considerable number of shells either failed (o burst or burst prematurely. Recently they had received enthusiastic reports from Sir Douglas Ilaig on the accuracy and on the fine detonating quality of the ammunition supplied. A year ago \ the premature bursts of shells were at least ten times as frequent as they had been during the recent offensive. (Cheers). -

The Gun Supply Department had had thi own upon it one of the most difficult tasks assigned to the Ministry. The House knew that guns of British manufacture were to be found both on the Russian and on the Italian fronts. (Cheers). Demands were also made on. file Department for the supply of antiaircraft guns and guns for the arming of merchantsiiips. The output of machine guns and rifles had been fully equal to the detnand. The output of Enfield had increased tenfold, and our capacity for the production 'if machine guns weekly was more than twenty times greater than it was two years ago Six nnmtbs ago our output of small arms ammunition became so abundant that we ceased to require any assistance whatever from outside the country. (Cheers.) After referring to other branches ol the work of the Ministry of Munitions, Dr. Addison said the "tank" made its appearance last autumn. At the close of last year much work required to be done in the way of alteration and improvements, as the experience of the Somme suggested, but the supplies of new designs were eomin'n forward excellently, and the end of the story was not yet, because the enthusiasm ot Colonel Stein. Sir Eustace d'Eyncourt, and their colleagues knew no limits.

Referring to the question of the provision of aeroplanes, Dr. Addison said he asked Sir William Weir, who had done such good work as Director of Munitjcns in Scotland, to take charge of the supply of aeroplanes and seaplanes, and under his direction the output was already rapidly increasing, and the product of May was more than twice that of December and four times greater than than of -May. 1916. The supply would become greater still in a few months' time. There was a, pressinn demand for skilled workers in the service, and if they could be obtained we might be sure of a supremacy fn '(he air in material and equipment, as emphatic as it was on land in (he case of artillery. (Cheers.) The Munitions Department was responsible for the import of li million tons iif material per month. Since the beginning of the so-called ruthless sunmarine campaign the heaviest, item of loss of any single component was only 5.-9 per cent, of the amount shipped* (Cheers). The output of steel in this country before the war was about 7 million tons a year; it, now was nearly 10 millions.

They were working at a great scheme by which they would reach 12 millions by the end of 1918. and they would have gone far in the way of doubling their previous steel output. (Cheers). A scheme had been devised for increasing the production of our home ores, which was now into operation. If it succeeded, as he thought it would, by May next year (hey would have added to their production of basic steel from home ores n productive power of 11 3 4 million tons.

With regard to the widespread employment of women, he stated that from 60 to 80 per cent, of machine work on shells, fuses, and trench warfare appliances was now performed by women.