MUNITIONS.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 153, 30 June 1917, Page 5

MUNITIONS.

BRITAIN'S CAPACITY FOR PRO- . W DUCTION.

PLENTY AND TO SPARE

(Reuter's Tekgi-m?.> (Received June. 29; 6.30 p.m.) . . ' . LONDON, June 28. : In the House of Commons Dr Addi--80n... for Munitions), reviewing: the work; pf the Ministry for Munition?, said ? that Britain's capacity for the production of explosives in 'March," 1917, was twenty-eight times, the capacity of March, 1915. In regard to gun ammunition they; had j Cached such a >-state of production that. v they had been able to divertsome factories ;to assisting other branches. Great reserves of ; fieldgun ammunition had been provided. The arrangements were working so smoothly that despite the enormous expenditure at the front the stock of. filled shells decreased only 7 per cent, during -the first nine weeks of the offensive* ..* Tlie output of machine-guns and'••''■rifles was fully equal to the demand. Dealing with the supply of railway material for the army, railway lines ■wore, pulled up in Britahv and Indisi. Australia: "and Caiiada also eoritrivhuted Canada .had-arranged to pull up and ship eight hundred miles. Over two thousand miles of track had already been supplied. Improved tanks were coming -forward freely. ■> ;He hinted nt further developments in connection ' with' tanks.

An inter-Allied bureau bad been 'established in London in order to i]3Gol the Allies' munitions require♦ments in America, and so avoid eom!p#titive buying! Negotiations were Irpr^ceedinp; to enable the ; United -States to place her resources m«vre ;rertdtfo\ and' effectively at the Allies* 'disp<J.s*)2'., Britain's output of ■ steel Vbefore Jtv.& war was seven million tiOXW. lit was now ten million. H»y fioped *hg,t it would be twelve million Iby 'the tend of 1918 The production . *vf tuntjsteH enabled Britain to supply fmvih to 'hmr Allies ■' J9r jA:d{?W¥p stated that there were th'jjcty- thousfi-ttd skilled munition volnutaets., while forty thoiisand soldiers <tel«ased from * the colors and . thirty 4%^*>isan*l .army reservists -were 1 -imploded «n -jmunitions. . The. re- . duction »n the «^>st of shell comi ponents eemi>ared trith last•: yearNrepresented a saving of £43,000 000., « The Ministry was taking steps to prcv; yide traders with information regard- ■ ing the almost infinite mineral rej tources of the Empire..