GERMANS MUNITIONS SCANDAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10116, 25 October 1917, Page 8

GERMANS MUNITIONS SCANDAL.

EVIDENCE SECURED FROM* PRISONERS. ! \ veritable scandal in the Gorman annv is revealed in oflifial documents taken from recently captured prismiors showing that tiie occasional munition crises "and shortages from which Germanv is known to softer are, in part due to the munitions wasted_ and stolen, and demonstrating the sonmisnoss of the metal shortage which Germanv is at all times facing- | "jn order that not a single ounce ot | metal he wasted, premiums were oi- | ferotl hv the -Minister of War to the soldiers’ for returning all used carrndges, shells and bits ol_ metal with which every battlefield is covered. The premiums offered were so attractive that the soldiers hit upon tin. s idea of taking the shells, cartridges a net X munitions servo* I tlioui, oj otherwise destroying them,’and then returning the broken lets as so much metal picked up in the trendies and on the battlefields. DETAILS OK GRAFT. Full'details of the graft and scandal aie contained in an oiiicial circular ot the German .Minister of Mar, which reads as follows: — “Jt lias come to the knowledge of the .Ministry of War that on many occasions the military authorities charged K with tin' supplying of munitions have not delivered integrally rfo the respeccive units the Quantities received at the Eshipping depot, but have had recourse, to various expedients in order to assure for themselves tbe* premium ofiered for the salvage of munitions. ‘•(a) Cases of cartridges have been broken open, the halls torn our, the powder burned, and the empty cartridges returned as having been found and burned by the troops. I*llo.l ECTII.ES damaged. “(b) The bands about certain projectiles, that were perfectly usable, have been torn oil, the loses unscrewed, the* shells thrown away, and the copper bands and fuses returned as having been found hv the troops. ‘•(e) Other projectiles, thoroughly intact, have been thrown away in order to permit accomplices to find them and return them for the recompense given for the salvage of the munitions. “Copies of tin's circular furnished to troops’ at the front must be destroyed immediately after being read.” Jlccau.se this last paragraph was not obeyed, a number ot these circulars have come into the hands of the French military authorities from prisoners.