BRITAIN’S SOLDIER SONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 192, 15 July 1939, Page 13

BRITAIN’S SOLDIER SONS.

NEW ARMIES IN UNIFORM. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON. June 22. July 1, the date when the first of Britain’s 200,000 militiamen are to be called up for Army service, will mark a milestone in British industrial expansion as well as in military history. Within the next twelve months the factories of Great Britain w’ll he called on to clothe not only the 200.000 militiamen, but also about 200,000 extra Territorials, at- a cost of more than £4,000.000. Preparations have been made to deal with this influx of now business without interfering with normal clothing needs for the three fighting services, and without slowing down the production of cloth for export or for Britain’s 47,000.000 civilians of all ages and both sexes. The vast woollen mills of Yorkshire, the worldfamous cotton mills of Lancashire, the mass-output clothing manufacturers all over the Kingdom, and. the great hoot-making firms have already mobilised their resources to meet the Army’s demands.

About 3000 miles of khaki, enough to span the Atlantic Ocean, is being made for the new classes of fighting men, and British hoot manufacturers are now at work on 1.000,000 pairs of boots to meet the needs of these forces. The “service dress” of each soldier will cost about £lO and consist of: One cap, two khaki suits, three pairs of woollen socks, two shirts, set of woollen underclothes, one pair of hoots, anti-gas equipment. Priority is being given to the production of this nnifrom. “Battle dress” and “walking-out dress” will he made while the new armies are undergoing their training. Huge machines fitted I with “guillotine” knives can cut out I the soldiers’ _ suits to the required I shapes and sizes in a continuous oper- j itioi;,. and so mechanised hag.;, become / she manufacture of military shirts 1

tliat a long strip of cloth goes in at one end of a machine' and comes out as a complete shirt at the other. The whole process takes only GO seconds, after which the shirt requires only a little hand-trimming before it is ready for the soldier to wear. At every factory Government inspectors. representing the War Office, are liable, to arrive day or night without I notice and examine any articles to [make sure they arc being made to the-, exact specifications of quality, size, and workmanship which the State demand* iot her soldier sons. |l