BRITISH MUNITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16310, 17 August 1916, Page 8

BRITISH MUNITIONS.

INCREASE IN OUTPUT. STEEL SENT TO FRANCE. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. Router. LONDON. August 15. In the House of Commons, the Hon. Edward Montague, Minister for Munitions, stated that Britain was now manufacturing in a single month twice as many heavy guns as ■ she possessed at the outbreak of war. The output of machine-guns had been increased 16-fold. The output of high explosives in one week was 64-fold, and of field howitzers IS-fold greater than at the beginning of 1915. The output of shells had increased so much that any comparison with the figures of 1911 was useless. Tn addition to a large amount of munitions and many guns Britain was supplying the allies with metal for the making of their own munitions to the value of £6.000.000 a month. Britain was sending to Fiance one-third of the production of steel for the making of shells. Mr. Montague urged the importance of allowing the employment of further unskilled labour alongside skilled labour. Some 4500 soldiers had been released for munition work. A year ago there were 635.000 persons engaged in munition making, while to-day there were 2,260,000, of whom 400,000 were women. (Received 9.15 p.m.) LONDON. August 13 Supply of Machine-guns. The equipment of IS-pounders was practically complete, said Mr. Montague, and Britain should shortly satisfy her own requirements in machine-guns, and be able to devote attention entirely to the requirements of her allies. The weekly output of munitions covered the expenditure thereof, so if workmen and employers continued to play their parts as nobly as heretofore there would be no fear of the offensive breaking down owing to shortage of ammunition. Savings on Metal Purchases. Reviewing the work of the Munitions Department, Mr. Montague said the output of shells at the beginning of the war was so negligible that the percentage increase; gave fantastic results. As an ex ample, the output of 15-poundei heavy shells had increased 265< times and for the last week of June 1916, the output was 16? times the i average weekly output for 1914-fij. There were corresponding increases I in other classes of artillery munitions. Altogether Britain is now I manufacturing every week the equi-1 valent of her entire pre-war stock of ammunition. She could now turn out in three or four weeks machine-guns equivalent to the total stock existing when the Ministry of Munitions was established. New methods of purchasing and the- limitation of prices of metals had saved £41,000,000. He was. not divulging a secret in saying that the artillery service had acquitted itself entirely satisfactorily in the recent fighting. The difficulties of replacing damaged and worn-out guns had been surmounted. Ever-increasing Range Needed. The conditions of modern warfare emphasised the value of long-range guns, and ever-increasing range was demanded. The unpreparedness of Britain had been in one sense an advantage, as it gave her entirely modern weapons- Reports from the front showed a steady improvement in the quality of the ammunition. There had been a distinct measure of successes, but agai.'tst an enemy like Germany progress must be continuous. The Ministry had been aiming at being independent of foreign supplies. When the Ministry was es-1 tablished, American factories supplied 70 T>°r cent, of light shells. J Now the Ministry was independent, i It had found American heavy shells j invaluable during the development of the British factories, but he expected the home and Canadian outputs would ultimately make Britain independent. The cost of the factories was decreasing. The cost in some cases had been completely covered in from six to 12 months by the difference between the cost of home and foreign munitions. Mr. Montague paid a tribute to the women workers, and asked where now was the man who would deny women the civil rights, which they had earned. The programme of the Ministry would not be completed until the number of guns was increased many times, and the output of ammunition was sufficient to maintain an indefinite offensive on the whole front. DAXGEROUS SHELLS. WHAT HAPPENED AT LOOS. 'Received 10. p.m.) LONDON". Ansrast 16. Commenting on the improvement in munitions, Mr. Lloyd George stated that premature shells were so numerous at the battle of Loos that ♦lie firing of high explosive shells had to be abandoned. Now the number of bad shells was negligible-