WAR MUNITIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22141, 21 June 1935, Page 11

WAR MUNITIONS

COST TO BRITAIN PRIVATE MANUFACTURE "A PERILOUS FAILURE" By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received June 20, 5.25 p.m.) LONDON, June 20 At the arms inquiry to-day, Dr. Christopher Addison, who was Minister of Munitions from 1916 to 1917, and for two years prior to that Parliamentary Secretary to the Office or Munitions, stated that the first nine months of the War had proved that the private manufacture of arms was a tragic and perilous failure. Up to May, 1915, the Woolwich National Arsenal alone had delivered supplies as promised. Private firms' deliveries were terribly in arrears and the armies were so meagrely supplied that defeat was narrowly averted by the soldiers' heroism in the face of great disadvantages, coupled with the success of the Woolwich Arsenal. Dr. Addison revealed that the national factories, to April, 1917, had produced ammunition and components which cost £33,000,000. If bought at contract prices they would have cost £42,000,000. The Ministry of Munitions had introduced a costing system which had resulted in the cost of shells supplied by certain manufacturers being reduced by £400,000 a week.