BRITAIN'S MUNITION WORKS

Otago Witness, Issue 3234, 8 March 1916, Page 29

BRITAIN'S MUNITION WORKS

ACTIVITY ON THE TYNE. , The New York World's I/onc'on correspondent. (Mr James M. Tuohy}, in a graphic description of munition work at Newcastle-on-Tyue, in November, says: I arrived here at 8 o'clock ae night from Glasgow. When darkness set in, all_ tho railway stations en route had their, lights reduced to a minimum. The limit was reached at Newcastle, which was plunged into inky darkness. It was a moonless night, and when you stepped outside tho railway station you could hardly see jour hand. The tramcars have all their windows painted opaque blue, and only show one faint glim of about two candle-power back and front.

Although I had reserved a room by telegram that morning, nothing was to be had at the big Station Hotel, not a converted sitting room, bath bedroom, or <-ven a couch in the reception rooms, which all apparently were converted into dormitories. Having groped around the neighbourhood for about an hour, finding one hotel after another packed to its utmost limits, I was very lucky in getting a garret, of which the only light or ventilation came through a species of porthole in the roof. The reason for this pressure is the abnormal industrial activity of tho Newcastle centre. As in other munitions districts, there was a great showing of naval and military officers in the hotels, while soldiers and sailors abounded on all sides. The police regulations concerning visiting strangers to Newcastle are strict. Neutrals without special permits are not allowed within any of tho east or north-east coast areas.

In Edinburgh and along the Scottish east coast close watch is kept upon strangers, and the arrests that have been made show that the police are active and vigilant. All the estuaries throughout the islands are closed effectively by booms against the entry of any craft, including submarines. There is a narrow and jealousiy guarded gate in these booms during daylight, but from sunset to sunrise all ingress is barred completely. Thero are the patrols of warships and smaller craft along the coast, so that every ship that sails is signalled all along her way, and practically is under continuous supervision. It is an opea secret that German submarines have como to grief against these booms in several places, and not a single one has been able to pass them. In fact, as experience has shown, aircraft alone can get inside the defences of this island kingdom, and then only under cover of darkness under an infrequent combination of favouring weather conditions. The Tyne, like the Clyde, is now a huge arsenal, a description that applies equally to the Tees, the Wear, and the other rivers along the coast.

SHIPYARDS AND ORDNANCE PLANTS The Tyne his many great shipyards and ordnance factories, of which the ArmstrongWhitworth works at Elswick are of worldwide fame. The Japanese fleet, which did such execution in the Russo-Japanese war. waa entirely built here, as well as .some of the best known warships owned by Brazil, the Argentine, and Chili. Some miles below Newcastle the Armstrong Company have the Walker shipyard—which will bo dealt with later—which has produced a great fleet of commercial vessels, and is now practically given over altogether to work for the British Navy. The Armstroajf-Whitworth Company now has extensive branches at Glasgow, York, and Doncastcr, which are employed in war munition work: also a great yard and factory at Pozzuoli, near Naples, where much of the ordnance for the Italian army is produced. Tho Elswick ordnance and munition factory ranges along the river bank at Scotswood, above the city of Newcastle, and it has lately thrown out considerable extensions, mainly for munition manufacture and howitzer work.

One of the first of tho many new shellmaking sheds we visited contained a very large installation of tho automatic shellmaking machinery manufactured by Libbys, of Now York. These are for tho manufacture of 18-pound shells, both shrapnel and high explosive. Instead of being forged and punched whan red hot, tho cold bar-steel of the required circumference passes through the machine, which turns it into shells, bored, lathed, ttpered, and their copper bands fixed complete. GIRLS MAKE BIG SHELLS.

Girls do the work on the 18-pounders as elsewhere, and they are acquitting themselves to entire satisfaction. In order to reduce the strain upon them, an arrangement is being made to give them an extra Sunday holiday at intervals of three weeks, but the girls do not welcome the idea. Wo passed through some of the 18-pound shell shops during tho dinner hour, but I noticed that a considerable rjumbor of tho girls brought their 'meals with them, not availing themselves of tho chance of loav-

ing tho works. This is not ho in the men's shed.% where tho moment tho bell rings they tumble into their coats and mako tracks for the gates without losing a minute. There, are several canteens close handy, and these are patronised by the bulk of the workers who Jive at any distance.

Girls also are employed in the fuse-making shops, which are among the largest in England, as can readily be understood when it is said that fuse-making keeps pace with the rapidly-increasing shell output. Elswick not only makes shells, but also ammunition of all' sorts except small arms. The danger section is devised in accordance with the most up-to-date ideas, so that the actual risk is reduced to the vanishing point. The only part of the work where there is real danger is in the filling of tho fuses with fulminate of mercury and other tricky exnlosives. This is done by girls, who can handlo these dangerous compounds more delicately than men, so that accidents are very rare. Indeed, the only serious mjshups that have occurred ai'e in a way due to female vanity, and not in the danger section at all. Many of the girls at the shell-making cannot be persuaded to wear caps, and two of them have been killed by getting drawn into tho machine by their hair. , Sir Percy Giroumd said that tho wearing of caps should be compulsory, but, despite these accidents, I noticed that a larsre proportion of the girls were oapless at Elswick, whereas at the Vickers, Maxim "Works caps were the invariable rule. The caps, too, with woman's art, can be made smart and becoming, but there is something occult in the psychology of the Tyneside girls that doubtless explains their objection to them. An idea can be gained of the extent of the work at Elswick in small shell-making alone when it is said that one of the sheds, erected and fitted since the war, is 800 feet long and contains three aisles, where the machines are ranged together in practically unbroken lines. _ _ The forges and engineering shops at Elswick are equipped with the latest machinery. In these forges the raw material is rolled in on railway trucks on an upper gallery, whore it is tipped direct into the crucibles, the liquid metal running out into moulds on the ground floor. One of these forges, with two aisles, is 1200 ft in length, and the scene it presents is one of great activity. The forging and bending of armour plate, for ships and their turrets, as well as for gun shields of all kinds, is being carried on on a tremendous scale. One shed is devoted to the building of ship turrets alone, whose parts are assembled in deep pits. When a turret is completed a section of the roof of this lofty sbed slides back, the arm of a 200-ton crane standing between the shed and the quayside is swung over the opening, the turret is lifted bodily through the roof, and dropped into its position on the warship. I saw five of these turrets being constructed in one shed. When the turret is in its place the great 12in or 15in guns are lifted in the same "way and placed in position -with astonishing ease and deftness.

REPAIRING 15in GUNS. In the gun-forging shops guns of all calibres are being made and others are beinpj retubed. In one case I saw a 15in gun suspended upright over a pit 15ft deep, having its worn inner tube knocked out to have a new one inserted. Naturally enough, the rifling gets worn near the breech, where the explosion is strongest, but I learned that the life of these tubes has exceeded the specifications and the utility of the gun enhanced greatly beyond what was guaranteed. The brass-forging sheds were equally imposing with their piles of castings great and small, some of them ponderous and complicated, fresh from the moulds. Long torpedo tubes cast in a single piece, gun cradles for the smaller weapons, and the details of breech work were being hacked out of the moulds or being carried away in tracks to the shops for the various stages of finishing. All theso castings are subjected to rigorous tests and inspections for the discovery of any possible flaw. One of the most attractive workshops is where tha breeches are being fitted to the field guns by highly skilled fitters, and the mechanism made to work with the required eureness and smoothness. There was a formidable array of finished guns, the week s output, going through thejr final inspection by experts before being despatched to the proving grounds. The howitzer sheds, already extensive, are being reinforced by a new series, whioh are now just completed and fitted. I was privileged to see here how the heaviest howitzers have been made in the highest degree mobile, and can be fired without any strain whatever on the carriage on which they are transported from place to place. At the same time this carriage is never detached from the gun platform, so that the position of the great can bo chanced at a moment's notice. This ingenious and practical contrivance was the idea of Sir Percy Girouard, who, moreover, eaw it in operation with perfect success at the front a few days before I visited Elswick. These mobile howitzers are destined to play a great part in this war, in their proper place. FLOATING CRANE A MARVEL.

Among the wonders of the Walker shipyard is the most powerful floating crane in existence) It is quite a new affair, squat, massive, and thoroughly capable looking. It can stretch out its great arms, plumb the centre of a ship of 100 ft beam, and lift from her a load of 250 tons. Moreover, it is quite seaworthy, and can go at a decent speed under its own steam, or oil, as the caso may be. Another curiosity, to the uninitiated, is the vast carpentering shops, whore numberless saws . and other tools are working on wood, but there is not a speck of sawdust anywhere. It is all sucked into exhausts attached to the various machines, and drawn through tubes straight to a destructor furnace, so that the workmen are no longer subject to lung and other troubles from inhaling the dust. LABOUR TROUBLES EASY OF ADJUSTMENT. Labour difficulties, of course, arise on Tyneside, but so far they have proved easy of adjustment. Tho relations between employers and men, especially at the Armstrong works, are good, and there is none of the deex>seat.ed friction that sometimes asserts itself on tho Clyde. Going through tho works on a surprise expedition like mino, there was no sign of slacking. The system of supervision seems to be _ excellent, and tho men themselves willing to co-operate all thoy can in work which is not only essential to their country, but by which they earn wages beyond all their former expectations. Tho premium bonus system Inspires energy where it might otherwise bo lacking. The sudden introduction of mixed labour into concerns of such magnitude demands special care and precautions on tho part of the employers. For instance, the men and tne, women do not go to meals at the same

time, tho latter starting out half an hour earlier. This is found to ensure good timekeeping and to prevent larking, which is most undesirable on every ground, especially during working hours. In such of the new building? as have still to be finished for shell-making and gun work provision is being made for a still greater employment of women, which is the best testimony to ili3 success that has attended their introduction. ENERGY AND DETERMINATION.

Tho Armstrong works are tho most important on tho Tyne, but for many miles along its banks there are other yards, fully equipped, as vigorously employed in doing similar work. In fact, it is only a type and oxamplo of the energy and determination that is being displayed on all hands in tho country's service. The Tees and the Wear, which are farther down the coast, equal, combined, if they do not excel, the warship and munition output on the Tyne. Farther south still is the Humber, with its great estuary, ita numerous shipyards, and kindred manufactories. Hull is the centre of the Humber district, and has clustered 'around it other busy industrial towns, all contributing their share under the same high pressure to the needs of the Government for the purposes of the war.

. Like tho Tyno and all munition area.*, these towns are under practically the same drink restrictions as the Clyde, and with the most salutary results. Durham —with its ancient cathedral and university—only a few miles from Newcastle—the centre of one of the biggest coal-mining districts in England, and famous for its iron and steel industries, has had its arrests for drunkenness reduced 45 per cent, under tho new regulations. The improvement in other areas has been not less remarkable, and the best feature of this improvement, as shown by the police returas, is that it is steadily progressive. What is true of Lancashire, Scotland, and the North-East of England is equally true of Yorkshire and tho Midlands. It would bo tedious to enumerate the manufacturing centres throughout the country where munition work has been organised oh a large scale.

Leeds presents the most striking example of munition organisation in the whole country. _ In its inmimerable forges and engineering shops, armour-plate, guns, and shells are being manufactured. It possesses what is at present the largest individual shell factory in operation. There aro others even bigger, now being' completed, notably in Lancashire and Cumberland. Then there is Sheffield, noted for its iron and steel industries, most of which have been converted to war uses, which also holds good of Derby, as well as Rugby, Coventry, and Birmingham.

All those places are applying their best energies, all their plants, and endless engineering resources to the same work, while there is not an industrial town of any kind that is not doing something for the needs of the army and navy. Clothes, boots, and leather work are as essential in their way as shells and guns. Rifles, whioh were the great need at the outset of recruiting, are being mado not ozilv at the Government small arms factories at Enfield, and elsewhere, but numerous other workshops have been adapted to their production. Even then, this enumeration of Britain's improvised arsenals leaves out of count the great Government dockyards at Devonport, Portsmouth, Chatham, and Rosyth, which are working at fullest pressure, or the iron and steel producing district of South Wales. Outside the Government docks and arsenals there is now little short of 800,000 workers engaged in munition production under the Ministry of Munitions. There aro 1002 munitions works which come under the designation of "controlled establishments"— that is, "where war work is done under tho control of the Ministry of Munitions, acting through its district boards' of control, consisting of representatives of the manufacturers, tho War Office, and tho navy. The resources of skilled labour now show signs of becoming exhausted. A certain number of men, about 5000, have been brought back from the trenches, but not enough materially to affect the shortage. The county councils and technical institutes throughout the country are doing what .they can to assist the engineering shops in giving skilled training to women and men past military age. A great deal is beingr achieved in this way, for the pupils are keen and quick to learn, but the problem is a difficult one to solve with the pressure of recruiting to contend with. At tho moment there is an ample supply of shells, guns, and ammunition for the requirements of all the fronts, while France, Russia, and Serbia also are being helped by the British workshops.

WORKING FOR VICTORY. One of the great captains of industry in tnis country whom I saw in London before setting out to look over the munitions production said: "No country in the world has ever done in the same time, and no country in tho world but Great Britain could do what we are doing at present in organising war supplies. There has been no precedent, there can bo no parallel for such, an effort. We aro not a military nation, we never aspired to be one; our trust lay in the security of our own shores and our Empire afforded by our navy. Yet in just a year we have enlisted 3,000,000 men, and m the same time wo have organised such a production of war supplies for fleete and armies that at the moment it exceeds anything anyone ever dreamed of in any country. When it reaches its maximum, as it will do beforo very long, it will be the most astonishing achievement of industry that the world has ever seen or perhaps ever will see. " This has been done by us in a year—? this effete, decadent country, as we are held up to be by some of our newspapers, —and Germany, the supposed model of organisation for the whole world, has not, after 40 years' preparation, been able to do anything comparable to it." In tho North and tho Midlands everyone is working for victory with quiet but dogged confidence. They cannot understand, and are proudly contemptuous of, the scarcmongcrin<r and organised pessimism which is carried on in London. This campaign loaves them untouched, and though there is criticism of Governmental errors and shortcomings it is patriotic criticism, not venomous and destructive. Wrangling at Westminster, fortunately for Great Britain, produces no apathy or indifference—such as might be expected —among tho workers. The country is sound and self-reliant at heart, believes in its star, and is following it to ultimate and decisive triumph.