BEHIND THE SCENES AT WOOLWIGH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14190, 6 January 1917, Page 3

BEHIND THE SCENES AT WOOLWIGH.

RATIONS FOR 50,000 "PEOPLE ' : ■ pAIL-Y:7-7''. '■i';.y "Very wonderful, and' very melancholy" might be the .first reflection of a philosopher who .was .admitted' behind the scenes of Wpbi>ncK ; ;:Ai»enal'.;.'.''-v.yery wonderful, indeed, , that 'Great Britain's central munition .works shdiiU have been expanded to a degree- winch* , even 7 two years , ago seemed impossible; {Melancholy, surely, that alLthS Vast amount of hiaterial, this 'bQunS.leSif'eixpehditure of energy andv craf&iiwrishif) and ingenuity; ; should : ertd and^ slaughter' and 'destructi6if.v:- V"" . A truer conception is^th.4t. .every man, ') woman and child who'i labors at Woolwich or elsewhere—^iind 'Woolwich is now only a comparatively small part of the immense national effort^js >itrbhgthening. the arm of our soldiers and sailors, .aiid is bringing nearer" th^t "peacb^with honor"? withOiitY whioh; /civilisation will have no meaning.. That, 'at: any rate, is the'-spirit in whicli .s)ey 'are working, and it explains -many things which one flees in a visit ;to the '.'g^eair-war; town on the banks of 1 the^Tfeamefc" It is now a town :- of 90,000 workea's '; there will bl© 100,000 -before thevendlbf *^^tllW;y<;ar. Like all flourishing towbSi tii§re is always building going bn iri it, ; -"Every -hole and corner. ' of the great '.- site is.'.being occupied,'aiid when on.a, ; is told that ffiill rations' for „.50,000 people., remarkably healthy, appetites 1 have to be supplied every day, it is obvious that the space* is not entirely occupied by workshops and foundries. . -'■' •*-.*'■ WOM&N MLAKE G&OD, Time Was, aiid hot so long.' ago, when the presence of a. woman or a. girl within the gatesi was almost a scandal. NoW^ though the sexers are not, of ; course, .equally divided, woman ' pervades the place with a very real air of possession. And she has made superlatively good. That ■ she should - t be ■ foundTssewirig the linen jacket \yhich is part *b*f' the. 1 apparel : of; the HIE. shell when ; it is fired at the ;Biop4ie is natural, enough, ; bjlt: she has advanced'far beyond that 6ne sei.es her amicably sharing supervision of a machine witk; a man.' '.-who. does the heavier work. : More startlirig still, two women divide three idachines, which require constant feeding, i between . them.; '* Aren't there evar any difficulties?" oho inquires yof the forewoman^ and the reply/is* that; the Workers :ars too intent onHheir- job to worry about '-'-such trifles' as a grasping division of. labor. When the inevitable, monotony of much of the work : Which women do is regarded, the cheerf ulriegts with 'which ih4y perform the task, day after day, for many hours a day,' is not;, the least amazing thing in , this new labor trorlcl. •■ • \For -many . of them it ika' completely new- adVentftre, in yVhich the only -'lnre, is *a patriotia desire to help. -•.'''• ' ■•,"■■-"■ 'yiy.. .. But when. aU hr/sadd and; done, . there are many tasks to which we .cannot put our wtimen, however willing they may be and however skUted they' fcay becoiney;* In the smelting ' works, the forges, 'the; rolling mills, and numerous other departments of munition manufaclaire man must reign alone, and he must .be.;:' a .very able-bodied and vigorous man at that. 7 Dilution ; is still', going on, and it will go further as women axe trained. But there is, a point beyond which it is impossible to go. "We cannot be asked fo supply ever-increasing- quantities of munitions;) and~«bH>he"same time part with the nietf 'w^b Mtk^^^n," is the. very reasonahle •attitude Which Dr. Addison adopts. ' : And", it mtfst be remembered that we-are '■' still fa^ from cfur majrimuin- outpiitl .'■ 'New'.Fictories for -explosives' are at ithiis jnomeni being built;' Which; will "atfsbrH "ihe" labor oS many, thousands df &6n iamd'Wbhien, who must be enrolled. Thteri,;" aiid not till' then,, shall we be independent of fbrieign supplies— a consummation ; . j ■jjrhich '■ has many obvious advantag*^'.^' v., . ■.■'.'■ The gunners are : aJtWayWiflallihg for more guns ; the hungry (^ns.-elamour for increased rations, j^3Cth^y ape get- i ting theni.. ; During -the offensive the expenditure oi: ammunition has been about ten times the iweeklyi? rate that prevailed in January. ' Yet to-day in France thiere are more live shells there than there were at the bfeginhing of the great advance. . . ; -*= -7;"^.*-, j ; Tho War cloud, hqe jftjuleast a; silver lining 1 IA which we may findf-sdirie measure bf consolation for this tremendous output of the rhachinery.of destruction. When peace at last comes industry in this country will be equipped for its "true function better than' it'Tiks'; ever been before." There will. be discovered ar^ volutidn 1 in scientific prbducWpn such, as nothing perhaps but a' great* war "coind have brought about, an.d j»^ that mush be added the revelation -oi- reserves of industry hitherto bonceide , d y -'' yy' „ „.. .... ., T^'-X