GERMANY'S MUNITIONS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14237, 3 March 1917, Page 8

GERMANY'S MUNITIONS.

' LONDON, January 17. > Francis G-ribble, iii an article on _Jer- g . niany's munitions publislied" m the Daily 5 * Chronicle, says : . *' . "-.lthougli the censorship is strict m : ' Germany, awjavai'd truths have a way . - of leaking out through the columns of I trade organs and technical papers, and . it may now be gathered from these m - structive sources that the rriunitions sup- - ply is a cause of increasing an_viety.' ; ■ First and foremost, there is an admit- 1 1 ted scarcity of railway rolling stock. ? Large orders for fresh trucks were i* placed m 1915, but owing to the state t' of the labor market only about 15 per . cent, of these orders were executed. The t chief consequence of the scarcity m 1915 . 1 was that farmers failed to get manure r and' ; liad' a shockingly bad harvest. - *, t "The present complaint is that there l* are" riot . enough cars •W* cortv_!y. coke to ■* 1 the blast furnaces, with the result that t. the production -of steel is menaced, i .* ; f-' i Ahdtherreasbn may be-'fo-fnd*'ih' the, "' "_-i__'ea_-ing la_k of labor, which is dimt inishing the output alike m the coal t' mines and iron mines, as 'a""fe\v"selected - (figures will i show." r : Jjlr ■ Grabble then points'* out iihat the i number of r workmen employed' irt'.Gerf man coal mines m 1913 %as v 405,iy3. ■5 Tliey were reduced to 294,852 irt-t_b_i'la_t three months 0f' 1916. . Thie output of tho iron ore 'of three r leading companies for 1915~,16 •: decreased - by ,3,713,&38 tims, compared with 1913---l 14.' Gribble contin'us_« :" ' *'Sofne t?dmpani_s are now working at old dumps of ore containing less than [ 25 per cent, of iron becauso skilled 5 mining labor is not available m sufficient ' quantities. The ' proportion ; of - women employed m the iron h«d steel b ;'■ industries' has increased dufittg vt-he war ) .frbiii **7 to 19 per cent." J . " ■ ' : .'y *"'" ■ • • . » rV ■' . -'."■•>■'" W xxx -x- ■■■ „yy .-.;■<■■:>