THE PATH TO VICTORY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1915, Page 5

THE PATH TO VICTORY.

BRITAIN'S COLOSSAL INDUSTRIES, j WHAT SHE fS DOING. A NEUT2AL'S VIEWS. By CaWe—-Press Association—Copyright. Received Dec. 20, o..'i p.m. London, Dec. 19. A neutral, whose contributions to the London press are attra;t ! ng attention, declares that England's snaie is not understood on tbe Continent, oven by the Allies. Continentals do not oppreoiate the work of the navy, and as the German navy is not yet defeated they fail to comprehend the tremendous importance which has resulted from Britain's sea power. Tihey are also struck by the shert British front in Flanders. Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden likewise believe that the Englishmen's individualism render them incapable of co-ordinate effert, but they little know what England is doing. SHELLS, SHELLS, SHELLS. The writer continues: "I have just crossed Great Britain from one end t* the other, and have visited innumerable towns and cities. Britain at last is mobilised, and this achievement far surpasses the wildest German idea of what is colossal. I have seen factory after factory working steadily for twentyfour hours a day and on seven days a week, employing thousands of men and women in making shells, shells, shells. I have seen factory after factory making aeroplanes; I have seen guns being forged of the stoutest steel, requiring sixteen hours in a blast furnace to heat; I have seen motor lorries and staff automobiles in row upon row, and motor ambulances waiting to be sent to the front; I have seen shell cases pressed out of a living ingot ill less than five minutes; I have seen shells forged at a speed thrice as great as formerly. j GIRLS AT WORK. \ "I have seen smaller shells, chiefly eighteen pounders, turned on a lathe by young girls of 16 to 18 years, many of whom are frail and slight, and for whom it is a difficult life. It is heavy metal, yet the shells are piled, grouping in pyramids, about them in every available space. I have seen young girls turning out fuses of aluminium and brass, working steadily without looking up from the lathes. Men are working great forges where gun parts are cast, straining every muscle to accomplish the difficult task of handling great lumps of red hot metal with lightning dexterity. MILES OF CLOTH. "I have seen machine-guns by the hundreds, rifles by the thousands, all of most careful workmanship and finish. I have seen mile upon mile of -khaki cloth reeled oft' looms by the thousands of yards; specially prepared white woollen cloth for wrapping propelling charges; and hundreds of pairs of knit khaki puttees patterned by a single knife-cut, and the list might (be extended indefinitely. "The whole north country is tamed into one vast arsenal, and all this means that England has at last turned her full energy to her mighty task. The entire industrial output in Great Britain is under Government control, not as in "Germany, where there is a transformation of industry, such as a lead pencil factory being mobilised to make shrapnel bullets. In England, old plants are at work on tile usual products, while guns, shells, aeroplanes, and all other necessities of the war are being made, in many cases, in new factories, which are springing up with mushroom growth all over the country. WHOSE IS THE MASTER MIND? "No more striking example of national energy, directed, consolidated, and centralised under direct Government control can be found. The master mind behind this gigantic, industrial enterprise ha 3 created a compulsory system stronger and more powerful than any hitherto devised, even in Germany. Employer and employee are merged into the State; the servant is now awake and has chosen the path to victory."