DEMAND FOR SPEED

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21082, 8 April 1940, Page 7

DEMAND FOR SPEED

PRODUCTION OF ARMAMENTS REQUEST BY GENERALS £1,000,000 A DAY SPENT (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright, LONDON, April 6 i “The generals demand that the 7 pace of armament production should be quickened and supplies delivered earlier,” said the Minister of Supply, Mr Burgin, in a speech at Wolverhampton. “Still the cry comes: ‘More, more. Quicker, quicker.’ ” Mr Burgin said the Allies were capable of producing limitless quantities of every type of armament. The Ministry of Supply was spending £1,000,000 a day to provide factories alone. The home production of steel was double that of the last war. Germany was beleaguered. Her stocks of raw materials could be listed and her supplies numbered, whereas the entire world was the seller of anything which Britain needed. These goods could be transported from anywhere, because of Britain’s mastery of the seas. Mr Burgin announced that a scheme was being considered for the interchange between Britain and France of highly specialised industrial equipment such as machine tools. These were to a large extent the key to the problem of supply. The British tool industry before the war had obtained large supplies from the United States and Germany. It had been necessary to place large orders overseas in order to provide for wartime expansion.