BRITAIN'S SUPPLY OF WAR MUNITIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2443, 23 April 1915, Page 5

BRITAIN'S SUPPLY OF WAR MUNITIONS

MR. ASQUITH CRITICISED

HUGE CONSUMPTION OF PROJECTILES

(By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) London, April 21. Iu the House of Commons, Mr. W A. Hewins (Unionist) moved that it was urgently necessary that the munitions firms should he controlled and unified by an administration in direct touch with the firms. He said that Mr. Asquith's speech yesterday was unfortunate. The Prime Minister appeared to think that there was great caUße for contentment. The speech did not contain a vital suggestion, for dealing with the situation Mr. Lloyd George (Chancellor o! the Exchequer) agreed with the motion, but said that Mr. Hewins .did not take account of the special difficulties the War Office had had to meet. The Expeditionary Force, hitherto estimated at six divisions, was now more than sixfold that size; ahd it was adequately supplied. Every mall who dropped out had been replaced. This was one of the .most magnificent pieces of -organisation ever devised. s • Contracts Were Not up to Time. Continuing, Mr. Lloyd George said' that ammunition had been expended on a scale never anticipated ;• as much had been expended at Neuvo Chapelle as during the whole of the Boer War. The character of the ammunition had been changed in the middle of the war on expert advice. The system of sub-contracts had been- extended to 13,000 firms. If contracts had rome up to time there would have been 110 shortage. As a last resort the Government had taken over suitable works. , .

If they took the figure twenty as the amount of artillery ammunition manufactured in September,. it was ninety in October and November, 136 in December, 186 in January, 256 in February, and 388 in March. Britain was also assisting the Allies with explosives and other munitions. Ther« were no deficiencies in ammunition at the present moment, but the Government had to prepare generally for a war policy. Mr. Lloyd George paid a tribute to the services of Lord Moulton's Committee on the production of high explosives. Lord 'Moulton's energetic Measures had placed the production beyond anxiety, and enabled us largely to supply our allies, t . Mr. Bonar Law (Leader of the Opposition) said Mr. Lloyd George's speech showed that he thoroughly realised the nature of the problem. He (the speaker) criticised Mr. Asauith's optimism.

Some Staggering Figures,

It is stated in military, circles that seventy million rifle cartridges a.w used up daily and seven million for the machine guns. The Franco-British forces on the Marne fired 180,000 shells a day. The British used, six thousand kilogrammes (about six tons) of dynamite to blow up Mont Saint Eloi t General Joffre notified the French Government in November that ha would he unable to commence to drive, out the Germans until he hid a steady supply of 200,000 shells daily. This was promised for May 1.

STRANGE DIVERGENCE OF VIEWS. London, April' 21,„ The jiewspaperß comment on the remarkable divergence between Mr. Asquith's optimism, in saying that there was nnt-rv word of truth in the statement that the Army was being hamporedby failure to produce ammunition, and Lord Kitchener's speech of Maroh IS, in which he said the progress of equipment was seriouslv hampered, and Mr. Lloyd George's speeches on February 28 .and March 17.