MAKING MUNITIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2523, 31 July 1915, Page 10

MAKING MUNITIONS

AUSTRALIAN INQUIRIES EVEN FIELD GUNS POSSIBLE i The Federal arid State Munitions. Committees, which conferred in Melbourne recently, have drafted a scliemo by which co-operation can bo secured throughout Australia for tlio almost immediate* manufacture of munitions of various kinds. ■So far as tlio manufacture of munitions is concerned, practically tlio whole of the raw material, states the Sydney "Daily Telegraph," can bo produced in Australia, but the conversion of somo items into a marketable product is still in doubt. Those lines will have to bb imported, until plant caai be erected for their treatment. The most necessary material is steel. It is used, not only for gun barrels and sliell casings, but also for gun carriages, etc. Of steel for the manufacture of gun carriages, ammunition wagons, limber wagons, arid such like, there is said to be ail alriple supply available. There is also plenty of cast-iron for working up into steel for shell casings, and as mueli as is required could be produced. Ferro-man-ganeso for hardening steel can be produced in Australia, _ largo ..deposits, of manganese ore .being available in Queensland. _ ; '"■

Steel'for rifle and "cannon, barrels, is particularly scarce' , throughout, the. world at the present'moment, , but . it is believed, that it cap. Be manufactured at several centres in .Australia. ;. Moly-. bdenita and tungsten, used for hardening special steel, -is obtainable in many parts of Northern, Queensland and portions of New South-Wales. 'J., Even Field. Guns. Copper, for shell , making is available; ill sufficient quantities, and ample ..supplies can be obtained from flip Electro-, lytic Refilling Company at Kembla." Zinc, lead, and brass .can all be produced, with little difficulty in various, parts of Australia. •

. The inquiries have even, disclosed the fact that, with a little adaptation of plant, small-sized field guns. can- bo turned out. Shell cases lave already been made in the various States. Tho Wallaroo and Moonta Mining Company in South Australia has produced what aro looked upon as perfcct specimens of 21-poun-der, 18-pounder, and 12-pounder 'shell cases, fitted with brass caps and copper bands. Casings also have been made at the Eveleigh Government • Workshops and at foundries in Queensland. If necessary, 50,000 or. more shrapnel shells a week could be manufactured in Australia. Even Quenesland, with its limited resources, can, the suD-commit-tee reports, produce 10,000 a week of .120 working hours; High explosive •shells can also bo mado with less difficulty.,.

Explosives can be produced in largo quantities. Cordite is being manufactured at two factories in Victoria, and the output could be greatly increased. Of the raw materials, petroleum jelly would have to be imported, but there is a quantity available fdr "immediate delivery. Of sulpkurio acid, there is plenty on tho spot, and as much as is could bo' produced without importing sulphur from New Zealand or Japan. Nitrates are not obtained ill Australia, but nitric acid could bo mado. Ail' unlimited supply of nitrates, however, is assured from South America. Tho production of glycerine in Australia is greatly in excess of possible requirements for explosives, while cotton for gun-cotton could bo grown ,iu ; Queensland in greater quantities than hitherto. A crop sown next month would bo availablo :in March of next year. . Acetone is made in. Melbourne, and picric .acid, .tri-Mtro-toluend.,, could be manufactured from coal-tar distillates. Many other chemicals could bo made with little or no difficuty,

Engines for Aeroplanes. Tho siipply of expert Labour, too, is unlimited, and there are many thousand fitters, turners, machinists, moulders, brassfouiiders, and others at prosent employed in Government and private workshops. _ No difficulty also will be found.in obtaining experts acquainted with the manufacture of munitions. Many such men have been registered. Many hundreds of men have already volunteered to assist in the production of munitions. ' No fewer than 530 men employed on the locomotive "and"me-, chanical staffs at Goulbum, Harden,' Junes, Werris Creek, Murrurundi, and Eveleigh, have communicated with the Railway Commissioners, offering to givo thoir services in their spare time, free of charge, in : order to asist the Defence Department: The inquiries, so' far as they have gone, show that Australia at a pinch could turn out all the war material required for her own defence if a successful blockade were ever established; over her ports. She oould even build aeroplanes and fit them with engines of local manufacture. As for the equipment of soldiers, practically the whole of the articles required, including entrenching tools, are already made hero. There is 110 r.eason why gun carriages and limbers could not" be made in parts and assembled in English factories.