MUNITIONS PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2560, 7 September 1915, Page 6

MUNITIONS PROBLEM

CAN WE MANUFACTURE THE -RECENT CONFERENCE COMMITTEE'S REPORT 'Ail interim report has: been, received 1 by the Minister of Munitions, tho Hon. I A. H. Myers, from tho coniimtteo i which was appointed at tho meeting of I engineers ijnd others .held on Friday I last to consider tlio question of whotlior 1 shells and other munitions can bo ninnu- - factuTed in tlio Dominion. r .l ho. informa- 1 tion obtained by the committee is not i yet complete, and tho collection of date 1 will be continued. In view of tlio 111- I complete nature of tlie report it will ] not be submitted; as was intended, to i the meeting of. engineers -which is to ] be held at 'Christcliurcli to-day. It may I be pointed out also tliht tho principal ' object of tWs-conference of engineers is < to deal-with industrial disputes. When .1 tho report of t'he committoo has lieeu I completed it will bo submitted to Cab- i inet. , 1 The Minister vf Mimitions gave somo i information as: to tlio contents of the < report.; The purport of it, he said, was ■ thatv we .could manufact-uro tlio bodies I of .18-jxmndor and 4.5 shells in New : Zealand if t-lie steel could bo i>roourod. 1 No suitable material was availably (it present in tlio Inquiries wero thereforo being_ madcf as to tho possibilitv of importing it from Anstralia.- Eegai'ding tho advisability of . attempting to manufacture shell bodies, the.committee could not at present express- aix ; opinion .without information as to the manufacturing capacity of the Dominion, .and as to the possibility of obtaining material. The committoo wero of . opinion that wo should not attempt to manufacture more than tlio. bodies'of shells. It .would not bo possible to mako cartridge cases, or to provide tho explosive. - .Tlie committee did not think it prac- . ticable to manufacture ' machine-guns in: any considerable number, in Dominion. .'The members of the committee recognised that with the assistance of the best appliances-in the Dominion.it would he possible in time to turn out, . largely .'.by \ expert -hand work, a very • limited number of, guns. Meanwhile the Railway Department was _ engaged on the experiment of producing one gun at the Petone Works. The . same remarks applied generally to .tho making of rifles,, since in order to manufacture rifles hundreds of special machines were required. The Defence Department need a largo number, of replacements for rifles, and the committee, renort ■ that these can' be made, mainly,, by hand, in the Dominion, though prolkbly the cost would be gTeater than the present cost- of procuring 'them : from Engknd. Ironmasters at tho conference expressed a . desire to undertake this work for patriotic reasonsj and it was the intention of tho Government to hsve sent to every centre an exhibit of the vifle_ parts and other articles which are required. Tliis would enable manufacturers . to know, whether they weiro in.'a position to'rindertake the :work."I desire," said Mr. Myers, "to express publicly to Professor Scott, tlio other members of. the committee, and those who attended the conference.; my appreciation of-.their, aid, for they have given gratuitously - much -time and thought to the . consideration of important problems before, the conference.". , ■: " 1 -