The General Equipment.
Finally, some idea of the expens.6 oi the army and of the complicated organisation that it has been necessary to build up can be obtained from a study of a lew; typical figures relating to touipment. Take, for example, the .total, of the horses purchased by the / Defence Department during the war* They now number 40,285, and 49mules; the total cost has been no less than ,£BIO,OOO. Horses shipped oversea, number 37,000, and there are some SUWJ/ remounts in hand; 2661 horses were donated to the Department. Tho average cost of the horses purchased, incidentally, has been .£2O. • Since the beginning of the war no fewer than 8,526,000 yards of flannel have been ordered by the Department-rflvM 4858 miles; of woollen cord, 4,463,00T yards, or over 2400 miles; of cloth,, 7,042,000 yards-well over 4000 miles. Other typical figures relating to clothing slow Bβ following quantities ordered:— Socbs, 3,063,000 pairs; flannel shirts, 2122,700; singlets, 2,066,700 pairs; service jackets, 1.648!350; puttees 980,200; stag* iikln vesta, 51,300; blankets, 1,100,400. ijuch instances could be multiplied indefinitely. . Other typical equipment totals are S3 follow :-Carts and wagons, 3153; water•bottles, 380,300; leather . infantry equipment,2lo,soo sets; waterproof sheG'.s* 39 000; tents of various types, U.iauj entrenching tools, 270,000; Eaddlery, 10 500 sets; ambulance stretchers, aUW. motorcycles, 63; bicycles,'lo34; motorcars, lorries, etc., 45; cartridges (rifles), 180 000 000; wireless telegraph pacK sets, 18' In this connection it may be mentioned tuat the total value of the output of the Commonwealth harness and clotiiin» factories since the beginning of the wa°r to June 30 last is as follows:-Har-ness factory, .£538,081; clothing factory, , ~ , In addition, it may be mentioned that the total number of motor vehicles of aU descriptions purchased .since the beginning of the war for the A.1.F.,. including: cycles, workshops, lorries, flying corps vehicles, an operating theatre, a poTlee van, ambulances and ordinary cars, numbers 215. The total cost fo Sate has been £173,703 ss. 9d. This includes the sum of -E145.317 odd for the vehicles of fhe Divisional Ammunition Park ana Supply Column. • , When all the above figures are studied and account is taken, m addition, of the many millions of pounds subscribed to war loans and patriotic funds, the Tjiindreds "of thousands of garments knitted and made by tireless workers at home, the millions of. parcels dispatched to tne> front, and the thousand and one forma of voluntary work undertaken, it is possible to form some idea of the militaryside of the war as it has affected Australia, and of the gradual development in 1 three years of the fighting force, Hampered (ft it has been by recent paltry enlistment and the refusal of the peopie to give an affirmative answer at the referendum last year.
The Navy's Work. Particulars made available by the Naval authorities of the work of.- the Australian Navy during the third year of the Great War show that, though no spectacular lighting was experienced, much hard and responsible work itt guarding the seas fell to tho lot ot tnd Commonwealth sqnadron. The omciai particulars state, that during the pastt year vessels of the Australian squadron have served in company -with British and Allied warships in various parts of the world but, owing to the conditions or the naval war, no actual engagements can be recorded. H.JI.A. Ships Australia, Melbourne, and Sydney have been attached to squadrons working in European waters, or tho North Atlantic; the rest have been on duty in other seas, mainly employed in the arduous and monotonous, but highly necessary work of patrolling nnd guarding trade routes, which has often involved long periods of continuous steaming in tropical waters. . Such service, though less spectacular tharu an actual sea fight, calls for qu.il ties of patient endurance, and is a test ot staunchness hardly less trying than battlo itself, but our Australian crews have the conquest of German East Afiica.l e
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Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3168, 20 August 1917, Page 6
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645The General Equipment. Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3168, 20 August 1917, Page 6
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