CONFUSION AVOIDED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20114, 7 December 1939, Page 7

CONFUSION AVOIDED

LAST WAR COMPARED SWIFT PREPARATIONS : {British Official Wireless.) Reed. 3 p.m. RUGBY, Dec. 5. Replying to rthe delbate in 'the House of Commons the Lord Privy Seal, Sir Samuel Hoare, contrasted the smooth-working efficiency with which man-power had been recruited, the supply organisation set up and the necessary financial bills put through during the first three months of this war with the muddle and confusion in all three fields in 1914. There were to-day between 1,250,000 and 1,500,000 men under arms, he said, and that would swiftly be increasing. Also there were nearly 1,750,000 men and women engaged in the air raid precaution scheme. Turning to the field of supply, -Sir Samuel Hoare, Said: "To-day we can feel some satisfaction in the fact that we have already iff being an organisation to purchase raw material and an organisation for bulk purchasing.” Hp would not go into details of the activities of the Ministry of Supply in •vierw of the short session of the House of .Commons to be held next week on this subject. He would only stay that the value of the contracts for munitions and equipment which had been placed since the beginning of the war totalled £19,500,000. The number of ordnance factories now in production was 13 and 16 were in various stages of completion.