Heavy Munition Losses.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 27 April 1918, Page 3

Heavy Munition Losses.

BUT ALL REPLACED

SOM'E WONDERFUL FIGURES.

Received 8.45 a.m. this day London, April 26.

ilr Winston Churchill, Minister tor Munitions, in announcing the munitions vote, said that since March 21 we had lost nearly a thousand guns ,between four and live thousand machine guns and between one and three weeks total manufacture of munitions. The German claims were grotesque. . There had been a period ot great, strain, but by the end of last wopk all the losses biul boon made good and in some instances the supplies were greater than before, with actually more service- ; able guns than at the beginning of the battle. We were able to replace every , lost tank with newer and better; patterns. The expenditure of shells 'was and ammunition during the open warfare was enormous but the capacity of our factories was even greater. Without touching oil reserve stocks the wastage of rifles had been replaced easil\ • The bxpnditure of shells was very heavy, but less than tlie amount calculated and provided for. Our original calculations provided for twice the expenditure of the Somme offensive in 1916. "We will be undoubtedly able to meet all demands if the fighting continues at the supreme rate of intensity until the winter, provided the munition workers give their loyal support." Women workers, who number nearly 751,000, turn out ninetenths of the supply of shells and the cost has been reduced and the quality improved incredibly. "We are now making in three months as many aeroplanes as in the whole of 1910." Grave Issues. HOLLAND AND GERMANY. Received 9.10 a.m. this day. The Hague, April 26. The Foreign Minister has announced that the issues with Germany on the sand and gravel question were most serious. He could not make a fuller statement on tlie subject. Germany has been getting huge quantities of sand and gravel from Holland and using them for the construction of war works, and Holland, under pressure from the Allies, objected to this trade. , PETROGRAD STARVING. 1 Received 11.20 a.m. this day. London, April 20. A wireless Russian official message states that a notice lias been addressed to the Council of Deputies in tlie corn provinces stating that the food situation in Petrograd is again critical. Only one day's supplies are available. The notice urgently asks help.