ITALY'S WAR INDUSTRIES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 284, 15 June 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

ITALY'S WAR INDUSTRIES.

Ihe official announcement that British heavy artillery was co-operating in the Italian effi nsive on tr.e Julian front, affoids another indication of the manner in v hith the Allies are now pooling their resources. Heavy artillery lias been the greatest need of all the belligerent*, and even with her present output of guns and munitions, :t is doubtful whether the British on t. e Western front could ever possess too many of these valuable weapons. Italy has suffered from a scarcity of heavy artillery before, but when we realise her weakness as an industrial nation in pre-war days, it must be admitted that she has managed with le*s assistance from her Allies than might at first have been considered neccs.-arv. In an article entitled 'ltaly's Industrial Effort," appearing in "Land and Water'' of March Bth, Mr Lewis K. Freeman relates an interview on tnis subject which he had m Italy with an officer attached to one of the allied military missions. " The-magnitude cf Italy's industrial achievement," said this officer, "may best be judged after first considering the tact that she started with almost negligible muni-tion-making facilities, and then noting t::e extent to which, in the face of .t consumption that :s doubling and trebling every few months, she has not only i.eeome independent of import, but has even been turning out in certain lines a surplus to send abroad to various of her Allies In the early months of the war, France and England had come to Italy's aid with heavy artillery (though it was little enough that could be spared), with machineguns, and with munitions of practically ev.eiy class. Munition machinery was, of course, oai'..\ needed, but neither of her nearest Allies was able to i spa re much in this line for Italy. For some time now this country has boon turning out all the light artillery and ma( lune guns she has needed, and it thero has been a comparative shortage of heavy guns, that is oniy a difficulty which is shared by every other one of the belligerents on both sides. In the smaller calibre of shells she is also independent of import, and recently, indeed. she has begun to put a surplus at the disposal of her Allies. The smallarm problem Italy has had fa:rly well in hand from the fir.st, and she has been exporting the-o in increasing quantities for some time. . . All of this, it should be borne in mind, has been accomplished in the face of the handicap imposed by the fact that Italy, unlike Franco and England, has been able to import but little, and has, therefore, had to make practically all of the special machinery used in munition manufacture. What 1 ta'y has done in this connection must rank as one of the most surprising achievements of the war." While, therefore, Italy is helping herself and her Allies wherever possible, Great Britain is strengthening her at her weakest point, and the modern heavy British artillery on the Julian front should play no small part in the advances which it is hoped Italy will make during the present year.