BOOTS FOR FIVE ARMIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 March 1916, Page 8

BOOTS FOR FIVE ARMIES.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE'S OUTPUT. The Northampton correspondent' of the Daily Telegraph writes: —Since the outbreak of war Northamptonshire has supplied five armies with the bulk of their boots, delivering to the British Army alone no legs than a total of £325,000 worth a week in busy time out of a total of £400,000 worth for the whole country, in addition to boots for the Trench army and navy, the Belgian army, the Serbian army, and the Italian army. There have been marching boots for marine, a thigh boot for sailors that you could, almost float in, field service knee boots, short-footed boots for Gurkhas, sandals for native West African soldiers, boots for the Flying Corps, which were designed in Northampton; powder magazine boots, with felt soles; and last, but not least, mosquito boots for our soldiers fighting in tropical countries. Thereby hangs a talc. The mosquito boots were ordered on a Saturday afternoon for shipment the following Tuesday. Nobody had heard of them, much less made them, but Northampton proved quite equal to the occasion. They were designed, and the patterns cut that Saturday night, a factory wn3 running full tilt on Sunday, and the boots Were placed on the rail on.Monday in good time to catch the boat. Surely a record of records. . - BOOTS IN MILLIONS. How many million pairs of boots and sboe s Northamptonshire has turned out for the British Army and her Allies it would he difficult to estimate, but it is interesting to note that only 20,000 pairs, of the old hand-sewn bluchers are leing turned out a week, this being the full' capacity of the country for this class of boot. From this it will be seen what a terrible plight the British Army would have been in for footwear | had a machine-made pattern not been ready at the outbreak of hostilities. Now there is a likelihood of an order for three million pairs of high-legged boot 3 for the Russian army heing placed, in this country. If this order should be placed, it will have a remarkable effect on the leather market. Each pair of legs will cut into nine feet of leather, and each pair of fronts will take another two feet. It would, in fact, absorb well over 30,000,000 ft of upper leather, in addition to 250,000 bends for soles, besides 200,000 bends for repairing, and leather for other purposes equal 300.000 hides. Tim Italian boot has proved very troublesome. It is made with an outside toe-case, similar to that on a football! boot, and this has been the source of much anxiety to manufacturers. The nailing has also caused trouble. The Italians are now Insisting on a partictt; lar kind of nail being used, of which unfortunately there is a very short supply. The result has been that it has advanced in price £2O a ton in three days recently.