MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 April 1918, Page 6

MOTHER COUNTRY.

REPLACING LOST GUNSy AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT' London, April <J6. Mr. Churchill, moving the munitions vote, said that since March we had lost nearly 1000 guns and between 4000 and uUOU machine-guns, also between one and three weeks' total manufacture of munitions. The German claims were grotesque. There had been a period of great strain, but by the .end of last week all the losses had been niaile good and in some : instances the supplies were greater than before, and there were actually more serviceable guns thau at the beginning of the battleWe were aWe to replace every lost tank with a newer and Letter pattern. The expenditure of small arms ammunition during open warfare was enormous, but tbe capacity of our factories was even greater, and, without touching the reserve stocks, the wastage of rifles had been replaced easily. The expenditure of shells was very heavy, but less than tbe amount calculated* and provided for. Our original calculations provided for twice the expenditure during the Somme offensives in 1916. We should \indoubtedly be able to meet all the demands if the fighting continued at the supreme rate of intensity until the winter, provided the munition workers gave loyal support. We should probably have made 30 per cent, more shells if the imports had not shrunk owing to the diminution of tonnage. We had been obliged to slow down production in considerable areas, but the supplies were the largest ever known. Women, of whom there were nearly 751,000 employed, turned oat nine-tenths of the supply of shells. The cost had been reduced and the quality improved } incredibly. We were now making in three months as many aeroplanes as in the whole of 191 G. WHAT GERMANY FEARS. POST-WAR ECONOMIC- OFFENSIVE. London, April 26. The Government has taken a decisive move regarding the post-war economic offensive. Henceforth France denounces all the most favored nation commercial treaties, also 52 conventions regarding commerce, navigation, and customs. France's bold step is believed to have been taken in complete agreement with the Allies. It leaves her free for whatever new commercial, maritime, and customs status she may intend to adopt. The denunciations include the trade treaties with neutrals in order to pave the way for the altered post-war situation. This i s the first step towards the economical alliance among the Allies which the Central Powers greatly dread-