CLOTHING THE ARMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 February 1940, Page 6

CLOTHING THE ARMY

500,000 UNIFORMS IN ONE MONTH. BRITAIN'S BIG PROBLEM. How the gigantic problem of clothing the new British Army has been, tackled and a beginning made towards amassing reserve supplies was explained by Lord Woolton, Director-General of Equipment and Stores. A high level of output had been reached, he said, and he intended to maintain that level until a reserve had been built up adequate for all possibilities. One of the chief difficulties had been overcoats. It was a milling problem to produce the necessary wind-resisting and warmth-retainaing qualities of the cloth. There had been hot nearly enough milling machinery in the country suitable for this purpose. Almost the only failure to record was the lack of woollen gloves. Mittens were easily obtainable. "Gloves are real necessities.” said I,ord Woolton. "I appeal to women to turn from knitting socks to knitting gloves. They will be supplying something I cannot get in sufficient quantities any other way." Following are some of the figures of production given by Lord Woolton:

When he took over there were nine firms turning wool into khaki. Now there are more than 1000. More than 200,000 army blankets are coming in steadily every week from Yorkshire.

November’s output of battle dress cloth was 2.000,000 yards, and 500.000 uniforms were made up. Since June 360.000 000 buttons were made, compared with the peace-time requirements of 2.500.000 a year.

Army boots were now being produced nt the'rale of 130 000 pairs a week, compared with 120,000 pairs a year in peace-lime.