2. The necessity of despatching without delay to the Far East eight machine-guns per division already there and going out.
According to official figures, the following were ordered and delivered in 1904:
| Ordered. | Completed. | |
| Pack machine-guns | 246 | 16 |
| Machine-guns on wheels | 411 | 56 |
| Mélinite shells | 25,600 | 0 |
| Shells for 6-inch field-mortars | 18,000 | 0 |
| Quick-firing howitzers | 48 | 0 |
| Mountain-guns | 240 | 128 |
In 1905 a large number of machine-guns were ordered, amongst them being some Danish ones of inferior design; but during the period the operations lasted—up to March, 1905—we had to do as best we could with a very few machine-guns, without high explosive shell, without sufficient mountain artillery, and without howitzers. All these had been supplied, or had begun to be supplied, in 1905; but it was too late.
[FOOTNOTES]
[1] “The War in the Far East, 1904–1905,” by the Military Correspondent of the Times. John Murray.
[2] P. 68, Volume II., of this book.
[3] With a small portion of the third volume in Chapter XIII.