We are sending over to France every week as much as the whole pre-war stock of land service ammunition in the country.
As to guns, I would ask my readers to turn back to the second and third chapters in this little book, which show something of the human side and the daily detail of this great business, and then to look at this summary:—
Every month, now, we are turning out nearly twice as many big guns as were in existence for land service—i.e., not naval guns—when the Ministry of Munitions came into being (June, 1915).
Between June, 1915, and June, 1916, the monthly output of heavy guns has increased 6-fold—and the present output will soon be doubled.
For every 100 eighteen-pounders turned out in the first 10 months of the war, we are now turning out 500.
We are producing 18 times as many machine-guns.
Of rifles—the most difficult of all war material to produce quickly in large quantities—our weekly home production is now 3 times as great as it was a year ago. We are supplying our Army overseas with rifles and machine-guns entirely from home sources.
Of small-arms ammunition our output is 3 times as great as a year ago.
We are producing 66 times as much high explosive as at the beginning of 1915; and our output of bombs is 33 times as great as it was last year.
At the same time, what is Great Britain doing for her Allies?