In the Lords on Friday week Lord Curzon, in moving
the second reading of the Munitions Bill, said that so long as the present state of things continued the situation would be one of great anxiety. He could fairly say that the country was in " grave peril." On the other hand, the nation now recognized the magnitude of the task, and with the help of the new Munitions Department we might expect that the output of munitions within the present year would "not only satisfy in most respects our own needs, but would minister to the even more crying needs of some of our allies." More than forty-six thousand munition workers had been enrolled in a week. Other points in the debate were Lord Bryce'e insistence on the importance of organizing the scientific ability of the country—an organization which Lord Curzon afterwards announced was being considered by Mr. Asquith and Mr. Balfour—and Lord Weardale's attack on Mr. Asquith as being responsible for the failure properly to support the Army. The Commons accepted the minor amendments inserted in the Munitions Bill by the Lords, and the measure was passed through all its stages.
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