Mr. Forwood, Secretary to the Admiralty, made a remarkable statement
at the opening of a new Conservative club at Guildford on Wednesday, that the naval departments of the Government now work so much cheaper than the private traders who compete with them,—from 20 to 30 per cent. cheaper, according to Mr. Forwood,—that the Admiralty are always pressing the War Office to get more work oat of its ordnance factories, so that they may reap more advantage from this less costly but equally efficient work. That must mean that the general superintendence of the Government factories is specially effective and economical, for we have never heard that the rate of wages is at all lower in Govern- ment departments than it is in the open market. It is a great triumph of administration when a public department wastes less than the individual trader, whose whole attention is naturally concentrated on avoiding waste.
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