Mr. Lloyd George subsequently made a long and important statement
on the question of .war munitions. Sixteen national factories had already been set up, but, while measures were. being taken largely to increase the supply of 'shells, bombs, and grenades, the Munitions Department had reserved, a good deal of the -available shell-producing power for a special programme, on which they had decided to embark as a result of the Boulogne and other con- ferences, and which in their judgment was for the time being mare important than the provision of shells. . To meet this demand, which would seriously tax the engineering resources of the country for some months, ten large munition establishments had to be set up, and to provide them with labour they would have to draw upon the munition volunteers and men released from the colours, and they hoped in future to employ women in these establishments much more freely than hitherto. During the past month forty thousand men and women, nearly half of them skilled workers,. had been added to the labour in armament works. Nearly a hundred thousand munition volunteers had been enrolled, but as many were employed on important work they would do well if they got one-fifth of them.
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