§ Mr. FELLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if the average number of men employed in the Ordnance Factories at Woolwich in the year 1898 was 15,293, and at the present time less than 9,000, whilst the expenditure on the Army and Navy in the past year exceeded the expenditure in 1898 by £15,000,000.
§ MR. HALDANEThe figures for 1898, quoted by the hon. Member, include the numbers in the Building Works Department and the Central Office. The corresponding figures at the present time amount to over 11,000. The figures given in regard to Army and Navy expenditure are approximately correct.
§ MR. FELLasked whether there was a considerable reduction in the output of materials of war, or whether there was a great accumulation in hand.
§ MR. HALDANEThere is a very considerable diminution in the demand for munitions of war. We get from this establishment as much as we want and more with the numbers now employed.