§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Supply to state in any convenient form the contribution made by Ordnance factories to the production drive for export.
§ Mr. G. R. StraussThe Royal Ordnance factories are manufacturing a wide range of civilian goods, which are supplied to the public services and to user, assembling, or distributing industries. They are not direct exporters but by providing industries in this country with capital equipment, components and intermediate products, they are helping considerably in the export drive. As details of the ultimate destination of the goods are not available it is not possible to measure exactly the contribution.
§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Supply for what reasons the price of railway wagons made in Ordnance factories is £50 more than that of private wagon-builders and about £100 more than that of railway workshops.
§ Mr. G. R. StraussThe major part of the cost of producing railway wagons in the Royal Ordnance Factories is expenditure on material and components. The capacity of the Royal Ordnance Factories for assembly was brought into use to meet the exceptionally high demand, and the resultant increase in the national output of wagons strained the supply of components. The higher cost of output of wagons from the Royal Ordnance Factories is due to the difficulty of getting components, which necessitates buying from abnormal sources and improvising substitutes.
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§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Supply what special steps he is taking to ensure that additional labour will be available for Ordnance factories in case of an emergency and for the opening up of those closed or on a care and maintenance basis.
§ Mr. G. R. StraussThe Government's general emergency arrangements cover the provision of labour for both these requirements.