New Britain herald., 1915-12-17
DUTCH PREPARED
 FOR EVENTUALITIES
Metal Workers Prohibited From
 Going to Great Britain

The Hague, Netherlands, Nov. 3O.- The restriction by the Dutch govern ment of the movements of metal workers who were intending to go to Great Britain to take advantage of high wages there has called attention to the position of the Netherlands m connection with war supplies.
 The enforcement of the regulations was 8 surprise to the workmen con- cerned, several thousands of whose comrades had been employed in Ger man munition factories since the be- ginning of the war. The labor rep- resentatives who conferred with the government officials were told that the action of the authorities was necessary because so many men were leaving whose service would be in- valuable to the country in case of need, and that the prohibition of emi- grafton is now applicable without re- gard to which country they might wish to go to.
 Union Enters Protest.
 The Metal Workers union has en- tered an energetic protest against the stoppage of it's members emigration, and has brought forward statistics to show that many of them are out of work in this country. At the same time the union demands, in case the order should remain in force, an in- crease of thirty-fve per cent. in the mems wages, and the government is considering the problem thus brought forward as it affects the workers in the government factories.
 M For many years some of the Dutch newspapers have been calling atten- tion to the necessity of establishing efficient arsenals and ammunition fac-, tories under Dutch state control to provide sufficient war material for the Dutch army under all conditions, i1- stead of leaving the military forces of the country as hitherto dependent on foreign contractors. Possibly as a result of this agitation, the state since January, 1913, has possessed an arms and ammunition factory on the Hembrug at Amsterdam and an arse nal at Delft. These state institutions have been recently extended to ln- clude the construction of certain parts of flying machines and sea mines. but the entire output is based on the re- quirements of the small Dutch army on peace footing.
 Prepared for Eventualities.
 Much has been done since the be- ginning of the European war to place fhe Dutch army in a position to cope with modern conditions of fighting Hinder the circumstances the govern ment deems it unwise to publish even figures as to what has been done, but it may be taken as ] fact that the Netherlands are prepar- ed for most eventualities. @ The army possesses good rlHe father light as compared with others in use in Europe, and the country has enough of them to arm all it's trained infantrymen Rifle ammunition, too, is on hand in satisfactory quantities, reckoned on the basis of the immense numbers of cartridges fired off in mod ern engagements. Several private fac- tories are engaged in manufacturing still further large quantities of these as well as artillery ammunition un- der the supervision of the munitions committee of the government.
 As to the Dutch artillery, the army experts have followed closely the oper- ations going on all round. They nave made their calculations as to the mum Der of shells to have ready for each piece of ordnance and in all probabil-s ity have provided for even greater quantities of shells than were cons1d- cred indispensable by the French and German gunnery experts before the opening of hostilities. Provision was then made by the French for each niece of field ordnance sent on active service to be supplied with 579 shells. The Germans, on the other hand, cal cu4ated that 398 was an ample supply. Both have proved almost incredibly far below the actual requirements and the Dutch gunners are understood to l have taken full cogniZance of this fact.
 Must Strengthen Artillery. As to the guns themselves, the \Dutch have come to the conclusion (that their artillery must be strength tened, and it is believed that much has 3aiready been accomplished in this di- krection, both as regards light and
 heavy field pieces and machine guns. BThe ordinary field guns in use in the
 Dutch army do not differ very greatly From the Austrian eight-centimeter tweapons. They have also a very light field piece of six-centimeters cal1bre, iiandy for use in broken ground such as is found everywhere in the Neither lands. AS to heavier mobile pieces, some of the fortress guns are capable
 of being provided with field carriages kand in this way guns of ten, twelve and fifteen centimeter bore could be kplaced in the field.
 In Holland the guns of the field ar |3tillery have many times to be carried ! by water and the guns are often ex- lercised in this transportation. Tn &eyery irrigation canal are numerous
 shallow f1at-bottomed scows used for in c.1tf nd
 1hre. These are put to use by the ar HiiIerymen. Two of them are placed
 kide by side and made fast. The gu:
 hnd it's carriage are then. slipped kboard along blanks used as runners
 kach of the scoWs holding two of the