The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-19
AUSTRALIA DOING
 HER SHARE IN WAR
Entire Wool Output Requi- sition for Uniforms-Big
 Transaction in Meat

Melbourne, Australia, May 9.-(Specia' Correspondence of the Associated Press
 Some Idea of the part of Australasia as component of the British empire Is
 playing in the war as a purveyor of sup
 plies of a military kind for itself, Great Britain and the allies may be gathered from the following facts and figures The defense department has requisi- toned the entire output of the various
 woolen mills throughout the common wealth for an indefinite time and the mill owners and managers are undertaking to do all In their power to facilitate the
 manufacture of the cloth and garments required by the department Besides sup
 plying each Australian soldier on active
 service with uniform when he embarks on a troopship, the department engaged
 to supply him with fresh uniform every three months while he is at the front. At present the superintendent of army con
 tracts, Capt. J. C. Orrniston, is requiring at once 1,112,000 yards of flannel, to say
 nothing of 100000 wooden undershirts and 220. 400 pairs of drawers of the same ma
 terial. Australia being a country which.
 singularly enough, exports immense quan-
 titles of raw wool but has few woolen or other textile establishments as yet
 the strain upon the existing mills is enor- nous. Meantime a representative of the federal government has placed orders with single woolen manufacturing firm in New Zealand for 5000 navy sweaters, 212,0o0 knitted drawers, 100000 knitted
 shirts, 2i0.000 pairs of socks and more
 than a million yards of flannel. It Is doubtful, however if all the woolen mills
 in New Zealand can cope with this order,
 nasmuch as at present they are doing their utmost to keep the Dominion con
 tingents supplied with clothing of the above description.
 In Sydney the whole of the mutton in cold storage within the metropolitan area a supply variously estimated num-
 bering between 250.000 and 300.000 sheep
 has been taken over on behalf of the
 imperial authorities at prices already fixed at from to 101a cents pound by agree
 ment between owners and the home and overseas authorities. Although the New
 South Wales government is simply act ing as the agent of the British govern
 ment, this Is the biggest transa ction of the kind that has ever been carried out in Sydney. The state government is acting under a direct request from the government in England, which was re- gently translated into an act of Parlia- ment The first consignment will consist of about 5000 refrigerated sheep. but much heavier consignments will be forwarded before long. The imperial government has engaged to provide the transporta- ton.
 Meantime the state abattoirs at. Home- bush, near Sydney, will shortly be in full swing and sheep will be slaughtered at the rate of 6000 daily The New South Wales authorities have been advised that the demand for the British army and navy Is practically limitless.
 A shoe company in Melbourne is ne- gotiating with the Russian government to supply 1t with a million and half pairs of soldiers shoes within 12 months at the rate of 120.00O pairs a month. The contract, if entered into, will involve nearly sS,O00.0oO The matter is not yet settled however.