There has been a great deal of rather loose criticism of the work of the British Disposal Board. Some mistakes and shortcomings were perhaps invitable but whatever they may have been, the Board can point with satisfaction to very definite and considerable results since the Armisthoe.
Mr. F. G. Kellaway, Deputy-Minister of Munitions, in an "Observer" interview, showed that their policy all along has been to sell as fast as the material can be absorbed, and stated that already the actual sums realized from the sales 0 surplus stores amount ta the huge figure of £320,000,000.
"The stores from which this enormous sum has been realized can be divided," he said, "into two great classes. The first are the stores bought by one or other of the fighting departments on contracts placed before the armistice out of money voted by Parliament. These may be described as surplus stores proper. Stores of this nature have been sold of a value of £195,000,000- "The other class of stores is that bought on trading account with money provided by the Treasury. These stores consist principally of wool and hides. The contracts for them continued after the armistice, and in the case of wool we are under a contract with the Austra-lion and Now Zealand Governments to take the whole of their wool clip till the end of June. The total amount realized from the sale of stores of this kind is £125,000,-
000.
"The whole of the £195,000.000 realized by tthe sales of the first class of stores goes to the relief of taxation or the reduction of debt. From tthe sales of the other class of stores the Exchequer benefits only to the extent of the profitt that is made.
Vauue or THE Stores.
"Various figures have been given of tthe total value of the stores available for disposal after the Armistice. £1,000,000,000 has been much lin the public mind. But I have never committed myself to any such figure as being the amount it would be possible to realize by the sale of surplus stores.
"Tt has to be borne in mind that even lif this figure represented the actual cost of the stores available for disposal at the date of the Armidtice a very largo part of these stores consisted of offensive munitions, such as guns, shells, tanks, and so on, which are almost unmarketable, and would probably fetch little more than 5 per cent. of their original cost.
"On the other hand, a certain proportion of the remaining stores has been selling for more than the original cost. "Particularly is this the case with machinery. There are many instances of remarkable prices for individual machines. Some have realized from 50 to 200 per cent. more than their first cost, and some which were used a deal during the war are selling
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.