DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49384#0023
INDIA’S SERVICES IN THE WAR.
CHAPTER I.
What the United Provinces have done for the War.
INTRODUCTORY.
In writing a brief account of the aid afforded to the Empire by
these Provinces towards the successful prosecution of the Great War,
we must, to arrive at a just appreciation of their achievements, bear
in mind the limited means at the disposal of its inhabitants.
In countries that are highly industrialised, e. g., Great Britain,
France, America, and others, great engineering textile and other
firms exist in considerable numbers which, it was found, could readily
be adapted to produce war material. If we look round these
Provinces we find that, beyond the great firms (mainly textile)
existing in Cawnpore, our commercial centre, and a few, comparatively
small, engineering shops, cotton and oil presses, ice factories and
presses comprised our sole mechanical resources, if we exclude the
large Railway Workshops. Excluding the latter and the few
Engineering Shops, there was no factory which could be impressed
into one producing shells, fuzes, etc., for the very good reason that it
was impossible to procure the necessary machinery. The war had
lead to a shortage of shipping, and, even if the latter had been
available, the factories of the world were too busy turning out
munitions of war and had no time to manufacture the latter and at the
same time manufacture the machines requisite for that manufacture
in India. Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway Workshops turned out
some shells to the value of Rs. 3,81,360 and other munitions to the
value of Rs. 2,15,000.
CHAPTER I.
What the United Provinces have done for the War.
INTRODUCTORY.
In writing a brief account of the aid afforded to the Empire by
these Provinces towards the successful prosecution of the Great War,
we must, to arrive at a just appreciation of their achievements, bear
in mind the limited means at the disposal of its inhabitants.
In countries that are highly industrialised, e. g., Great Britain,
France, America, and others, great engineering textile and other
firms exist in considerable numbers which, it was found, could readily
be adapted to produce war material. If we look round these
Provinces we find that, beyond the great firms (mainly textile)
existing in Cawnpore, our commercial centre, and a few, comparatively
small, engineering shops, cotton and oil presses, ice factories and
presses comprised our sole mechanical resources, if we exclude the
large Railway Workshops. Excluding the latter and the few
Engineering Shops, there was no factory which could be impressed
into one producing shells, fuzes, etc., for the very good reason that it
was impossible to procure the necessary machinery. The war had
lead to a shortage of shipping, and, even if the latter had been
available, the factories of the world were too busy turning out
munitions of war and had no time to manufacture the latter and at the
same time manufacture the machines requisite for that manufacture
in India. Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway Workshops turned out
some shells to the value of Rs. 3,81,360 and other munitions to the
value of Rs. 2,15,000.