A Shortage of Woollen Things

From the Manchester Guardian, 27th September 1917.

COMFORTS FOR THE TROOPS.
A SHORTAGE OF WOOLLEN THINGS.

The annual meeting of the Lancashire War Comforts Association was held yesterday in Manchester, with Sir Daniels McCabe in the chair.  During the year the Association has sent 350,000 gifts to men on active service and to military hospitals.  There are 92 Lancashire battalions under the care of the Association for the provision of comforts.

Mr. J. Duthie, the Assistant Director General of Voluntary Organisations, attended the meeting and gave an account of the steps taken by the Director General to ensure a proper distribution of the hospital requisites and comforts for soldiers that are being provided by the voluntary organisations throughout the country.  There are 255 county and borough associations, managed by local committees.  It was found, Mr. Duthie said, that as the armies increased and regiments were moved from one field of operations to another the method of supplying comforts through regimental associations became in most cases quite inadequate, and therefore the Director General established at each front a comforts “pool,” controlled by the military forwarding officer.  These “pools” received a steady flow of comforts, which were issued on indents from commanding officers, and a prompt, equal, and regular distribution was obtained.  Regimental associations were credited on behalf of their particular units with the whole of the contributions they sent to the “pool.”

The department distributed approximately 1,200,000 articles monthly, three-fourths being surgical dressings and hospital garments and one-fourth comforts for the troops in the field.  In addition large quantities of luxuries had been distributed, including 80,000,000 cigarettes.  Fifteen per cent of the total output had gone to our Allies.  The position at the present time was that the supply of surgical dressings was sufficient to meet the demand.  Hospital garments were required, and the supply of knitted articles was very much short of the anticipated demand of the next few months.