The Madsen Machine Gun

21 The Madsen [6 June 1918] Gun. 22 to find a solution of the difficulties in order, if possible, to undertake the manu- facture of this gun. The noble and gallant Lord will, I hope, see from what I have said that everything possible is being done at the moment in the direction which he desires, and I doubt personally whether your Lordships will consider it necessary to appoint a further Committee of machine-gun experts to in- quire into the merits of the gun, because really there is no difference of opinion on that point. It has been- tested, as we know, by experts more than once—so re- cently as this year—and the question to be decided is not one that can be decided by machine-gun experts. We acknowledge the qualities of the gun. The difficulties to be overcome are, as I have already said, administrative and manufacturing diffi- 1 culties, on which, of course, this Com- mittee of machine-gun experts could give no opinion. I hope that the noble and gallant Lord may consider that my reply to his numerous questions is a fair and satisfactory one. The Marquess of SALISBURY: My Lords, there was much in the earlier part of the noble Lord’s speech which was not very encouraging. But when we reached the end of his observations, there was a note which I confess reassured me to some extent. I shall have a word to say upon that in a moment. But I should like to say at the outset that none of us feel inclined to find any fault with the Mini- stry of Munitions in the matter. We recognise that theii’ attitude is absolu- tely correct. They are there to provide the weapons which the Army needs, and they I have just announced through the mouth i of the noble Lord that they will endeavour to comply with any requirement which the military authorities may put forward. Whatever difficulties there may be, the Ministry of Munitions will endeavour to surmount them, and, judging from their record in the past, I have no doubt that if they do their best they will surmount them. I will go a step further. We do not criticise the Ministry of Munitions, neither do we desire to force any policy as to machine-guns upon the War Office. Of course, the military authorities must deci- de. It would be absurd for any of your Lordships to try to take the decision out of the hands of the military' authorities and to tell the Commander-in-Chief in the field that he ought to use a different machine-gun from the one which he pre- fers. Our function is a humbler one. It is to press upon the Government the im- mense advantages of this gun, and then to leave the decision in their hands. The noble Lord who has just sat down spoke of the objections to changing: guns at this period of the war. All those ob- jections, ' of course, are very obvious. Everybody may say that we have a gun which is a good gun; that it is better to stick to a good gun than to run the risk of all the difficulties involved in trying to establish a better gun. With objections of that kind we are very familiar, and they are not unfounded; there is a great deal in them. But it is really a question of the balance of advantage. If the Mad- sen gun is so very much better than the existing gun, it is worth while undergoing a certain amount of temporary disadvan- tage in order to secure the advantage of the gun. That is the real point—How much better is this Danish gun than the existing Lewis gun? I am sure that your Lord- ships will believe me when I say that I. at any rate, do not profess to be in any sence an expert in the matter of machine- guns; but I will! go this length, that having seen this Danish gun I was deeply impres- sed by its simplicity, by its ingenuity, and by its efficiency, which I will say makes it certainly not only superior but enormously superior to any other gun in the field. That may not be a strong enough argument to convince the Army Council that they ought to change the gun; but at any rate, they ought to realise it. That is the point above all others which we desire to impress upon them. Do the Army Council realise it? Have they taken any steps to realise it? Have the Army Council ever inspected the gun? Have they ever seen it fired? Has the gun ever been taken abroad to G.H.Q. I Has it been fired in the presence of any supe- rior military officer over there? I dare say there may be some answers to these questions; but if not, then I say that the advantages of the gun have never been realised by the military authorities. If