noon on Saturdays
You see -- ' ` Yes , it was partly that , but more because our power was wasted , in the gun factories and the munition factories . You know as well as I do that it was on the continual and persistent work of the people in those factories that our supplies depended . What happened ? Hundreds , thousands of them left work at noon on Saturdays , and then started drinking , and did not appear at their work until the Tuesday or Wednesday following , and when they came they were inefficient , muddled . Work that required skilled hands and clear brains had to be done by trembling hands and muddled brains . The War Minister told us that there was a wastage of 10 per cent . of our munition-making power .