Pa57ments  made  by  the  War  Office  to  the  railways  down  to  the  same
date  amounted  to  £6,333,588.  Thefirst  item  here  was  one  of  £1,129,332
for  conversion  or  construction  of  ambulance  trains  for  the  use  of  British
troops  at  home  or  overseas,  cost  of  shipment,  spare  parts,  and  other
expenses  in  connection  with  the  trains.  There  was  a  further  sum  of
£1,668,894  paid  for  ambulance  trains  supplied  by  the  British  railway
companies  for  the  use  of  American  troops  overseas,  the  arrangement
which  had  been  made  in  respect  to  these  being  that  the  War  Office  would
reimburse  the  companies  for  the  cost  of  the  trains,  and  recover  the
payments  from  the  United  States  Government.  The  balance  was  made
up  mainly  by  a  wide  range  of  items  falhng  under  the  head  of  stores
supplied,  work  done  in  connection  with  locomotives  and  rolling  stock
loaned  or  suppHed,  and  so  on.
The  sum  total  of  these  pajTments  by  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  and
the  War  Office  to  the  Railway  Executive  Committee  for  division  among


WAR  MANUFACTURES  IN  RAILWAY  WORKSHOPS.    609

individual  companies  on  the  basis  of  the  monthly  estimates  was  thus
£16,550,447.
