THE COMING VICTORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16266, 27 June 1916, Page 6

THE COMING VICTORY.

The interview with Mr. Lloyd George published in the Paris Journal, in which the British Minister pays a glowing tribute to the courage and devotion of the French nation, is full of vigorous commonsense. In the past most of Mr. Lloyd George public utterances have contained a distinct note of warning, a suggestion of the possibility of defeat unless the nation strained every nerve to win. His "too late" speech has been frequently quoted; his early reports on the progress of munition-making were not always comforting. Now he looks forward confidently to an Allied victory and to a peace on terms that Germany will understand. As Minister for Munitions, Mr. Lloyd George speaks with the fullest knowledge when he says that the production of big guns and heavy shells is still increasing, and that every week adds to the strength of the Allies. We may take it that his prediction that the battle of Verdun will prove decisive, and that henceforward Germany's offensive will shrink, is based on the best available military information. The victory to which Mr. Lloyd George looks forward is " a smashing military victory." It may not come swiftly, but in his view it is certain, and will be so complete as to de-! \ stroy Prussian militarism and pro- j tect civilisation from a repetition ofj the present calamity. Nothing more i I cheering has been said by any British Minister since the commenceI ment of the war. It is a new tone for Mr. Lloyd George, but it is a tone fully justified by the result of the Verdun battles and by what we know of the immense German wastage on all the battle-fronts.