IN BRITAIN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8465, 2 June 1916, Page 6

IN BRITAIN.

CONDUCT OF THE WAR-

ATTACKS ON LORD KITCHENER

SPOUTED DEFENCE BY Mil

ASQUITH

LONDON, May 31

In the Houso of Commons, Mr H. J. Tennant, Under-Secretary for War, said every effort was being made to increase tho ril!e strength of the Army by removing the/younger men from the Army Service, '/and Ordnance Corps,' but this could (nob be done wholesale 1.

Mr Tonu.'int said tho troops in Croat JSritnin consisted of sick u.-ul wounded, those in training, others waiting to de-

part, and tho necessary number for homo defence.

Sir Ivor Herbert moved (.hat Lord Kite-honor's salary bo reduced by £100. Ho declared Unit our great failure had boon the absence ol' any well-considered scheme at the beginning of the war. Tho oe.ntraiisa.tion at the War Oflioo had never boon so severe. There ought to have been an early oonfej-ence of representatives of industry to arrive at an understanding. A full inquiry into tho Dardanelles affair was urgently wooded.

Sir A. B. Markham said Lord Kitchener had been stripped of every vestige- of authority. "What was the use of having a Minister of War when Mr Asquith liad to go to tho front to discover tho shortage of machine-guns!' Lord Kitchener gave no orders for the. necessary materials until Mr Asquith came on the scene. JNo other belligerent had shielded incompetence. Mr Tennant had been made the butt for much of Lord Kitchener's stupidity. Colonel Winston Churchill said that he believed that half the Army's nation strength was remaining sit Home and half abroad. Half was fighting and half was not. Three-quarters of tho fighters were employed as infantry in the trenches. These sustained nearly all tho casualties. He declared that the proportion of men in tho trenches could easily bo raised, especially by tho transference of young able-bod ii Men from other brandies to tho trenohes. Tho proportion of 'rifles was an unduly low one, and 500,000 men were employed on the "British lines of communication. The strength of the fighting units should have been 1 . up. Tho Staffs in Groat Britain could bo reduced by half, and young men ought to supersede retired officers who had boen reinstated.

Mr Asquith: That is being done,

The motion was negatived

Mr Asquith said ho believed there was no larger proportion of non-fight-ers in the British Army than in those of other Powers, but tho Government was taking the most effective steps to use a larger proportion in the fightingline. Sir William Robertson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and other Staff officers, had visited the' front, and made suggestions resulting in the disproportion being substantially reduced.

Thank Hoaven, continued Mr As-. quith, we were not likoly to be invaded, but the risk could not be neglected. Tho only troops kept in Britain wore tho numbers th.pt the Navy and Army authorities jointly considered necessary - for absolute security. The number of Staff officers had been considerably reduced. Mr Asquith defended the Staff officers, somo of whom were tho best in Europe, but they had been unable to respond to all the new demands of our growing Army. The Government's policy was to promote young men with brains and fresh ideas and experience regardless of red tape or military etiquette. Mr Asquith warmly championed Lord Kitchener, to whom the Army, the country, and the whole Empire owed a debt that could not be measured, by words. The charge levelled at Lord Kitchener should' also have been aimed at the Government. Mr Asquith said ho acoepted his share of responsibility, because he had been closely associatf with all that Lord Kitchener had done.

Sir George Reid said that Lord Kitchener's was almost the only. English name which aroused a sympathetic echo in the Dominions oversea. His most serious fault was that he was not adept at advertising himself.' Lord Kitchener was also a relentless enemy of the "foather-bod" soldier and tho disloyal subordinate.

Mr Asquith said lie was not going to say that Lord Kitchener had never mado a- mistake in ono of the most arduous undertakings a. human being had over had to fa-ce. No other man in tho Empire could have been sum mono'! in so short a time and gained :suc;li satisfactory and bewildering results in forming an enormous army. Surveying the 22"months of the war with its unforeseeable events, and hazards' of

kaleidoscopic variety, and remembering the size of tho army with vl--we started, there was no fair-mind'.^ man who would not pay his triliute of respect and appreciation for Lord Kitchener's services.

GALLANT SCOTTISH TROOPS

WIN UNDYING GLORY AT LOOS

LONDON, Juno 1. A remarkable passage in Colonel Winston Churchill s .speech in the Houso of Commons, revealed the fate of the premier division of Scotland.in the battle of Loos. Of 9500 men who went'into the fight, 6000 were killed or wounded. Some battalions lost three-quarters of thenstrength. Nearly all the Scottish battalions achieved their task, and gained some most important positions, which wero only lost at a later stage of the operations, when tlu-ywere handed over to other troops. /l A battalion of the Cameron Highlanders went into action 30 officers and 850 men strong. The- colonel, who was Cameron, of Lochiel, the adjutant, and 110 men survived. Yet they took and held their objective. Four successive linos of men were swept away, but tho fifth went on. The remnant of the troops who were shattered during tho first days of the battle wero collected, ana 1200 of them wero asked two days later to make another attack. They wont- over the parapet of their trench and renewed the attack with tho utmost elan.

Colonel Churchill added: "Talk about*

] Balaclava and the charge oi' tho Fusi- / liors at AVbuera! These events palo beYore the deeds dor.o at the present day by divisions raised in the British islands, and only a jejouno account of their glory has been published. "Four 'battalions, of thit> primary division of Scotland have been 'disbanded'and merged into other battalions. "Tho South African Brigade has taken their places, and tho Scottish officers and men aiv scattered to tho winds, regardless oi' their regimental tins."