A HOUSE DIVIDED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 167, 14 July 1908, Page 5

A HOUSE DIVIDED.

CABINET AND WAR OFFICE. SUBVERSIVE SCHEMES ~~ HATCHED. REDUCTION PROPOSALS. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, July 13. "The Times' " military correspondent refers to mysterious inquiries by "tyros" into the War Office expenditure. They have been allowed, he says, to bombard Mr. Haldane (the Minister for War) with empirical proposals aiming at the reduction or destruction of the army. He adds that an inquiry is proceeding within the Cabinet itself, and is devoid of excuse. Mr. Haldane, the correspondent says, must stick to his guns, as Lord Salisbury dri m the eighties. If he is ousted by cabal, the correspondent hopes that his colleagues on the Army Council will also retire, and that the generals will not consent to a national disgrace. "The Times," in its leader, argues that several utterances of Mr. Lloyd-George (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) show that his mind is running upon a reduction of the national establishments. Rumour, it continues, points to a dead set in the Cabinet against Mr. Haldane and his army scheme, while Mr. Lloyd-George's language leaves little doubt that he is willing to profit by these unworthy" intrigues. "The Times" concludes by appealing to the Cabinet's common sense to suppress subversive schemes hatched in its midst so that the safety of the Empire will not be sacrificed to the miserable exigencies of party strife. It emphasises the unrest which exists jn India, while our Egyptian garrison, it says, i s below the point of safety, and even Gibraltar is inadequately garrisoned. « Last week the "Daily Telegraph" asserted that a section of the Cabinet, including Mr. Lloyd-George and Mr. Winston Churchill, contemplated further reducing the army by 30,000 men, reducing the Household Cavalry to one regiment, and also reducing the Royal Garrison Artillery and Royal Engineers. The "Telegraph" appeals to Mr. Asquith to support Mr. Haldane in resisting proposals calculated to bring into grave peril the safety and honour of the country.