The Need for Effort.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15356, 13 August 1915, Page 6

The Need for Effort.

Xew Zealand, in its relation to the war, sometimes seems to be in tho same position as the individual voter to whom conscientious newspapers make their appeal when an election is coming due. His vote is "a drop in tho bucket," but it may make all the difference; and in any event it is his duty to vote, whatever the result is like# to be, -jfi much for his own sake a« for the fiako of tho cause ho supports In a war which cost 3in money nearly as much every 24 hours as tha New Zealand Government spends on all purposes in a year, and which costs in lives every month almost tho equivalent of the whole able-bodied male population of this country, tho very most New Zealand can do cannot be very much. But our country must do it. It has the satisfaction of knowing that the assistance it has given has had appreciable results and is anything but negligible. At the same time sober peoplo feel acutely tho sharp limitations of our position. Wo can furnish men, -which is tho great thing. We can furnish money, too, which is also good, but -wo should all feel happier if we could furnish munitions. Money for machine-guns can bo got in plenty if tho thing is well pushed, but a machine-gun itself might bo of much more service than the prico of two. This and other limitations must be borne with patience, and should not discourage us, but spur us on to make the best fight possible against them. Yesterday we wrote upon tho folly of tho optimism which was excusable enough a year ago, and it ia a theme which cannot be too often treated. We have all assumed, and wo may with justice continuo to assume, that victory ia our due, to quoto ono of Mr Lloyd George's phrases, "as a tribute " from fate" ; but victory cannot bo expected to come without organisation and strong effort. There lias been much to regret, and much to atono for, in the Empire's management of tho war, but nothing at all to cause despair. This is Germany's wai; and Germany's knowledge of what the war would be liko, nnd of what preparations would be necessary, was as great as Britain's ig. noranco and tho ignorance of tha rest of the world. As one of tho members of tho late British Cabinet put it:

"Time showed many things which had not been realised at the beginning of the war by the late Government. "We had no idea at the commencement of the war of the large proportion of high-exploHivo shells which now appear to bo required. '"We nad no knowledge then of the kind of guus which were most effective m connexion with trench warfare. '"We had no idea of the number of machinc-guiis which could be used bo effectively in a war of this kind "We had no knowledge of the character of the hand grenades which aro verv largely used in tho field. "And so I could go on. What I want the House to realise is that we hav* gained a great deal of knowledge by the experience we have had."

Germany expected that tho war would be over before the Allies had learned how to fight and what to do. - Her expectation has not been fulfilled, and its non-fulfilment meais that she must be beaten. The fact that victory for the Allies is certain is no reason for slackness on the- part of anybody. The

! war must not only be won, but must be paid for in blood and gold, and ifc is everybody's business to do his best to .<ee that tho price shall be. as low as it can possibly be made. From the material point of view a victory which came after fi/o years of war would be almost as terrible as defeat. It i*. not merely victory that the Allies are aimirg at, but victory at the earliest possible moment. Tlie i alternatives are not defeat and victory, but a good victory and a ruinously costly one With that simple fact before him every sane poraon must realiso that effort and sclf-sacrificc are supremely necessary.

The meeting, reported in our cnblo news to-day, which has urged th<> British Government to take forthwith whatever steps are necessary to prevent any more eotton frora reaching Germany is the outcome of a lenpthv notation. With, out cotton Germany would he almost helpless, for cotton is the basis of all the modern propulsive explosives. Germany cannot grow cotton, and there is no safe and eificient substitute for it. "Although late," an eminent British chemist declared recently, "it is within our power eventually to starve the German guns. For the last ten months cotton has been freely going in, and has had the effect of prolonging the war. It has given the enemy the means to force thb Russians back, and hold us off German soil, and to carry out what we are now anxious to do —that is, to save men's lives by spending shells. Shortly there will bo a new crop ready for shipment." The suggestion has been made that America's interests can be preserved by the purchase, by the British Government, of the whole cotton crop, or at any rate of all the supply for Europe over and above tho normal requirements of neutral nations. The American grower, however, wants war prices, and Germany will naturally pay almost anything for cotton. Reference was made at the meeting to the enormous increase in Sweden's

cotton imports. Other >ieutral countries. however, have? been buying enormously. During tip; twelve months prior to t'w< outbreak of war Holland imported 105,(KJ0 bales. That was lier normal consumption. In the next nine months her imports jumped to 419.370 bales. Norway imported nine times, and Sweden over .seven limes as much, in the first nine month $ oi war. as in the twelve months preceding. The total consumption of Holland. Sweden. .Norway, and Denmark during the 12 months ending July .'list. 191-1. was 2413,189 bah-*. In tne nine months following, these countries imported 1,'158,339 bales. G.ern'any obviously was tho real consumer of the "extra million bales. "\\ hat has been done cannot b? undone, but if li-itain cares to make legitimate use of her control of the seas she can put an end to German purchases. The neutral countries can object to effective British action on b hv standing on the rights obtained from their neutrality, and obviously neutrality rights cannot be pleaded in defence of conduct which cannot reasonably be called neutral at all.

One of the most striking proofs of the systematic manner in which Germany organised for war is the evidence now forthcoming that for many years pest she has been accumulating stocks of metals vital to war, the main supplies of which had to bo obtained from oversea. Nickel, for instance, comes from New Caledonia and Canada, but Germany accumulated such immense stocks that even after a year of war they have apparently not been exhausted. Another metal which is in great demand is zinc—or "spelter." as it is called in the trade—which is largely used in the manufacture of cartridge cases. Germany seems to "have got into her own hands the extraction of zinc from tho ore, and apparently captured the whole output of Australia. When, in consequence of the war, the price of spelter in England rose from £22 a ton to £115 a ton—a price reached last June—tho British Government, which needless to say had made no provision at all before the war. came to tho conclusion that something must bo done. In the first place it approached the dealers, and asked them not to sell nny of the highest grade except for cartridgemaking. Second, they were asked to stato what they had under their control, and certain quantities were acquired by the Government, at what were considered fair prices to be held as a reserve. It was clear, however, that what was wanted was an increased production of the metal. Thero was no lack of zinc ore, but tho smelting works wero lamentably few, it having been found cheaper to import tho zinc from Germany and Belgium than to smelt the oro in England. Our telegrams this morning show that a company has been formed to purchase tho German combine's Swansea Vale Zinc Smelting Works, with the object of increasing the output of spelter from 5000 to 25,0C0 tons por annum, tho zinc ore being imported from Burmah. ! There was a suggestion that supplies j might be, obtained from Australia, but the position thero seems to bo tangled up German contracts, or what are said to bo German contracts, in a way not at all intelligible to an outsider.

As regards other metals, it appears from an articlo in the London "Times," that there is no difficulty in regard to lead, which comes from Australia, the United Sta,tes, and Spain, or antimony —which comes from the Far East, and is used for hardening bullets—or copper. which is obtained from tho United States, Australia, Chili, and Spain. But. of course, all these metals are rising in prico in consequence of tho war-demand.