DEMAND FOE ENORMOUS SACRIFICES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3013, 26 February 1917, Page 7

DEMAND FOE ENORMOUS SACRIFICES

MEETING THE SUBMARINE ■ PERIL ' \ " MEASURES FOR SAVING DRASTIC RESTRICTIONS - v{ r ;'IMPOiSED , By Telcirraph-Presc Assooiation-'Coryrielit i (Rec. February 25, 5.5 p."m.) 1 . . London, February 23. / Mr. Lloyd George, in the House of Commons, referring to the submarine pfclockade, epoke'with jgreat emphasis, and said: "While the Government is : hopeful that we will be able to deal with the menace, we should be guilty ttof criminal folly.if we rested our policy on a tranquil anticipation of our liability to realise that -hope." I want the House and the country to realise 'that we must be able to carry on the war to a viotorious end, however long lit lasts, even though we fail to hunt the _ submarines from the deep. \\e icannot build our plans on any other policy." He proceeded.to show; that whatever measures were adopted, complete .immunity from piratical attacks was impossible. He the wars or (Louis XIV. At Trafalgar we commanded the sea; .but 100 of our snips .'■ were.sunk annually: Hence the necessity for concentrating on the tonnage .question, which was the really vital problem. Enemy's Efforts to Destroy Our Mercantile Marine. After referring to the immense demands made by the Allies on tne'. .-tonnage, the Premier said: "The Germans concentrated'upon building submarines in order to destroy our mercantile marine. They fully- realised .that,was the only effective way of putting out of action what they considered to be the most formidable item in. the Alliance, but the Government Tire proposing measures which -we think will be adequate.- They will jrcan .an enormous sacrifice on the part of every class in the community, and tne jiational grit is going to be tested 1 ." • . ' , .He went, on to point out-Jn the twelve months before the war ittty ™uliou tons of shippiijg entered British ports; in the last twelve months that Jiad been reduced to -thirty millions. The reduction was' attributable almost exclusively to the fact tnat a very large portion of the tonnage had been iallooated to the Allies. Over a million tons of our shipping had been allo'fcated to France alone, and a considerable amount to Russia and Italy; also a considerable amount sunk. It-was not only the shortage for general needs of the nation, but also : for military-purposes, and* the nation must bo prepared for drastic sacrifices ;to cope with submariniem, otherwise disastor confronted u-s. The tonnage problem must therefore Ira tackled,ruthlessly . and promptly by naval measures, building new ships, dispensing with unnecessary imports, and- increasing the home food -production. . Utilising the Shipyards to Their Utmost Capacity. Thd shipyards must be utilised to the utmost for anti-submarine craft as "Xell as merchantmen. He was convinced after an examination of the problem and hearing what the employers and workmen had said that the <™jP u Could be very considerably increased by an alteration in the methods. VVner-tever-payment by results had been introduced, there bad been an increase m ' She output of the shipbuilding yards of from twenty to forty per cent. He Jmado a special appeal to the unions concerned in shipbuilding to consent ■ito the introduction of these methods. In some yards -they had already been /introduced. ' It also involved! an undertaking on the part of employers that 4f the large wages earned by the men result in a special effort, no advantage Smust be taken of that to reduce the rate. It is certain that if they have 'any intention of doing anything cf the kind, not merely the Government, bub 'the House of Commons also would deprecate the attempt. It was essential ■* Ito get as much work as-possible out of the yards, not merely for building iships of tho mercantile'marine, but also for. craft to cope with the submarines. (hir shipbuilding capacity was the'greatest in the world, but it was lately adequate for the gigantic task. The French and Russian contributions jwere very substantial, but the' mail bidden was on the shoulders of .Britain,\ i'hioh could it successfully right to the end. Developing and Increasing Home Production. Coming to increased home production, he said Iha.t of the 6,400,000 tons if timber imported last year, two million toils were for pit props; the remainder for the military forces, here and in France. Ho referred to the comjimittee's' suggestion of increased economy in timber, and he was making arrangements to carry out the_ suggestion. Another suggestion was making the | l Army in France self-supporting in this respect. If we managed to secure a haumber of forests in France and labour to cut down, the timber there would f-be au enormous saving in tonnage in respect of timber. ' The third method of developing home supplies was by making Britain fcelf-supporting duringthe war. Not long- ago this was done. That was a Question they were devoting themselves to. He believed several hundreds of. (thousands, if not minions, of' tons o'f shipping could be saved. He appeal-' led to woodmen arid foresters to enrol and offer their services as meii of . ithe Army and assisting the State. He would then appeal to tho thousands tof unskilled labpurers to assist the foresters. There was no branch of national activity where so much tonnage would be saved as in the cutting of . Himber. Soheme For Using Britain's Low-grade iron Ore. •Next, dealjjQcr'with iron ore, Mr. Lloyd George said : 'We were importing Ltaillions. of tons yearly and cannot cut down the supply. It was essential. Sfor shipbuilding, machinery, munitions,, and agriculture, and we must find 'Iships for "this purpose at ail costs or diminish the efficiency of the Amiy and ' Navy, and that would be folly. Unless the minerals in this country, and .there was plenty of it, of rather low grade, but tho quality was good. It did' ; oiot pay as a commercial proposition.- It was cheaper to' get better class ore fjfrom Spain. But this was not a commercial proposition, it was a proposi- ' Aion of getting oro at all, without using up tonnage. It involved an increase >in blast furnaces and more labour. There was no margin in the supply of (highly skilled men who worked in blast furnaces, and he specially appealed ■to both employers and workers to assist in this matter. For unskilled men -musTtrust the people. ' N We Must Cure the Farmer of His plough Fright, f Dealing with food supplies, he said twenty years after the .Corn Laws Avere abolished we produced twice as'much wheat as wo imported. Since then ,>four to fivo million acres of arable land had becomo pasture, and about half ihe-agricultural labour population had migrated to the towns._ No civilised bountry in'the world spent less, even as little,, directly or indirectly, as we 'did. He wanted tho country to know that food stocks were lower than within .[recollection'. ' In the main this was due to the worst harvest within recollection. Last year the crops were a failure, and this had a very serious effect our tonnage was being. absorbed to such an extent in the war. It was Essential for the safety and life of the nation that we'"put forth immediately Wery effort to increase the production this year, otherwise the nation may have'to choose .between diminishing its- military effort or underfeeding its (population. Lack of labour was' partly the reason which has prevented the farmers increasing cultivation as promised. An effort will be made to meet ifchis by not calling up agricultural able-bodied men, but the greatest obstacle was the timidity of fanriers to cut up pastures. It was no good arguing. The farmer must bo given confidence. Wo must cure _tlie farmer of Jiis plough fright, otherwise wo will not get the crops. He did not believe prices were goiyg down immediately after the war. Germany after the war ■would be a greater purchaser than ever, because her land has been let down, (that was true of the whole of Europe. The crop-raising land of Europe would not raise as much per acre as before the war; it had been impoverished and ibecome unclean, and it would take years to make it as.good harvest-raising Soil as before- Tho demand_ for.foreign food would be greater than ever, and he thought there would be high prices for somo time after the war, but we 'cannot persuadq the farmer of that. It was necessary to persuade him of it, twd to do so within the next few days. ; Ho mentioned several corollaries to guaranteed prices, including a minijnum.'wage to agricultural labourers, no rent-raising power, and to enforce (cultivation- guaranteed. The prices of oats in 1917 would bo 38s. 6cL, and in 1918 to 1919 425. 6d., on .to 1920 to 1922 inclusive. The guaranteed price JoE potatoes this year-would be six pounds per ton. He hoped after theso guarantees the farmers > would put their backs into it and help defeat the greatest menace that had over threatened the country. Restrictions on the Imports of Printing Paper, 'As the measures be had so far outlined would not materialise for Imonths, we had to consider what the nation could do without. Reviewing the committee's report/regarding dispensable and indispensable articles, he dealt * first with paper, which absorbed a good deal of tonnage. He expected to restrict imports which would be distributed equally between the printing and packing trades. ._ The importation of printed master, books, _ and porioaicals /would be prohibited altogether, otherwise it would bo unfair to our home irade. . . . • Embargo on Non-Essentlal Foodstuffs. Ln regard- to foodstuffs, lie said we imported a large quantity nonessential for the national wellbeing, al though very desirable. Ho outlined the Various articles that would be affected. Oranges, bananas, grapes, almonds, iind nuts would be reduced to 25 per cent, of tho 1915 imports, and canned fealmon would be reduced by 50 per cent. Mineral waters would bo prohibited, and cocoa and cottee temporarily stopped' as wo had large'stocks of thom. The importation of foroign tea (was prohibited, while even tho importation- 1 of Indian tea would bo reduced to a certain extent. u ± We must to a much larger extent depend upon home-grown oats. Taking all these categories of feeding stuff s _ together, he hoped to savo fever nine hundred .thousand tons per annum, which showed the extent wo relied on foreign countries for such commodities. . Then there were tho manufactured articles, and articles ol luxury. .We Save to stop the importation of a very considerable number of these. He roeretted' the stoppage of importations from ltaly and Franco, which would be p ' ~ '. ' '

ft Mow to certain industries; but we wore driven to it nob only for ourselves, but for the sake of Franco and Italy. He was sure if these countries had to choose between tho two, they would prefer saying ships for othor purposes. Drastio Reduction in the Manufacture of Boer. Referring next to the importations for the manufacturo of liquor, ho declared he would not approach this question from the standpoint ot temperance or national sobriety, however desirable that might be, but purely as a matter of coping with the. submarine monace, and guaranteeing the nation against the possibility of famino and privation. These were the considerations which induced the Government to decide that it would be impossible to continue to sanction the absorption of such enormous tonnage ior foodstuffs in grain, and as long as the na'tjon was faced with the prospect there would bo a shortage of essential food. He stated that iri_ 1914 thsrQ wero 36 000,000 standard barrels o£ beer brawed in this country; in lJlo it was reduced to 26,000,000, the result being partly, due to two or three million adults leaving Britain, and not muoh beer exported to the Army in Iranee. It was not possible to guarantee food for tho country without taking a deeper cut into the barrelago, and must reduco it to 10,000,000 barrels. That would nearly six hundred thousand tons for feeding stuns per annum, which was'iioarly a month's supply of cereals. Ttat » dir°°» saving, but in an indirect shape the increased tonnage and relief of congested traffic on the railways would be greater. He considered that ire must guard against driving the population from beer to spirits,_ which would be a serious disaster; therefore, he was imposing corresponding restrictions on the supplies of spirits. "We Can Faoa tho Worst tho Enemy Gart Do." ■ There were other restrictions, such as leather and raw hides, but he had given in tho main a summary of the restrictions and proposed to'impose them immediately. He appealed to the House and the country to take tliom as a whole. "If all those called upon to suffer restrictions and limitations suffer then) without complaint, then I honestly say .we can face tho worst the eneruv can. do. If it were conceivable that, the _ nation was not prepared to do and endure all these things then I say, with all solemnity, I do not know of any body of honourable men who would undertake to ne responsible for baa tour for this terrible war,"' Nation Must Take Its Share of tho Sacrificos. Mr. Lloyd George, concluding his speech, said there were millions of gallant youiig men in the various theatres of the war facing torture and the terror of death, and daring and doing. They were the flower ot the race and unless the nation was prepared to take its share of the sacrifices theirs would be in vain. It would be a crime, a black crime, of any Government to aslc them to risk .their lives in the coming conflict it they knew the nation, behind them was faint-hearted and selfish, for their sacrifices would be thrown away. For that reason he submitted to the House and the nation the pr<ft>osals which he hoped the nation would approve and endeavour to carry out with -unflinching and ungrudging heart. The House of Commons was crowded and among those present were air.W. ,F. Massey ar.d Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada. CRITICAL SPEECH BY A FORMER MINISTER (Rec. February 25, 5.5 p.m.) • London, February.23. Mr Walter Ruiiciman, who was President of the Board of Trade in the Awraitli Ministry, in a critical speech said the Premier's 6tatenient was very grave. The imports were cut down a year ago, and it had not been possible to act more drastically then, for it was necessary to have a healthy public opinion, which could; only he fostered by the Press. The Governmeiiu should carefully consider the accumulations of paper by wealthy concerns and' arrang© for pooling the paper supplies on an equitable basis.—-Aus.-N.Z, Cable Assn. FORMIDABLE LIST OF PROHIBITED IMPORTS 1 : ■ (Rec. February 25, 5.5 p.m.) London, February '24. . In addition to the''articles Mr. Lloyd George mentioned, the Gazette issued prohibits tie importation of agricultural machinery; antimony-ware; apparel, except waterproofed!; works of art; baskotwa-rej books; printed matter; daily, weekly, and other periodicals, imported otherwiso than in.single copies through the post; boots and shoes, and materials therefor; brandy; cotton hosiery; clocks; embroidery lace; fancy goods; artificial and fresh flowers; raw fruit, except lemons; bitter oranges; glass manufactures; nats; gloves; hides, raw jute, leather; linen, including manufactures;., matting; printers colours; perfumery; photographic apparatus; plated wire; ram; tinned salmon and lobsters; silk manufactures; manufactures of skins and furs; soya beans; sugar; tea: typewriters; wine of all kinds; wood; timber, hewn, sawn, split, planed, and; dressed. The prohibition operates forthwith, but does not apply to goods imported under Board of Trade license. The speech gave rise to the impression that meat imports would he severely restricted, but this proved! unfounded. The Gazette does not mention meat. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. VOLUNTARY RATIONING BEING EVADED •/ (Rec. February 25,' 5.5 p.m!) London, February 24. Speaking in the House of Common s, Mr. Walter Long, Secretary, of State for the Colonies, said that voluntary rationing, to somo extent, was being evaded. He wamod tho Houso against haste m adopting compulsory rationing lest worse should befall them as had already been the caso in Germany. • He believed that if a little time wero allowed the people would keep the rationing system. The Dominions and colonies were affected by tlie restrictions and felt them severely, bub met the Government in a. spirit of extreme generosity and goodwill. Regarding home production and the fixing of prices,_ Mr. Lloyd George wished him to say that two years .before the "period of six years terminated the Government proposed tliat the . whole thing should he reconsidered with a view to settling _ what ought to happen when the six years has expired. As a practical farmer himself, he would say that the prices for the cereals named by Mr. Lloyd George would not open up to farmers such a goldo n prospect as was likely to tempt them to break up land that would be more beneficial to them liuder the hoof than the plough—Reuter.