THE WAR CALL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3133, 11 July 1917, Page 5

THE WAR CALL

HAS NEW ZEALAND DONE ENOUGH? •DEFENCE MINISTER SAYS "NONEW ZEALAND CASUALTIES ABOUT THE FOURTH BRIGADE "This House must face the issues connected with the maintenance of our reinforcements at tho present rale," said Dr. A. K. Newman (Wellington East) in the Houso of Representatives yesterday. "I believe that we did right to send forward large bodies of men in the early part of; the war. Britain wns in jeopardy and New Zealand was in jeopardy. •Bat the conditions have changed. We ■have all taken a wrong view 'of this fwar. We thought it was going to be a short, sharp struggle. We know now that wo were, wrong. Tho war has continued for nearly threo years, and tho ■end is not in Bight. Nobody can say when it is going to end. AH we do jknow is that the war is going to continue for two or thTec years. We tought to face that fact.

havo sent to the front or put anto camp up to the present about 85,(100, tbo flower of the manhood of New Zealand. I am going to ask this House if we have not nearly reached tho limit. {After sending all those men away wo are /face to face with this issue: New Zealand cannot go on sending men to the front at tho present Tato and at the Same time producing the quantities of foodstuffs that wo are now producing. Is it moro important for'us to solid away men than it is to produce foodstuffs? "I am satisfied, in tho light of information I gathered in the Mother Country, that we' havo sent nearly enough men to tho front, and that our 'duty now is to concentrate on tho pro'duction of foodstuffs. , Wo have been 'depleting the farms of 'necessary labour for threo years. Tho - process cannot •continue, indefinitely. There is going to be a very serious deoline in production if we send many more men. "I say that England hardly requires any more men from, ns, for this .reason. The Prime Minister quoted the other day the fact that Sir William Robertson had nsked him iu February to send more men,; but since that tinm the situation bad changed.' Tho United States jJms entered the war, and Russia has renewed her activity. There are going to be millions of men available for carrying on the war. A few thousand additional men from New Zealand will be 'but a drop in the bucket as far as the .fighting forces are concerned, bnt they .irill mean a very great deal to this country m tho maintenance of production. Jery high authorities are stating that there is going to be a world-wide famine. The nations are all fightiwr, and the millions of men they have put the field have ceased to produce. Tt is most important under these condii' 0! V» that New Zealand's wodnotion of loodstuffs should be maintained. Foodstuffs Essential. , "Britain is called upon to supply .trance and Italy with foodstuffs. She has ransacked tho world for food. Tho resources of Asia and South America Jave been used as far as possible, and food has been drawn from' all available guarters. The demand for foodstuffs is imperative, and it is bound to become teener as the war proceeds. It is for the Government and the members of this House to take into consideration the question of sending away more men. J believe that New Zealand has abouJ reached the limit. We havo never missed a single contingent. Our men have gone away regularly month by month. Canada and Australia have both missed contingents. New Zealand has never paused, tut tho question .now is whether the country has not got a bit out of brpath. The manhood .of this Dominion has been more depleted than tho manhood of any other part.of the. Empire except Britain."

Dr. Newman added that Britain had withdrawn men from the Army in order to increase the production of foodstuffs. New Zealand had done a groat deal more than it originally promised, and he thought it should pause now until Canada and Australia caught up New Zealand in the proportion of men sent to the front. He proceeded to refer to the needs of the Second Division men. If the present rate of reinforcement was to be continued and the Second Division was going to be mobilised, then Parliament would have to make adequate financial provision for the married soldiers. "1 do not see how we can force men with wives and children dependent upon them to go to the front unless wo make adequate provision for the maintenance of their homes," said Dr. Newman. "Are we going to ask these men to break up ;thcir homes, sell their furniture, spend itheir small. savings and leave their families to eke out an existence on the present pay and allowances? I say that we must provide for these men properlv if they are going to the .front. We snail ■have to face the financial responsibility. My own feeling is that the time is coming when we should pause and consider whether or not we can afford or ore called upon to make further demands upon our men. We have a relatively onormous force at the front, and New Zealand has been outrageously depleted. /We have done more than we ever pro'misedjto do." THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE A VIGOROUS REPLY. The Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) referred to the supply of reinforcements later in the day,,and made a strong appeal for the maintenance of reinforcements. He quoted figures regarding the casualties of the New Zealand Expeditionary, Force, and gave some information regarding the requirements of the future. .

The Ministor said that in the early stages of the war he had been urged in many quarters tp send more men. Be had stipulated always that Whatever main bodies the Dominion created must be maintained at their full strength by means of regular and adequate reinforcements until the close of the war. He had not changed his views in any re: •spect. New Zealand's duty was to maintain the forces she had" put into the field.

Mr. Payne: Even if you bleed New Zealand to death.

Sir James Allen: If we v-ere to kse this war v;ould not Now /calami Meed to death? It would bo a, worse bleeding. The Minister .proceeded to f-ay that yewZealand's forces had grown gradually and represented the expressed wishes of the Imperial authorities. The main bodies had been created, and now they jnust be maintained without flinching. It had been suggested that tho Dominion was sending too many reinforcements. Tho reinforcements had been based on definite monthly .reinforcements fixed by the. War Office. Tho percentage had been changed from time to time. "T hope/' said Sir James Allen, "that as a result of experience and because tho casualty rate is not as high as was anticipated, tho War Office will be able to see its w.ay to reduce tho percontngo or reinforcements. Jf tho War Office cannot do this, thon it will remain tho duty of this country to supply reinforcements in accordance with the scale already fixed. We must maintain the strength of our forces in the field until Hie war is won. New Zealand's Forces. . The total number of men sent to the front up to the present time, including the Samoau Force, had been 74,000. Thero were 9024 men in the training camps, and the grand total of the Dominion's contribution under all headings was 5G.402. .Four months would elapse beforo the last of the men at present in camp left New Zealand. In other words, it would be four months before the Dominion had sent away 86,000 men. Then it had to be remembered that 10,547 men had returned to New Zealand, and of these 8573 had ■ been discharged. No fewer than 1238 of the returned men had Te-onlisted. Ho did not think the Second Division men would have been unwilling to take tho places of those retimed men.

Tho Minister referred to the work of the Maoris, am! said he was suro tho Nalivea nf New Zealand did not wish to aeo their representation at the front decreased. Niuo Islanders and Karatongans had gone to 'tho front and done their duty. Tho Karatongans serving in Palestine had received special thanks from the officer commanding. Tho work of the Now Zealand Tunnelling Corps had been s.nlcndid. Would the miners like to see their main .body decreased because-the Dominion was not plucky enough to see the fight through? Tho Minister said it: was not rcccssnry for him to tell the story of .tho bnttles in which Now Zealanders had won fame. But that story should be remembered by the people who talked of reducing reinforcements. The suggestion had been made that New Zealand was "bleeding to death." Ho would reply that already 10 317 men had returned to New Zealand. The great majority of them, he hoped, had resumed their activity in connection with the civilian life of the Dominion. Tho Government wns e"deavouring to get its men back as soon_ as they bad ceased to be (it for service, but the submarine campaign created difficulties in this respect. Warnings .had been given by the Imperial authorities that .hospital ships were not safe, and regard had to be given to this fact.

Tho Casualty Lists. "Tho casualty list of the New Zealand Army is a heavy one," continued tho Minister, ft is because, of these casualties that the need exists for reinforcements. Over '20,000 men have suffered casualties up to July 3. I moro than regret to say that of that total over 7500 men will never see New Zealand again. It is a big total, which has not been published before. We did not like to publish it, but the time has come when wo must. One hundred men are missing, and 71 are prisoners of war. Some 18,879 New Zcalandors have been wounded." He added that up to .May, 1017, .the proportion of wounded men who had recovorcd and returned to the front had been 61 per cent. Some of the men had been wounded several times. It was no pleasure for the Minister of Defence to call upon married men for service. But he felt that he had a solemn duty to the men who had gone and to the men who bad found graves in foreign soil. The, spirit of these men called to New Zealand to-day to keep up the main bodies to full strength until thetwar had been won. The war might end this year, and in that ca"se it would not be necessary to call on the Second Division, but if the war continued into 1018 the Second Division would be called upon for duty, and he knew wbnt the response would bo. Doubts had been expressed about the response of the First Division men. He had been told that balloted men were, going to put obstacles in the way, but tin balloted men had played the game.' Thev had done their duty as well .as no volunteer, and be had no doubt what the reply would be if he found it necessary to call upon the Second Division men. • . , The formation of a Fourth Brigade, said the Minister, had been quoted as a proof that New Zealand was sending too many reinforcements. The demand for tho 'creation of that brigade had come' from the War Office, which had requested permission to use New Zealand reinforcements, accumulated during the winter months, in order to form an extra brigade "for a special purpose. I am not at liberty to say what that snecinl purpose is," said the Minister. "I don't think the Fourth Brigade has been called upon yet. I venture to predict that when- the time conies w» shall be as prond of the Tecord of the Fourth Brigade as we are of the division." Dr. Thacker: What about General Godlcy? , , The Minister: General Godley had nothing to do with it. Dii Thacker: He might have suggested it.

The Minister: T can contradict that; he did not suggest it. T happen to have made inquiries on that point. Br. Thncker: You mnst have suspected it .or you would not have inquired. Sir .Tamos Allen said that if the casualMies should in the future be heavy the Fourth Brigade might be broken up and used to reinforce the division. Tn conclusion, he said that it had been suggested that New Zealand should stand nut because the United States had come in. He was sorry that any New Zealaiider who claimed to be a. New Zealander should suggest I hat his country should drop out when the climax was approaching, and when the Dominion soldiers sl.ouid bo there lo see the finish and share the glory and the honour. When could the Americans come in? New Zealand knew something now of the trainine of men who had pone through the Territorial scheme. ' The United States had a fairly larg? nronosition to face before it could eet half a million men to the front. If five million Americans were going to the front he as a New Zealander 1 would be ashamed tn ask his country to relax its efforts. "Our men want to be in at the finish." he added, "and we want to foel that we have done our part to the end, never shirking, never growing weary, never becoming downhearted."