BRITAIN’S GREAT WAR EFFORT

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 85, 4 January 1940, Page 6

BRITAIN’S GREAT WAR EFFORT

A graceful compliment has been paid to Britain by the Paris Temps in acknowledgment of our Mother Country’s-great war effort in “her joint venture” with France for “the defence of the liberty of Europe qnd the welfare of civilization.”

The traditionally great naval Power, England (says “Le Temps”), has in a very short time become a great military Power under pressure of the necessity of conducting a vigorous war. This magnificent effort is worthy of a great nation. _ It proves the will of the Government and the people of the United Kingdom to see the war through to victory. In the mobilization of her armed forces, her industrial energies and her great financial resources Britain has put forward a tremendous effort. As an earnest of her determination she has broken with the tradition of voluntary service and instituted compulsory registration and selective conscription. Under the latest proclamation under the National Service Armed Forces Act six age groups are made liable for service—men of 19 years, men who attained 20 years since December 1, 1939, and men who on January 1, 1940, had reached 23, 24, 25,\26, or 27 years of age. The 19-year-old class will not be called up until they icach the age of 20. The effect of this proclamation will be to ensure the enlistment of about 2,000,000 men, making with previous enrolments a grand total of 2,750,000 men liable to be enrolled in the armed forces since the introduction of compulsory service. By the methods adopted, says the London Daily Telegraph, it will be possible to discriminate in the allocation of the manpower available, lhe waste and confusion -which were so conspicuously associated with the application of voluntary service in the last war should lie averted. The point made by the Daily Telegraph, that under the British system of compulsory service it is possible to discriminate in . the allocation of the manpower available, has been frequently emphasized in these columns in comments dealing with this subject. Compulsoiy registration and selective enrolments offer the fairest and most effective method of recruiting men for the armed forces. The British Government has taken a realistic and practical view of the organization of manpower in wartime, and the people of the United Kingdom have accepted the demands of the situation in that spirit of sound common sense and reasonableness that is one of the outstanding characteristics of their sturdy race. In the sphere of the war industries the same spirit prevails. According to a statement by the British Minister of Supply, Dr. Burgin, the output of shells since the war began has been doubled. “It is now 10 times as much as at the same period in the last wai. he said. “Gun production has been increased eight times in some cases and next year will exceed the peak output attained toward the end of the last. war. More than 100,000 motor-vehicles will be produced during the first year ot the present war, compared with something like 40,000 during the whole of the last war. To supply lhe needs of the services the Government has put in hand 20 new ordnance factories, and has extended the factories of no fewer than 300 contractors.”

Other examples could be quoted to illustrate the magnitude ol Britain’s war effort which has evoked the admiration of her French ally. It is a complete and devastating demonstration to European dictators who had convinced themselves that Britain was decadent, and her Empire disunited, that their reading of the British character was- completely wrong. Once again a great democratic nation has demonstrated to the world its capacity for unity, team-work, and unflagging energy when its treasured liberties and privileges, and its free institutions, are challenged by the forces of tyranny and aggression.