DRASTIC ECONOMY

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 49, 26 February 1917, Page 7

DRASTIC ECONOMY

TO BEAT THE SUB-

MARINES

METHODS OF SAVING

TONNAGE

AN URGENT APPEAL TO THE

NATION

PRIME MINISTER'S STRIKING PRO

POSALS.

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPIRIGHT.)

(AUSTRALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) LONDON, "23rd February.

Mr. Lloyd George, in the House of Commons, referring to , the submarine blockade, spoke with great emphasis, and said: "While the Government is hopeful that we will be able" to deal with the menace, we should be guilty of criminal folly if we rested our policy on a tranquil anticipation of our ability 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 victorious end, however long it lasts, even though we fail to hunt the submarines from the deep. We cannot build our plans on any other policy." The tonnage question was the really vital problem.

After referring to the immense demands made by the Allies on the tonnage, the Premier said the Germans had concentrated upon building submarines in order to destroy our mercantile marine. They fully realised that 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 wa3 proposing measures which they thought will be adequate. They will mean ah enormous sacrifice on the part of every class in the community, and the national grit is going to bo tested.

He went on to point out in the twelve month* before tlia war fifty million tons of shipping entered British ports; in the last twelve months that had been reduced to thirty millions. ,Thg reduction was attributable almost exclusively to the fact that a very large portion of the tonnage had been in. the service of the Allies. Over a million tons of our shipping had been allocated 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, 1 but also for military purposes, and the nation must be prepared for drastic sacrifices to cope with submarinism, otherwise disaster confronted us. The tonnage problem must therefore be tackled ruthlessly and promptly by naval measures, building new ships, dispensing with unnecessary imports, and increasing the home food production. MAKING THE SHIPYARDS MOVE EFFECTIVE The shipyards must be utilised to the utmost for anti-submarine craft as well as merchantmen. He was convinced after an examination of the problem and hearing what employers and workmen had said that the output could be very considerably increased by an alteration in existing methods. Wherever payment by results had been introduced, thers had been an increase in the output of the shipbuilding yards of from twenty to forty per cent. Ho made a special appeal to the unions' concerned in shipbuilding to consent to the introduction of these methods. In some yards they had already been introduced. It also involved an undertaking on the part of employers that if large wages were earned by the men as the result of special effort, no advantage must be taken of that to reduce the rate. It is certain that if they had any intention of doing anything of the kind, not merely the Government but the HouEe -of Commons also would deprecate the attempt. It was essential to get as much work as .' possible out of the yards, not merely for building ships of the mercantile marine, but also for craft to cope with ( the submarines. Our shipbuilding capacity was the greatest in the world, | but it was'barely adequate for the gigan- I tic task. The French and Russian contributions were very substantial, but the main burden was on the shoulders of Britain, which could bear it successfully right to the end. PROBLEMS OF TIMBER AND ORES Coming to increased home production of material, the Premier said that of 6,400,C0G tons of timber imported last year, .two million tons were for pit props; the remainder was for the military forces here and in France. He referred to the committee's suggestion regarding increased economy of timber, and said he was making arrangements to carry out the suggestion. Another suggestion was to make the Army in France self-supporting in this respect. If we managed to secure a number of forests in Franco, and labour to cut down the timber, there would be an enormous saving in tonnage in respect of timber. . A third method was being developed j in connection with the home supplies with the object of making Britain self- I supporting during the war. Not long ago this was done. That was a question they were devoting themselves to. He believed several hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of tons of shipping could be saved. He appealed, to woodmen and foresters to enrol and offer their services to the Army to assist the State. He would then appeal to the thousands of unskilled labourers to assist the foresters. There was no branch of national activity where so much tonnage would bo saved as in the cutting of timber. Next, dealing •with iron ore, Mr. Lloyd George said we were importing millions of tons a year, and could not cut down the supply essential for shipbuilding, . machinery, munitions, . and agriculture, and must find' ships for this purpose at all costs or diminish the effi- ; eiency of the Army and Navy, and that ] would be folly, unless the minerals in this country could be used. There was plenty of it, of rather low grade, but the quality was good. It _ did not pay as a commercial proposition: ifc was cheaper to get better class ore from Spain. But this was not a commercial proposition, it was a proposition of getting ore at all, without using up tonnage. It involved an increased number of blast furnaces, and more labour." There was no margin in the supply of the highly skilled men who worked the blast fur-' naces, and he specially appealed to both employers and workers to assist in this matter. For unskilled; men we must trust the people. TIMID FARMERS MUST BE PERSUADED Dealing with food prices, he said that twenty years after the Corn Laws were abolished we produced twice as much wheat Be wo imported. Since then four , to five million acres of arable land had

become pasture, and about half the agricultural labour population had migrated to the towns. -.. No, civilised country ■in the world spent less, even as little, directly or indirectly, 1 as we did. He wanted the country to know_ that food stocks were lower than within recollection. In tho main this was due to the worst harvest within recollection. Last year, the crops were a failure, and this had a very serious effect when our tonnage was being absorbed to such an extent in the war. It was essential for the safety of the life of the nation that we should put forth immediately every effort to increase the production this year, otherwise the nation .might have, to^ choOse between diminishing its' military effort or underfeeding its population. Lack of. labour was partly the reason which had prevented the farmers increasing cultivation as promised. An effort would be made to meet this by not calling up able-bodied agricultural men, but the greatest obstacle was the timidity of farmers to cut up pastures. It was no good arguing with the farmer; he. must be given confidence. We must cure the farmer of his plough-fright, otherwise we will not get the crops. He' did not,believe prices were going down immediately aftsr the war. Germany after the war would be a greater purchaser than ever, because the 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 had become unclean, and it would take years to make it as good harvestraising soil as before. The demand for | foreign food would be greater than ever, and he thought there would be high prices for some time after the war. But they could not persuade the farmer of that, though- it was necessary to persuade him of it, and to do so within the next few days. He mentioned several corollaries to the schedule of guaranteed prices, including a. minimum wage to agricultural labourers, no rent-raising, and power to enforce cultivation. The guarantee of oats in 1917 would be 38s 6d, and in 1918 to 1919 42s 6d. The guaranteed price of potatoes this year would be £6 per ton. Ho hoped after these guarantees the farmers would put their backs into it and' help defeat -the - greatest menace tha£ had ever threatened the country, . ' . RESTRICTING NON-ESSENTIAL IMPORTS As the measures lie had so far outlined would'not materialise for months, 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 matter, books, and periodicals wcrald.be prohibited altogether, otherwise it would be unfair to our Home trade

In regard to foodstuffs, he said we imported a large quantity of material not essential for the national well-being, although very desirable. He outlined the various articles that would.be .affected. Oranges, bananas,-grapes, almonds, and nuts would be reduced to 25 per cent, of the 1915 imports, and canned salmon would be reduced by 50 per cent.

Mineral waters would be prohibited, and.cocoa and coffee temporarily stopped, as we had large stocks of them. The importation of foreign tea was prohibited, whilfe even the importation of Indian tea would' be reduced to a certain extent.

Britain must to a much larger extent depend upon home-grown oats.

Taking all these categories of feeding stuffs together, .he hoped to save over Mine hundred thousand tons per annum, which. showed the extent we relied on foreign countries for such commodities,

Then' there were manufactured articles, and articles of luxury. We would have to stop . the importation of a very considerable number of these. He regretted the stoppage of, importations from Italy and France, which would be a blow to certain industries, but we were driven to it not only for ourselves, but for the sake of France and Italy. He was sure it these countries had-,,t0 choose between the two, they would prefer saving ships for other purposes. . t . ATTACKING THE LIQUOR WASTE Referring next to the importations for the manufacture of/liquor, he declared he was not approaching this question from the standpoint of temperance or national sobriety, however desirable that might be, but purely as a matter of coping with the submarine menace, arid | guaranteeing the nation against the pos- : sibility of famine and privation. These were the considerations which induced the Government to decide that ifc would be impossible to continue .to sanction the absorption of .such enormous tonnage for foodstuffs in grain, as long as the nation was faced with. the prospect | of a shortage of essential food. He stated that in 1914 36,000,000 standard barrels of beer was brewed in this country; in 1916 it was reduced to 26,000,000, the result being, partly due. to _ two or three million adults leaving Britain,: and not much beer was- exported, to • the Army in France. It was not possible to guarantee food for the country without taking a deeper cut into the barrelage, and if must he reduced to 10,000,000 barrels. That would save nearly 600,000 | tons of feeding stuffs per annum, which was nearly a month's supply, of/cereals. That was the direct saving, but-the in- ' direct ■ saving of increased •■ tonnage and relief of congested traffic on the railways would be greater. He considered that we 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 FACE THE WORST" There were other restrictions,'such as j on leather and raw hides, but; he had. given in the main a summary of the-re-strictions. It was proposed to impose them immediately. He appealed to the House and the country to "take them as a whole. "If all those called upon to suffer restrictions and limitations suffer them without complaint, then I honestly say we can.face.thei worst.the/.enemy: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 be responsible for one hour for this terrible war." Mr. Lloyd George,, concluding his speech, said there were millions of gallant young men in the various theatres of tho war facing torture and the terror of death, and daring and doing. They were the flower of the race, and unless the nation was prepared to take its share of the sacrifices theirs would be in vain. It would bo a crime, a black crime, for any Government to ask them to risk their lives in the coming conflict if they knew the nation behind them was faint-heart-ed and selfisjjs for their sacrifices would be thrown away. For that reason he submitted to the House and the nation the proposals 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 Mr. W. F. Massey and Sir Robert Borden I .(Prime Minister -of: Canada),. ;