THE CALL TO THE TRENCHES

Evening Star, Issue 15908, 14 September 1915, Page 7

THE CALL TO THE TRENCHES

t . . * FACE THE FACTS. THE GERMAN MAGHINE. EFFICIENT, IF BRUTAL. THE ONE ROAD TO VICTORY. Let us swear that you arc worth your breeding; which 1 doubt not.

The famous phrase in the splendid hortatory address of Henry V. at Harfleur was th© dominant note struck at the great recruiting gathering in the Garrison Hall last night.. The two main speeches were ' delivered by the Hon. Dr M'Nab and ' Mr C. J. Parr, C.M.G., M.P., and the impression that their analysis of the position made upon the big crowd ought to exercise a dynamic force upon the recruiting in this City. At face value the effort seems out of all proportion to the response, since only five recruits confronted the sergeant-major, but that is not wonderful since four-fifths of -the audience was composed of women, and men anchored by age or responsibilities. The real potential of the meeting lies in the fact that the issue in all its gravity was deeply engraven by the elociuence of the speakers upon the minds of this thor-oughly-responsible audience, and the reaction of such a deliverance should be incalculably powerful. Twelve of the Otago soldiers "returned wounded" from the trenches at Gallipoli preceded the Mayor (Mr J. J. Clark) and party to the stage, and received a wonderful ovation. • The Mayor, in a few preliminary re- '< marks, said that the little land of Britain had had many wars, but now, for the first time in her history, the whole Empire was at war. There was no use denying that it was a time of peril, calling _for the greatest heroism and self- , sacrifice. The Empire was not going to , be crushed beneath the iron heel of the German Emperor; on the contrary, we were going to crush him and render him harmless for the rest of his life. (Applause.) Perhaps, like another who sought world dominion, he might presently find his dominion bounded by the shores of ,a lonely isle. (Applause.*) But the war could not be won by armies alone; it must be won by the people of a great tmited Empire, and therefore it was wise that every person should have the opportunity of fairly understanding the position of the Empire, and in what direction we should direct our sacrifices. With x this object two such able speakers as .the Hon. Dr M'Nab and Mr C. J. Parr, C.M.G. and M.P., had consented to speak. (Applause.) Dr M'Nab was well known to them as scholar, author, and historian, and _ the donor of a princely gift to the citizens of Dunedin, and Mr Parr, when Mayor of Auckland, had set an example to every municipality in the Dominion. (Applause.) THE KAISER'S END-CONSTANTI-NOPI.E. The Mavor then introduced Mr C. J Parr, C.M.G., M.F . of Auckland, who gave a very stirring address, notwithstendin? that he suffered from a cold. Mr Parr prefaced his real subject bv - expressing the genuine pleasure the opportunity pave him of speaking to a Dunedin audience. "I ought to be 'grateful to Dunedin. It is just about four yeans ago that contemplating some civic matters in Auckland I had need to borrow £50,000, ;tnd I searched the Dominion from one end to the other for the money, and I found it in Dunedin. (Applause.) I might also add that it was lent to me at a most moderate rate of interest—rtamelv, 4 per cent., and I want to tell you that excellent use has been made of the money. (Applause.) I at once came to the conclusion that Dunedin was the rest egg of capital in New Zealand.'* (Laughter.) Mr Parr, proceeding said that there had always been a meet neighborly and . kindly feeling ;l*?tween Auckland m.; the ncrth and Dunedin in the south, and he was grieved to have noticed that some friends had been trying to make some mischief between the two provinces, on the question of recruiting. " I want to say that I disassociate myself entirely with the miserable' attempt, I call it—to set up the North Island against the South. (Applause.) My friends, 'we all want men "and it is our My in this- time of distress and trial to stand shoulder to shoulder, and I don't count anyene who sets province against province as a friend to his country. I decline to believe that there are degrees of loyalty in the different parts of New Zealand."' (Applause.) Ho believed thnt there was equal loyalty to the Crown—the great Empire to which they all belonged—by every New Zealander from the North Cape to the Bluff. "I therefore, deprecate any attempt in this season to set province against province. (Applause.) "New Zealand has done well, but I believe New Zealand—and -I speak of the country as a whole—can do better; and if. is because we feel it is incumbent on the Dominion to do better that Dr M'Nab and myself are here this evening. What has New Zealand done? In the first place I think it is extremely creditable to our Defence Minister and the Defence Department that a fortnight after the declaration of war the first German colony (Samoa) to fall to British arms was captured by a New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (Loud applause.) "At the present time I believe New Zealand has despatched to the war 22,000 men out of a population of 1,000,000 approximately. I think, though, we must do bettor than that. That only pans out one male out of 27 of the population of this Dominion. If we turn to what they have done in Great Britain and France, we will see that we have a long way-to catch up on them. To-day in the Old Country one male out of every six is in arms, either in the Navy or in the Army. (Loud applause.) And to-day in Franc© one male out of every five is in arms.,. (Applause.) Do,you know what is ope of the most wonderful things of this war? I' believe the most wonderful thing is the remarkable manner in wluch Great Britain has " gathered. nearly four million volunteer soldiers to the cause. Anyone' who said two years ago that such a thing was possible—that the Old Country., could raise nearly four million men by a voluntary system—would have had the gravest possible doubts expressed as to that person's sanity. Yet the possible has been achieved. Nothing is mere remarkable than the fine spirit, the extraordinary spirit of the people of Great Britain, with which they ' have gone into this war with the full determination to see the thing through to. the finish. These remarkable words had been spoken by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a memorial service at St. Paul's to the colonials: 'We have given our very best and bravest, and before God, we believe it worth while. Men whom we should have called quite ordinary men have passed from trie prosaic paths of common life to the shellswept trenches of, the battle front, fighting with dauntless courage, offering their lives with simplicity, even gladness, for their country, and for a_caufe which, we believe to be God's own cause.' "That was the spirit of the people of Great Britain to-day, and he said ' Let us emulate' it, my friends.' Some people were -tempted _ to say that that was all very well—this war was a great deal Great Britain's concern, and it did not touch fchem so> closely. in the colonies. Never could anyone make a greater mistake than to uphold such a thing as that. This war .touched Now Zealand as much as it did England to-day. A worse fate would befall New Zealand, if Great Britain was beaten. It was well known that Germany required colonies. Where wa. there a more desirable colony for Germany than their beloved home of New Zealand? '"■''. "Surely if Great Britain is beaten we shall paea over to Germany and become 'a'Gorman colony. Are we, therefor©, not intimately concerned in .this great war? : Do you perceiv© that if disaster was to " ibappen to-night to the British fleet Jti» Atarfch. Sea tt»t ratthjog ymo& Hw4 ■■ ' " - ~ -* ■ ~ ■

between you and a Gorman invasion? . . . Make no mistake about it, if we are beaten in Europe we are beaten in New Zealand. " It is said by some that the Navy will protect us. I have heard .that said before by unthinking people. My reply is that no navy can win the war, and we want to win the war. The-record of the Navy is a glorious one—(loud applause)—but the Navy, I say, cannot win the war. No navy can win any war. It was not Nelson who defeated Napoleon. It -was Wellington and the Allies that sent Napoleon to St. Helena. (Applause.) "As I have Said, the Navy's record is marvellous. I take off my hat every time to the British Navy for what they have done. They have harried and_ worried every German cruiser off the high seas. The Navy have destroyed German commerce. Before the war Germany was exporting nearly 500 million pounds' worth of goods every year. They are unable at the present time to export a single pound's worth of goods' without the consent of Admiial Jellicoe. (Cheers.) The Navy have not only protected England, but they have also, with convoys, supplied munitions and food not only to her own men, but also to the Allies. (Applause.) The speaker, in further referring to the work of the Navy "across that little Channel," said for over a year the German submarines had not caught a single transport yet. " The British Navy have done wonders; they have done all that could be expected of them, and more, but they cannot win the war. The armies must inflict the finishing blow, and it must be for them to bring this war to a speedy and successful conclusion. The Army must win the war, and that is why we must send fresh men, more men to Gallipoli. " We must have Constantinople at any cost. I believe the taking of Constantinople will be the beginning of the Kaiser's end. Give us possession of the Dardanelles and the whole position of the war will be changed. The Balkan States will be on our side, Austria will be down and .out, and then.we will have to deal with Germany alone —and we will be able to deal with her effectively. (Loud applause.) " Our duty is to see that no inconclusive peace ends this war. We want peace that means something more than mere suspension of hostilities. We want peaco that will last for 100 years, for the benefit of our children and our grandchildren, and to gain that end we must send more men and more munitions to the front. (Applause.) Ii Germany wins, civilisiation ends. If Germany wins, democracy ends, as we know it, and the people will cease to enjoy freedom, personal liberty, and our democratic institutions. Are these things not worth striking a blow for? (Applause.) " On the seas the British Navy had conducted itself gallantly and with coiisidetration, but what could be said of the German navy? It would go down to everlasting infamy and shanie. Let them think of what it had achieved—let them think of the crews of their merchantmen and .the innocent passengers they had sent to the bottom of the sea. He had just read that among the 1,200 people who went down in the Lusitania there were no less than 100 babies under the age of one year. On receipt of the news of the sinking, Germany had the bells rung for their glorious victory, and the children were given a half-holiday. No less than 1,282 officers and men of the German navy were saved by th© brave British tare after they had well licked them. The record on the other side of the slate showed that there was not a single case where British officers or men had been saved by German officers or crew. That was the record of the German navy. Their record on land was the same or worse. Let them think of the wounded who had been bayoneted and every other atrocity committed by these fiends in human form. The Bryce Commission's report on the Belgian atrocities would damn Germany to eternity. Th© report dealt with M 0 cases of the most awful, fiendish atrocities. Nothing that he could say to them could weigh with the evidence of the Bryce Commissiion. Was it not the duty of every living British man in some way or other to play his part so that the Empire and Emperor that were responsible for these tragedies in Belgium shoujd lick the dust?" ■■ j In conclusion, Mr Parr asked were" not I the privileges they enjoyed in this country to-day worth fighting for? "If they are you will.strike the blow, and for these soldier lads who have com© back. (Loud applause.) I saw 500 of them come into the Wellington Town Hall on Saturday last, and I felt if ever there was a call to you and to me it came from those wounded heroes from Gallipoli. It is a call, alas, ladies and gentlemen, that comes from our dead boys who sleep on foreign soils. Shall their work bo in vain? I leave it .to you, my friends, to give the answer." (Prolonged applause.)

REALISING OUR TASK. Dr M'Nab, who received an ovation, remarked that when, some years ago, he was relieved of the turmoil of party strife by an indulgent constituency—(laughter) —he had delievered addresses here and throughout New Zealand on the need for universal training. He made no boast of the country having adopted it, but it was fortunate that in August, 1914, the Dominion of New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Australia had made one great step forward in training every man to the use of arms. It was because Now Zealand had that machinery in motion that within a few days New Zealand men hoisted the British Flag on one of Germany's colonial_ possessions. (Applause.) He was on the platform to show to young men the necessity of coming forward, and to show what duties remained to be done by those unable to go to the front. When he had spoken on the occasion referred to he had said that when we came to war again we would be faced with a new problem; we would be faced not with the army of a great nation, but right up against a great nation armed. That had happened. That was what made this war the war of all the ages, and when he had on that old occasion addressed audiences in Britain and here on the subject he had never, in his wildest imagination, realised the utterly inadequate conception he had formed of a great nation armed. We had been 13 months at war, and only now were beginning to realise what the proposition was'that we were up against. "People have often said 'are we going to win?' and I have always delayed answering it until I thought the public realised what they had to do to win. Until then it was not safe for any man to make the statement that wo are going to win. But when we got the community to the point that they saw the proposition they were up against, and when they had got themselves up against it, then one could say with certainty that we are going to win." (Applause.) The hon. speaker proceeded to tell his audience some of the tragedies the Dominion must face before victory was attained. They must realise that the New Zealand casualty list was "kicking on the heels " of the total number of men who went from New Zealand to the Boer War, and before the wastage ceased we would have lost more men from New Zealand than, went to the Boer "War He believed in giving th© public the "facts, even the worst facts, knowing that, alive to the true state of things, they would assuredly go in and win. They were against a nation in arms, to the brutality of whose system had to be added the perfection of the system. Realising that combination, they would realise what they had to face. Every man in Germany had been trained since his boyhood to the use of arms, and for every million of inhabitants Germany was able to put into the firing line double the number of men we could; men trained from boyhood at that. New Zealand had to take her men and transport them further, from the base than operations had ever been carried out before. To get men to the front it cost us £5 or £6 to every £1 it cost to get an equal number of Germans to the front. And when they got there the German was a man trained to arms from boyhood. That was why Earl Kitchener had said it was going to be a lengthy war. To-day, probably the only man who knew the position,.he said that our position was better than" it was 12 months ago; that we could look forward to the future with perfect hope. But to realise this hope, founded upon knowledge, it wa3 necessary ( to keep up the supply of yw* flnodftfr. lh vr&A vat cone with

the German system; which put a military I brand on every person, and which, when I war was declared and the German over- i sea trade lost, made the whole population] factors in 'the military operations; but' we could do something along those lines. There were lots of men' whose services could bo made more useful in this country assisting to produce food and clothing (the only necessities in time of crisis) and assisting to supply munitions of war. The National Ministry proposed to organise, the industries or the country along these lines. By June 30 next 50,000 of New Zealand's, young men would have gone to the front, and some tens pi thousands would be back here with wounds that they would carry to. their graves. _ There was a far more intimate connection in a war like this than in previous wars between the soldier on the battlefield and the industrial life of the country. Within five months a man might enlist and return to his country wounded. That was one of the problems that had arisen for the first time in history, and it was a problem the National Government were trying to meet. When the men returned thev had to be looked after. ".They own wfiose blood was shed to hold," and this country would belong to the men whose blood was shed to hold it. (Applause.) In conclusion the Hon. Mr M'Nab, using the simile of Mr Lloyd George, said that the hour of the existence of the nation was now striking. We had come to the point towards which we had been working for years, and from which (like the date of the Christian era) all future events would be recorded. If men did not come forward in sufficient numbers as they were wanted there was going to happen an event which would be a calamity not only to the British Empire, but to the whole of Christendom. THE MUSICAL PROGRAMME. The serious side of the demonstration was enriched by an excellent programme of music by the Fourth Regimental Band funder Lieutenant George), by Miss Marjorie Lemon, and Mr R. Bryant. Tffe accompaniments were' played by Miss Gladys M. Stoneham.