THE WAR,

Grey River Argus, 7 December 1918, Page 3

THE WAR,

When last I addressed you, the Great War was still in progress, and the outlook then was one "of anxiety to the Allies. The German offensive/ which began towards the end of March was being prosecuted with vigor, and '; Marshal i'och, who hia'd, a week or two previously, been appointed .Commander in-Chief of the Allied Armies, had scarcely made his dispositions for meeting it. . The British Army was being pushed, back., by over-whelming numbers, and the Channel ports were in danger of being captured by the enemy. Paris was for the second time in danger, .... Anxiety continued \intil towards, the middle ..of* July, when Marshal Foeh launched his attack near Soissons, which proved to be the .turning of. the tide aud the beginning of the- end of the .military power of Germany. In about four months from the time whe> he was ready to take the offensive, Focli has brought the ..Germans to their knees" arid has compelled them to sign a humiliating armistice, severe in its .terms, but nevertheWs unqiiestioii' ably just. .The ivaiser, the Crown Prince, .and.. most, of the_ mminosr s royal personages of t^c German principalities arc fugitives, seeking the prbtipction of. .neutral Stale's. The war is practically, at an end,- and the fact comes as . ati : .immense relief to the whole worid'-^firstly.,.'. -because . the ideals of national jhave been preserved,-, secondly, b'ecsiu'se the' German thesis' .thatr/' might, ia right" has been disproved ; and thirdly, because an end has been put to the destruc tion of humaD life. .

i Efforts will no do.ubt , be . made to 1 estimate the value of the services rendered by ' iive several Allios, and the factors that have directly contributed to the Allies' success*. In any such estimate or compariso,nj >the services of ; Great Britain arid her o'cerseas vDoiriinions must receive sidequate ...recrfgnij tion, arid above all, due credit must be 'given to the British Na^yV When fne war began, Britain ' Kad , the most powerful I^avy in, : tlie : >vorld— as power ful as the next threo; navies combined. The whole issue, of the war depended upon the iN a/yy J s alertness , and vigilance; and it 'is gratifying to note that at no period of the four years hostilities was. our Navy ever foiiCnd to., be wanting. It constantly nlriintained its supremacy, fully "justifying . ways placed in it, arid fne Sefman^' hopes of victory woro consequently always impossible of reialisation. : The record of its expansion and of the i work it has accomplished is a marvel- j lous one. At the coirimencement of the war, the Britisfi^ Navy i a tonnage of two and a hajf millions j now it is eight millions. Every triide I

route in the world has been carefully patrolled by its ships, iiiui. D..twith:standbig .the most dctenninri juui'un: seupulous efforts of our enemies, the sea has boon kept open to sil! the com: meree of the world. In the month ofJune last, the ships of the Navy steamed eight, million miles.

■ The number of men required to man and maintain -the Navy and the Mei/•{intilo Mariiie during tlu- close period of, th o war was at least one and a half million.*, of whom from eight to nine hundred thousand were 'ri'ien of military ago. Wo in New Zoa arid should specially appreciate the .invui.uabli!* services rendered by the British Navy. Our trade, routes: \voyw nWrnieoil, but never blocked by the enemy; and at nil time during, the whole: period of the war was our produce held up through direct enemy action. Ii is pleasing to note that the wool-growers of N<^w Zealand, in, /order to show their appreciation—if" only in a 'modest way — of the debt they, owe to' the Mercantile Marine, who, like the Navy, hnite rendered such .magnificent service .tliro v ughont the iluration- of ibo war,, have assigned hull, theit surplus profits from wool for the b'enefffc-pl' our gallant sailors. .;, .'-■:■•. w :

j When turn to '"tox'U'W IJcitain's j eiforts on, land/ the fact should be 6mnjliasised that we were never a . railiI tary nation, in the senso that the na " jtions of the ContinenijrY-an.d^egpecial-T | Germ any —were, arid Britain had no ! recent experience of ftonscription. The • British Army was : the smallest . army .maintained by an}' ...Great. PowSr m Europe; and, in iuiy ■ pie- war { cbisciisrsiori on the maftoj, tnefe was never. j any idea that Britain would ■ ever h* \ able to- employ a greater I'pre.e than I six divisions.' BritairiT however;, raised for her Army and Navy 6,250,000 luen — most of them by voluntary rocruiting. In order to give sonic idea, of wKat tijis moans, I may say. .that M the United States of America had calleA to the colours the same. number of men in proportion to population, it would have meant an army of .. very nearly 15,000,000 men. . : The; Dominion* contributed, about 1.00(M)00j and ! India about 1.250,000 ft°a. since thr: | beginning Of thd war. Though admititedly riot a military p'bwer at the open ! ing of the. war, :it will be seen from itho foregoing that Britain certainly, became one shortly afterwards. The six divisions sent to Ffanee iri the early days of the war, which were slightingly referred to by the Kaiser as •'General Frenehe?s contemptible litt'e, army. ' ' punished fhe Huns iriei'eilessly* at Mons,~Le Cateau.-.an« on the Mam; and the Kaiser's "roysi imperial command" to his troops to • ' march over '■'■ thorii was never carried out. Th^y now glory, in the title of • ' The Old * Corif enrptibl6s. ' > > Britain ? s Air Service was negligible in 1914. it, is now one .or the largest, and probably the most' efficient, in the world, arid- British airman have played a very 'prominent' part in the war.: • The effects? of the war on the . British Empire itself , have been.; in many ways beneficial.' -Its, constituent Dominions afad Dependencies have been drawn to the. Motherland an«;t to each other in a way that nox'^ng elsecould have accomplished; aHS a \yelding of interests arid sympathies has taken place that will, I 'believe, endure -*.for aU time. The Dominions have (been acknowledged as partners in the ! .Great British; Empire, and they will, in [the immediate future, exetcise an _ t - inrfuence in shaping its destines. Surely wo may now look, for a relationship more intimate than heretofore tween the Motherland and the Dominions — a relationship .that .should as^ si st in* the afffiinment of thlat era f.of peace, happiness .'and prosperity ior w^ich we Eftl so fervently long. And ' in the eyes of the world, the prestige of the British Empire is greater than ever. .. . ■ .;" . But the development which I regard as of the highest importance and as the occasion for. the most profound thankfulness is the reapproachmerit which the war has brught. about between the two great /English speaking peoples— the United States of America and, the British. Empire. I riiay: be classed, as a visionary, but I hold the view thai the destinies of, the world will' lift in tiie hands of thes^ great democracies, wnien will have to shou'der the responsibilities of preserving -theliberties of the nations, large and small, of succotiwrig the smaller nation -alities, and of policing the world. They have not sought this, leadership, but it is theirs by' virtue of their ideals of liberty, justice and humanity.