A Great Appeal.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 396, 19 March 1915, Page 5

A Great Appeal.

To Employers and Workers. Maximum Output Demanded. Essential to Victory. [PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPT BIGHT.] London, March 18. Mr. Lloyd George, presiding over the Labour Conference, said that it was essential to increase the output of munitions in order to save the lives of soldiers. The Government asked the workmen to agree to no strikes where Government work was concerned ; also to suspend all restrictions on output during, the war, and to assist the Government in dealing with the recalcitrant minority. The workers’ conference meets again to-day. Mr. Balfour, Sir G. R. Askwith, Sir F. Hopwood, Sir George Gibb and other officials representing the Admiralty, War Office and Board of Trade attended the conference. Mr. Lloyd George said that every country engaged found the expenditure on war material in excess of any anticipations. The General Staff in France met the difficulty by voluntarily organising the whole industries of the country. We have an additional difficulty of having to increase the personnel of our army tenfold for the duration of the war. The Allies success Will depend on increasing acceleration of the output of munitions.. Preparatory to last week’s fighting there was the most tremendous concentration of artillery witnessed at any point during the war. This not merely insured the success but saved the lives of British soldiers. Mr. Lloyd George said that two French officers told him that the concentration of fire at a particular spot would enable the achievement of their purpose with one-tench of the loss or lite otherwise required. Every month there was a delay in the output may mean two or three months added to the war. Prior to the organisation of British industries for war it was essential to have complete co-operation of efnployers and workmen, the Government taking over the works did not mean that a general or admiral would be installed instead of the present managers. The Government proposed to impose a limitation of profits because otherwise there would be difficulty in appealing to labour to relax restrictions and put out its whole strength unless they knew that the State was getting the benefit and not merely a particular individual or class. Mr Lloyd George went on to say that if they-merely assumed control of business with a guarantee of profits within a certain limit, employers would not have the same interest in limiting expenditure. Consequently the Government desired an understanding with employers, but their present purpose was to lay a certain point before representatives of the workers. At the moment important work was liable to be interrupted by labour disputes. The Government did not say that the workmen ought never to complain, but they said that work should continue while the disputes were adjusted. The Government accordingly proposed that there should be no strikes or lock-outs during the war where Government work was proceeding, but that all difficulties should be settled by an impartial tribunal as a conference may decide. The question of suspending restrictions on output during the war was difficult for the workers, but it was very, very important to the State. There was the question of the number of machines that one man was permitted to attend ; also the employment of semi-skilled labour and women. French women were doing a vast amount in ammunition factories. The way France met her responsibilities was something of wliich the democracy could be proud. They appealed to the British workers to do the same. Finally, there was excessive drinking among a. minority of workmen. The Admiralty and War Office reported that this was very serious in some districts, gravely interfering with the output and transport of munitions and other necessaries for the troops. The Government could not take effective action without the support of the Labour leaders. Mr. Lloyd George concluded by saying that at the end of the war Great Britain would either be the vassal t of the German military caste drunk with success, or would have broken militarism for ever. '* Because we realise the importance of this as democrats, we appeal to the leaders of the workmen to assist the Government.”