PRIME MINISTER TAKES FIRM STAND.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 11 July 1917, Page 7

PRIME MINISTER TAKES FIRM STAND.

LOSS OF CIVILIAN ■ LIVES

REGRETTABLE

BUT ARMY'S NEEDS MUST BE FIRST CONSIDERATION.

JSY CABLE—PBESS ASSOCIATION-"OP^RIGHT. (Australian-N.Z. C.A. and Reuter.)

(.Received July 11, 11.30 a.m.)

. LONDON/ July 10. Urncial—At the secret session Mr J-loyd George stated that twenty-two trotha aeroplanes, each carrying" 800 pounds of explosives, came over London on Saturday, of which three were •destroyed. The Germans had'organised protecting squadrons in order to assist the raiders to return, and six of tliese were destroyed and one injured. Ihereiore the attack had not been made with impunity. ' Mr Lloyd George pointed out that •complete protection from the air could never be securable. British machines •daily crossed the German lines at the iront, despite terrible anti-aircraft fire :f il Povrerful air squadrons, and bombed stations and headquarters, proving that no measures we could ;take would give complete immunity. N c must aim at making such visits as •costly as possible. Our naval aeroplanes in the last four or five months Had dropped seventy tons of explosives "°n German aerodromes in Northern Belgium, and had dropped six tons on the night preceding the raid, whereas the Germans had only dropped two tons m England. The Government's first consideration must be to see the army in France isnfficientlv supplied with aeroplanes, without "-mcli an advance was impos- *}%';■ The t"'ent.v-eisht civilians' Natalities were regrettable, but unless there was a sufficiency of aeroplanes at the front the Army's losses mi^ht easily be '28,000. The Germans realised as much as we did the importance of aeroplane work to secure protection •ot soldiers' lives.

Mr Lloyd George said nothing would encourage the Germans more than'to know that by bombing English towns we would be forced to withdraw fighting squadrons from France, and nothing could be more disastrous to the •conduct of military operations than to encourage the Germans to believe that the raids would excite a clamor in England resulting in the Government being unable to resist the demand for withdrawal of aeroplanes from France. If Britain were unable to provide aeroplanes for the front as well as for defence against raids the Army must ,come first, and it was vitally important that Germany should know this. He saw the people in the raided district a tew hours after the raid, and had -never seen people face disaster with greater cheerfulness and constancy. There were no signs of panic. He was convinced that if the country realised that it was necessary to establish air supremacy in order to win victory at the front it would be prepared to take the risks. The Germans realised the importance of air supremacy, and had T»ado prodigious efforts in' the last ■twelve months. We had enormously increased our capacity for manufacturing machines, and in the last halfyear had increased the number of employees at aeroplane works by 23,000. We had also improved our "methods, organisation and type of machines. The Government's information snowed that the German capacity for production was inadequate to compete with ours. Hitherto our increase in production had been only gradual, but it was now goin£ up by leaps and bounds. The April strike lost us between 150 and 200 machines.

Mr Bonar Law, replying to questions, said that in the opinion of experts our type of machine was as good as the Germans'. He pointed out that the French front was nearer to important German cities than ours and therefore it was natural that the French should play a larger part in offensive operations there, which they had done with remarkable success and impunity during the la** few days While we regard the raids on London as not of sufficient importance to balance military advantage, they must be considered People who demanded instant production of a large number of aeroplanes were apt to forget the inherent limits of extension of the rate of such increase owing to imperative ■demands on other services Mr Norton Griffith related his experiences at the front, confirming liritish aerial supremacy there.