HOUSE OF COMMONS

Nelson Evening Mail, 25 May 1916, Page 5

HOUSE OF COMMONS

COLONEL CHURCHILL'S CRITICISMS.. . THE HOUSE interested/

' - LONDON, May 23. Colonel Churchill said there was a grim- distinction at tlie 'front between the trench and" the non-trehcH'. populatiorv, yet the part of the army whicTi reallv counted for-ending the war-was killing, ' fighting, , and- suffering. Everyserviceable jnan should be put in to lengthen and strengthen'- the; fighting line. There were. 200,000 .officers withthe Army, with 200,000 servants, and 50,000 grooms. This was 'an ■ army in itself. It would be possible to "form infantry cy.it of .the great.masses of cavalry, and- they might have «tw&lve new Indian divisions. The Empire's manpower should be -used, remorselessly. - . ■„ "; ' f Colonel 'ChiirchiU's' speech, deeply interestel the House. It is evident tii&t his retiirn .to. _ politics > has :.greatly strengthened -him.: He; sharply*: cfiticisedthe waiting of the armies in, the East, especially .at Salonika, where there were only Bulgarians, who - did not want to fight. ' - , r The rest of the speeches were unimportant.

The vote of credit was passed' LONDON, May 24. Colonel Churchill declared that the trench men were' living, continually '-under fire, while the . - population did hot suffer, and .were .enjoying good • food and ß ofteiiL better (pay than the fighters. share of -d-ecorations given the non-fighters was so disproportionate that it had become a. foyword. He urged - the raising- of i-an-African negro army in readiness' for 1917. Even 100,000 men would be ;a help, because the Allies would be eoiii. to pay life for life. Out of 315,000,000 in_JTndia 100,000 were ingLAND FOR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. GERMAN TREATMENT OF ; PRISONERS.

(Rec. May 25. 12.25 ip.m.) LONDON-, Mav 24. Questioned in the, Ho'ues of Commons Lord R. Cecil, TJnde'r-Rec.re£arv ' for Foreign- Affairs, . denied that Britain, had consented , to a safe. passage 15,000 t-ons J of German dve stuffs to America. He added : that the Government" consented to pass two cargoes laist, year, :-bufc nothing resulted. - America had since made further .proposals, bvt the < Government had /not yet rcnlic-d.

Mi* Agquith announced that Lord Selbourne would introduce into the I House of Lords to-morrow a Bill pro- , I'iding for land settlement for soldiers and sailors,, Mr H. J. Tennant, Under-Secretary for War, states that the evidence of returned prisoners showed' that Germany did- not- observe a dietary scale, and many of the prisoners would have starved -without parcels from England. Replying. to a suggestion that we should adopt reprisals, Mr Tennant said such a .course might produce grave consequences. There, was no reason why we should follow a (bad example. i I