PREMIER AND UNIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16762, 31 January 1918, Page 6

PREMIER AND UNIONS.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. NO SIGN OF REASON IN GERMANY. ■'■} ■' ' LONDON, Jan. 20. After Mr. Lloyd George's speech to the trades unionists at Westminster Hall, a number of frank questions and answers followed. Mr., Lloyd George had said that if the pacificists offered terms the cheque would not be cashed by Ludendorff or "the Kaiser. i A delegate asked: You say that Ludendprft will not cash the peace cheque. Can--cot we reasonably expect Scheideraann and Liebkneclit to cash it? Mr. Lloyd George: Liebknecht is hi • gaol, and Scheidemann would find himself in the same place if he attempted fo cash your cheque. The German socialists must first impose their terms on their Government. A Delegate: Will Mr. Lloyd George give an assurance that the whole of the British armament production will the nationalised and profiteering in engines of war cease? -a

- Mr. Lloyd George: Speakinc for myself, I have entire sympathy' for that proposition. ~, - A Delegate: Does Germany really know the British and Americar war aims as recently stated by Mr. Lloyd George ,a.id Mr. Wilson? 1 Mr. Lloyd George: We have previously found the German Government delfber-

ately altering reports of speeches. They r.ot merely omitted whole passages from Mr. Wilson's speeches, but actually altered words, conveying a totally different impression to the people of Germany. It is Cossible that, Mr. Wilson's and my speeches ave not reached the people of Germany, in the first instance, in the form in which they were delivered, but I should be surprised if by" this time the people of Germany 'do : not know the actual terms of these'speeches.' Regarding the holding of an International Labour Peace Conference on peace terms Mr. Lloyd George said; It would be a dangerous experiment. You must! remember that you cannot confine such conferences to one section. If you allow labourites to confer you mint allow financiers and employers to confer. Thus you would have sectional discussions which would not represent the nation as a whole. It would end in confusion. A Delegate: Are we getting the British proposals put before the German Government? . Mr. Lloyd George: We naturally are constantly watching whether there are any indications of returning reason in the Ger- • man Government. I am sorry we can find nothing but complete hardness and a re lutp determination to achieve a complete military triumph, A Delegate: Will Mr. Lloyd George promise that compulsory military service will be withdrawn as soon as a peace settlement is reached on the allied terms? : .. Mr. Lloyd fjporge: That is really for \;.;.- whit we are fightintr. We want to make Uf''.:\', such a .war impossible again. It is not .~; « r question of sloping it in this country. m, £?"' must stop ft in every country, otherwise you cannot stop it here.