NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16848, 13 May 1918, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE STRENGTH. OF FRANCE. The French High Commissioner in the United States, recently declared that, not including native troops from the colonies and workmen in the factories, the French soldiers mobilised on January 1, 1918, numbered 4.7?-5000. lii the speech referred to, whi'TQ was delivered before the New York Alliance Francaise, M. Tardieu saici: " What we have suffered you know. Our population, diminished by the invasion of our nothern territory, amounts only to 35,000,000 inhabitants. . A little over 1,000,000 have been lulled in battle, nearly 1,000,000 have been maimed and definitely invalided out of the war. Would you care to know the present strength of the French army? Listen:—Officers and soldiers mobilised on January 1, 1918, not including native troops from the colonies and the "workmen in the factories, amount to 4,726,000 men, of whom nearly 3,000,000 are in the army zone. Some more figures, if you please. What about our guns? We have in the line 15,000 guns of every calibre, and every day more than 300,000 shells are turned out by our factories. To get those guns, to produce those shells, we created an industry which did not exist before the war, and which has enabled us not only to arm ourselves, but also to arm our allies. Without speaking of what we manufacture for you, and that is several hundred guns a month, we have during the last three years given to our allies in Europe 1,350,000 rifles, 15,000 automatic rifles, 10,000 machine-guns, 800,000,000 cartridges, 2500 guns and 1750 aeroplanes." REASON FOR CONFIDENCE. An address of welcome was presented to Sir William Robertson on the occasion of his visit early in March to Lincoln, the capital of his native county. In the course of his acknowledgment, Sir William Robertson said: — When you are thinking of the war you should try to look sometimes on the bright side of the picture as well as on the dark one, because there undoubtedly is a bright one. Think of the enemy's difficulties—and he has many —as well as of our own. We have a great deal to be thankful for and to be proud of. Think of what our navy does for us day and night, ceaselessly and silently guarding these shores and saving us from the horrors of invasion. Think of the fact that to-day there is not a single German soldier on British soil after three and a-half years of war, in spite of the fact that we are fighting a great nation which had been preparing for the war for 40 years—for 100 years. Think also of what the Dominions have done for us. They have sent their men from all quarters of the globe to assist Country under not too great encouragement. Think, also, of the great new armies which have been raised and the splendid way they have fought think of their splendid deeds of heroism, which have never been surpassed; and try to think, if you can, of those great deeds which no doubt are far more numerous that no one will ever hear about. The men have fought splendidly. In no war before have new armies been made so efficient in the same period of time and fought so well. And think especially of what your boys have done. There is no boy like the' English boy mean the young men, of course. Think also of what the women have done, how they have come forward to do all kinds of work one would never have thought of them doing years ago; and think also of the way they have borne their bereavements and their constant anxieties day and night—looking for the telegraph messenger and wondering what he will bring. We have every reason to be confident, and to be satisfied with much of what has been done. Of course, more might have been done, but when you come to think of it there is not much to complain about, and, any way, there is nothing to complain about among our own people. I suggest that this 6ide of the picture should be looked at more frequently."