THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBRER 21, 1918. WHAT GREAT BRITAIN HAS DONE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17426, 21 September 1918, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBRER 21, 1918. WHAT GREAT BRITAIN HAS DONE.

There is no doubt a good deal of ground for the fear expressed this week by Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Information, that misconceptions exist in the British dominions respecting the magnitude of the effort which the Mother Country has put forth in behalf of the cause of humanity and justice in the war. In a general way it is realised by most of the residents in the overseas dominions that Great Britain has placed a remarkable achievement to her credit. Except, however, in so far as it is recognised that the might of the navy has made it at all possible for the Allies to prosecute the war—since, but for the existence of the •navy, they would have been cut off from all their sources of supply—there is, it is to be apprehended, a very imperfect appreciation of tlie measure of the contribution of Great Britain to the common fund of Allied activity. Even the dimensions of the British army, conjured up as by some magical influence during the past four years, are not fully realised. Great Britain has, as Lord Beaverbrook observed, contributed more men to the army, in proportion to the population, than any of the dominions has done. There is nothing surprising, of course, in this, and no reasonable person can have supposed that the contribution made to the army by the United Kingdom, situated at 'it is on the edge of the war vortex, was not substantially greater, in proportion to the population, than that of any other part of the Empire. Mr Massey, who had apparently been supplied with official figures on the subject, stated in a speech about the end of July that the British nation had created an army of 7,500,000 of whom 60 per cent, had been contributed by England, 8.3 per cent, by Scotland, 3.7 per cent. .by Wales, 2.3 per cent, by Ireland, 12 per cent, by the dominions and colonies, and the remainder by India and the dependencies. Upon those figures England and Wales, with a male population in 1911 of 17,445,608, have contributed' about 4,735,000 men to the army; Scotland, with a population of 2,308,839 males, has contributed about 635,000; and Ireland, with a population of 2,192,018 males, has contributed about 175,000 only. During the war period, moreover, the strength of the personnel of the British navy has been increased from 145,000 to 420,000. But it is concerning the industrial achievement of Great Britain in relation to the war that there is the largest amount of misconception, arising simply from the fact that the public has not been informed. Lord Beaverbrook suggests that Great Britain could not herself claim recognition for what she is doing. There is no overwhelming reason, however, why she should hide her light beneath a bushel. Indeed, Lord Curzon, speaking on July 29, fairly claimed that the effort of Great Britain was sufficiently great to justify the request that it should be known both to British people and to the Allied nations. Of the extent of that effort he himself gave somo indication. He said:

Wo had been the feeder, the clothier, the baker, the armourer, and the univereal provider of the Allies, and without our aid the superb effort could not have been put forward by France. We carried over 50 per cent, of the coal by which the furnaces and forges, the railways and arsenals of France were fed, and -60 per cent, of the cereals which kept her army and people, and we had one million tons of shipping in the service of France at this moment. We had also half a million tons of shipping in the service of Italy, and we had carried small arms, ammunition, machine-guns, blankets, socks, wool, cotton, and jute, the latter to clothe the soldiers of France and her people. We had sent Franco's entire supply of frozen moat and petrol to Salonika.

What wo have done for Franco wo have done for all the Allies. Since the war wo had carried 24 million tons of stores for tho Allies, and the total value of our shipping contracts for them wa» 17 million sterling. Northampton, Kettering, and Leicester had jJrovided the footgear for the Allies and had turned out altogether 60 million boots. We had supplied 2.000,000 respirators to the Italian army to enable it to breathe tho air of victory in the forthcoming twelve months. ' Wo had dislocated our trade, reduced our own consumption, rationed our coal, and sold or pledged our British securities and incurred losses in this respect in maiiy parts of the world.

Tho homo armies of the United Kingdom. are themselves of considerable magnitude. "At present," Lord Curzon said, " there were 200,000 men in Great Britain engaged exclusively in the industrial service of the Allies, and 375,0(X) digging coal. One million men were doing industrial work for the Admiralty, and one million and a-half men were engaged in munition work, a large proportion working not for us alone but for the Allies as well." The retention of this great body of men in the United Kingdom has deprived the armies on active service of accessions which would have been of the highest value to them.. It is justified, however, by the fact that the service upon which these men are engaged is essential to the prosecution of the war. Upon tie facts and figures which we have quoted it is clear that Great Britain has -takon, and is taking, a part in the war that is of immense importance and that sho has no cause whatever to reproach herself for the share of the war burden undertaken by her. .