WAR NEWS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5359, 17 February 1916, Page 6

WAR NEWS.

SITUATION REVIEWED

STATEMENT BY MR ASQUITH

| Electric Telegraph—Press Association. Copyright. London, Last Night. In tii'e House of Commons Mr Asquith announced that the King had appointed a committee, with the Prince of Wales as chairman, to give effect to a generous offer by the French Government to provide land for cemeteries for fallen officers and men. Regarding the censorship Mr Asquith said thjat it was important that the people should be enlightened and fortified by the knowledge of being told the worst as well as the best.

Since the adjournment little had taken place ip the various theatres calling for special mention. There had been a recrudescence of activity on the west front wherein the Allies well held their own. The Serbian briny, thanks to the assistance of Italy, had sa'fely evacuated! Albania and was now being re-constituted and refitted.

Operations in the Oa in croons had been brought to a triumphant conclusion.

The situation in Mesopotamia was distinctly improving. General Townshend’s forces are holding their own and General Aylmer’s reinforcements should have reached him by this time. There was every ground for hojfthg that the forces had re-united. Anything in the nature of a serious British cheek had been averted.

There was no prospect of a reduction in the cost of the war, which was £5.000.000 daily. He would ask for a very large vote of credit next week. The nation’s liabilities to January Ist reached a figure which would strain our resources for a generation and staggered the imagination. . The expenses must go on because there would, lie no faltering or Hugging in tho prosecution of the war. “How is it to be met?’’ said Mr Asquith. “1 am no pessimist and I have no more doubt of the ultimate triumph than about the righteousness of the Allied cause, hut the people must be got to realise the position.’’ The Chancellor qf the Exchequer would have the courage to promise large additions to taxation, but this | would not bridge the huge and ever widening chasm . The only other way of mantaining credit was to cut down all unnecessary imports, the consumption of luxuries and bring expenditure ot every phase of public and private life to the lowest limit. The strain and burden would be great, hut no greater than we could bear. During the last three months we li«<l taken stoek of our of men, munitions and industrial and financial capacity. The actual prospective will enable us to contribute the maximum effort in the common cause. 'The navy had performed its duties worthy of the best traditions of the navy and Nelson. Tho nr/ny had grown immensely sri(s> we entered the war as well as our naval power. Now we had an army tenfold larger than at the commencement of the war. Tm addition to these gigantic duties wo had to take a leading part in providing the Allies and the Dominions with the sinews of war. M. Briand’s cardial welcome* in London and Rome were «i matter of congratulation. He hoped that at an early date iu general oonforer.ee of all the Allies would be held in Paris for reviewing all political and strategic questions, thus effectively counteracting the enemy's early advantage ot centralised control. LM.r Asquijth airknowilodged the extent that men from the Dominions had swelled the army of Britain who had been supplying the Allies with the necessities of war and shipping a gigantic and unprecedonted task. There had been mistakes and miscalculations, but long strides had been taken towards a solution.