PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14285, 30 April 1917, Page 3

PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH.

I NEED OF CONCENTRATION. BRITISH! DETERMINATION. DOMINIONS' RIGHT, TO VOICE IN COUNCILS. •Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, April 29. Continuing his speech at the Guild,hall, Mr Lloyd George said he had also brought practically the whole of the shipping of the country for the first time under complete control and requisition. . That meant that the ships of this country were going to be concentrated hence- 1 forth upon the essential and vital trade of the country. The Shipping Controller had so concentrated and arranged traffic that, although we were losing heavily m ships — and assuming we would stiil loni-iiue to lose at the same rate — m duly we should bring more cargo t-mage into our ports than m March las.;. The Germans thought we were done, lut they did not know the race they were dealing ' with. When pressure was brought to bear on this Old Country it somehow or other won through, and. it was going to do it this time by the means he had mentioned. i "I have no hesitation after daily investigating Government reports and. looking at the whole thing m the worst as well as the best respects m saying that if the programme is carried out — which . means that everybody m the country does his duty — the German submarine campaign is beaten," he declared; "but the public must stick to rations and farmers and laborers must cultivate land. Work- i men m the shipyards must do their best to increase the supply of ships; If we carry out all those things faithfully we can defy the very worst." j He proceeded to say that he had dealt at length with this submarine question because it had undoubtedly drawn a great deal of attention,, and the figures were alarming, but the Government had published them all because, they wanted the public to know. The present Government' concealed nothing from the public. | "Britain is a- country you don't get the best out of .until we know the worst." he said. "That is true of any country with .grit. We sent a hundred thousand men to France m Au^dst, 1914. and they turned the tide, of history? The dominions and India have contributed a million men. That has transformed our ideas regarding the reality and beneficence of the British Empire/The world cannot afford to let it be broken, but the . choice must be between immediate concentration and ultimate dissolution. Things cannot 'remain where they were. It may be said -that the shadowy character ot the relations between us and the dominions and the great territories m . ihe East did not tend to produce this cohesion. Tliat was all very well before they made their great sacrifices, but they have now established claims to a real partnership. Henceforth effective consultation must be the only basis of co-operation. "If our action brings them into trouble, as it has, and costs them millions of precious lives, they must henceforth be consulted before they act. Our methods must be carefully considered. A great war is not the best time for thinking out' perhaps a new constitution, but our Councils of Empire must be a reality. v The Imperial War Cabinet has been « demonstrator of the value of this counsel. Our colleagues from the dominions and India have not taken part m a formal conference * they have had _ a real share m open councils, and their decisions have been a great source of strength arid wisdom to our deliberations. We have decided m future that it is the business of British and dominion statesmanship to knit the Empire into closer bonds of interest m trade, commerce, business, and mineral intercourse. We have -considered this problem, and have decided that m order to develop those enormous territories m future it is necessary that exceptional encouragement should be given to tbe products of'each part of the Empire. We believe a system of preference could be established not involving the imposition of food, burdens. Wo believe we can-do without that."