MEN NEEDED.

Southland Times, Issue 17865, 16 January 1918, Page 4

MEN NEEDED.

In introducing the Man Power Bill in the House of Commons Sir Auckland Geddes n/ade it known that, the Empire has raised 7,500,000 troops for the' war, of course including the Navy - as well as' the Army. ,* It is a magnificent achievement, and the contribution of the dominions and colonics is equally magnificent—nearly 1,000,000 men. The magnitude .of tfie war and . the enormous demand it makes upon the manhood of the belligerents are brought home to us by the Bill which is intended to empower the British Government to take: men for the Army out of exempted occupations. The Allies still have the advantage as regards numbers, but the withdrawal of Russia and Roumania has released 1,600,000 German and Austrian soldiers for the western front. Therefore more men must be found, and the burden falls chiefly upon Britain. Reading between tfie lines of the cabled report of Sir Auckland Geddes’s speech it is easy to see that France and Italy have reached their limit as regards men, and that whatever demands may be made for more men must be met by Britain until the American divisions begin to pour into France. At present .itis not intended either to raise or to lower the military age (18 years to 41 years) in Britain nor to introduce compulsion in Ireland, but Sir Auckland Geddes said frankly that if the men required cannot be raised otherwise the Government will not hesitate to resort to any or all of these measures. The necessity is clearly urgent, and it is to be hoped that the opposition which has been shown by certain sections of Labour, though organised Labour’s official representatives, having heard the Government’s explanation, "have approved the Bill, will be withdrawn. While the heaviest strain of the war is upon the shoulders of the British nation unity is more than ever needed, and in the coming struggle with Germany’s full strength an extra twenty divisions may make all the difference.