Lloyd George

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 23, 21 December 1916, Page 2

Lloyd George

PLAY THE CAME! EQUALITY OF SACRIFICES. Press Association—Copyright, Austin lian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received 11.25 a.m.) 1 , London, December ;20.. ; Regarding the food probhfjn; ,Mr„ Lloyd George said: It is M dqubje, one, namely, of distribution and production. Respecting both, we must call upon the people of the country to make real sacrifices, but it is es r sential that the sacrifices be equal. (Cheers.) Over-'consumption by the. affluent must not be allowed to create a shortage for the less well-to-do. j He hoped he could appeal to the men and women of all ranks to play the game—(Cheers)—and help the whole Nation. Without that, we could accomplish nothing, and the whole Nation must assist to distribute its resources. There must be no man, woman, or child who will suffer hunger because of someone else getting too much. (Cheers.) You cannot have absolute equality of sacrifice unless the Nation as a Avhole place its comforts, its luxuries, its indulgences, its elegances, and its men on the national altar. Consecrated by such sacrifices as our heroes have made, let us proclaim during war a national Lent. The nation will bo better! a'iid stronger for it~'-(Cheers.) Our arinies might drive the enemy from the battered villages of France and across the devastated, plains of Belgium; they might hurl them across the Rhine in battered disarray; but unless the Nation as a whole shoulders part of the burden of victory, we may not profit by the triumph, for it is not what a Nation gains, it is Avhat a Nation gives .that makes it great. It is intolerable that any section can be permitted to make execepim.il profits out of these sacrifices. Much was done by the late Administration to arrest unfair private profiteering, but the Government has come to the conclusion not to ask the Nation for more sacrifices without .even more drastic steps yet being taken. . After outlining what had already i been done to meet the situation, Mr : Lloyd George stated that Mr Bonar Law and others were now carefully examining the problem, and hoped to, be able to make an announcement shortly on the course the Government intended to adopt. It was quite clear the Nation must be asked to 1•; l>e fin thcr sacrifices in ordrjr to v in the war, and. the road must bo cleared by some action of this kind.

MOBILISATION OF LABO.I. (Received 11.35 a.m. - ) London, December 20. Mr Lloyd George next turned to thu question of. the mobilisation of the Labour reserves, without which—lej there he no mistake—we should not >)8 able to pull through. This was :i question not of years, but mouths., and, perhaps, weeks, and unless the labor of the country wasusod to tii; 1 - best advantage—every man being called upon to render such service to tne State as he can best giv«--victory would be beyond our reach. Problem was a difficult one, and to complete what has already bean done, he main-, tained that the Government ought to have power to say that every man not taken into the army, whatever his position or rank, should really be employed on a work of national importance. At present they had only those men who were fit for military service, and had not established a claim to exemption,.and upon whom there was the National call; the unlit man and the exempted man were surely uucer the same moral obligation, but still the Government had not tha means of enforcing it. With this imperfect o«ganisation of industrial m»n-power, we are called upon to confront an enemy who not only exercised to 111* full the undoubted right over their own population, but had introduced a practico hitherto unknown in civilised warfare, viz., the removing of civilian

inhabitants from occupied territory to make good the shortage of labour in their own factories. We will maiaa swift effective answer to Germany's latest move as the months go by. Speaking of the cost of the war auu the increases, he said: Our purchases in Neutral countries become more difficult to finance, yet there are thousands of men occupied in industries which consume our wealth at home, and do nothing to strengthen our credit abroad, but we have no power to transfer them from their enlpldyin'cn't where they are wasting their strength to other employments i where they could increase it. We have not. even the organisation necessary for utilising them as volunteers. These pDwers we must take. This is an organisation which we must complete.—(Cheers.) UNIVERSAL NATIONAL SERVICE (Received 12.30 p.m.) London, December 20. Mr Lloyd George, continuing, pointed to the difficulty regarding agriculture for want of skilled men, despite* the fact that he believed hundreds of thousands of people, who, if they could be utilised to the best advantage, could produce great quantities of food in this country. In this connection, schemes of very great magnitude had been formulated, and were of course being put into operation. They would involve great local organisations throughout the country, and he, thought Mr Asquith would be very satisfied when he saw them. The matter had been considered by the War Committee of the late Govern- j ment, who unanimously decided that j the time would come for the adoption ! of the principle of universal national service. The present Government and the War Cabinet unanimously■, adopted this conclusion. He believ- j ed there were plans which made sure that every worker would do all he j might be asked for. In order to do I this, it was proposed to appoint immediately a Director of National Service, who would be in charge of both the military and civil side of universal national service. The civil and niuitary sidtf of the directory would be entirely separate. There would be a military and civil director who Mould be iesponsible to the Director of National Service, and the Military Director would be responsible for recruiting for the Army. It was not proposed to make any change in recruiting for military service, but as regards the civilian service it was proposed that the directory of national service proceed by a schedule of industries and of services according to their essential character during the war. REGISTRATION OF WAR- " WORKERS. (Received 1.10 p.m.) London, December 20. Mr Lloyd George continued : Certain industries were regarded as indispensable and the departments concerned would indent upon the Director of National Service for the labour required in those services. Oilier services would be rationed in such matters as labour, raw material, and power. Labour that was set free from non-essential and rationed industries would be available and set free as potential soldiers, who were at present exempted from military .service, and to increase the available supply of Labour for essential service. This Labour would be invited to enrol at once and be registered as war-workers on lines analagotis with similar provisions regarding rates ol pay and separation allowances. There would be no doubt when they lealisud how essential to the life of the Nation was that service. Every man should be put to the best use. We must secure an adequate supply "I these volunteers. The Government was taking immediate steps to .secure by this means the men wanted in the classification of industries, and an invitation to enrol as volunteers would be given soon. May be. il it were found impossible to get the numbers required, they should not | hesitate to come to Parliament and j

ask to release them from the pledge given under other circumstances and to obtain the necessary power of rendering our plans fully effective. The Nation was fighting for its life, and was entitled to the best services of all its sons.

A GREAT NEW SYSTEM. (Received 1.30 p.m.) London, December '2O. . Mr Llovd George went on to Bay that the Government had induced the Lord Mayor of Birmingham to accept, the. position of Director-General. Under this scheme he would immediately proceed to propose this great new system of enrolment for industrial pur■poses. He hoped before Parliament resumed, to he ahle to report that they had been aide to mohilise the whole labour strength of the country for war purposes. THE IRISH QUESTION. Turning to the Irish question, Mr Llovd George said he wished it were possible to remove the misunderstand-, ittg between Britain and Ireland. He Mould regard that as a great victory for the Allied forces and as something that would give strength to our, armies and to the Allies. He was convinced that it was a misunderstanding partly racial and partly religious,, but it was to the interest of both sides to have it removed. H seemed,; however, that there had been *nne; evil chance that had frustrated every effort made for the achievement of better relations. He had tried once, but ho had not succeeded. The faun was not entirely on the one side. He had felt the whole time that we were moving in an atmosphere of nervous suspicion and distrust, pervasive and universal of everything and everybody. He was drenched with suspicion of Irishmen by Englishmen, and of Englishmen by Irishmen,, and—worse and ; most fatal of all—suspicions of Irish- _ men by Irishmen. It was a quagmire , of distrust which clogged the footstops of progress that was the real enemy of Ireland. If, he continued, that distrust coulu he slain, he belioved there might be accomplished an act of reconciliation which would make Ireland and Britain greater, and make the United Kingdom and the Empire greater than ever they were before. Speaking for himself and his colleagues, they would strive to produce that better feeling which was the essential solution o: ( the Irish problem. He asked the men of all races, creeds and faith, to help the Government—not to solve a political question, but to help it to do something which would be a real eon-, tribution towards winning the war.

A TRIBUTE TO THE NAVY. Alter paying a lug" tribute to tno oiiormous and incalculable service's reuderoil 'by Britain's Navy, not merely to the Empire, but to the whole Allied cause, came the question of tilt. Dominions. Ministers had repeatedly acknowledged the splendid assistance the Dominions had given of their own free will to the Old Country, in its championship of the cause of humanity. The great ideals of national fairplay and justice, appealed to the Dominions just as insistently as they did to Britain. The Dominions recognised throughout that the fight was not a selfish one, and the quarrel was not merely European, but that great world, issues were involved, wherewith thenchildren were as much concerned as ours. The new Government was as full of gratitude as the old for the. supervalour which our kinsmen had shown on so manv stricken fields, but that was not wli.v he had introduced the subject. THE OVERSEAS DOMINIONS. (Received .1.50 a.m.) London, December '2O. Mr Lloyd George explained that ins reason was that the Government Toil the time had come when the Dominions ought to be more formally con-

suited as to the progress and the course of the war, and as to what steps ought to be taken to secure victory, and the best methods of gaining those i ends. We propose therefore, at an early date, to summon an Imperial Conference to place the whole positien before the Dominions and take council with them as to what further action they and we should take together, in order to achieve an early and complete triumph for the ideals they and ' we had so superbly fought for. I Mr Lloyd George then dealt with the relations with the Allies. We had, he said, already achieved unity of aim, but when it came to a question | of unity of action he still thought a i good deal was left to be desired. He ( had only got to refer to the incident • of Roumania and each man could spell out for himself what that meant. The enemy had two supreme advantages: they cculd act on internal lines and there was one great dominant power that practically directed all the enemy's forces. We had neither of these advantages and therefore must achieve the same end by other means. The advantages the Allies possessed were advantages which time improved. 'No one could say that we had raade the lest of that time. There had been tardiness of decision and action, and there must now be some nw-ins of arriving at quicker and readier decisions and of carrying them out. He believed this cm.ld be done. i A COMMON FRONT. Press Association— Copyright, Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. L (Received 1.55 p.m.) London, December 20. Mr Lloyd George stated further: There must bo more real consultation between the men who had the direction \ of affairs and less of the feeling that f each country had only got her own front to look after. The policy or « ;' common front must be a reality. The '' enemy realised this policy, and we must'secure it more and more, instead of having overwhelming guns on one side and bare breasts-gallant breasts _on the other. That was essential for the Allies and for the curtailment of the period before victory arnveu.

THE PARTING OF THE WAYS. ' Mr Llovd George said he would conclude I 'with a'personal not?: Ho might sat in all sincerity that one of the regrets of his life was to part from Mr Asquith. Some of his friends knew how he strove to avert it. For years he served under Mr Asquith, and he must say there- was never a kindlier or more indulgent chief. In any faults of temper they were entirely his (the speaker's).lt was with deep genuine grief that he felt it necessary to send in his resignation, .hut there were moments when personal party consideration must sink, and if he had paid scant heed to the call of Party during the war it was because ho realised, from the moment when Prussian cannon hurled death upon a peaceable and unoft'ensive little country, that a challenge had been sent to" civilisation to decide an issue higher, deeper, and wider than all tne party issues, and .upon the settlement of which depends the fats of the men of this, world for generations, when the existing .parties would have fallen like dead leaves on the highway. GERMANY'S BROKEN FAITH. Mr Lloyd George in the course of his speech, said the mere word such as led to Belgium bringing about her own destruction will not satisfy Europe any more. We all believed it.' We all trusted it v but it gave way to the first pressure of temptation, and Europe plunged into a vortex of blood. We, therefore, will wait until we can hear what other terms of guarantees the German Government offer than those—bet\er than those and surer than those—which she so lightly broke. In the meantime, we shall put our trust in an unbroken army, rather than in a broken faith.

MR REDMOND'S VIEWS. TRIBUTE TO MR ASQUITH. IRISH PARTY AND, THE WAR. DISAPPOINTED HOPES. Press Association— Copyright, Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received 9.20 a.m.) London, December 20. In the House of Commons Mr Redmond eulogised the patriotism, reticence, and magnanimity of Mr Asquith in his speech and labours. On behalf of Ireland, he assured the Government that they could rely on the support of the Irish Party in any policy, which the latter believed and calculated would speedily and victoriously end the war, but he did not mean that the Premier could count on their blind unquestioning support. He heard Mr Lloyd George's references to [ruland with the deepest disappointment. They were vague indefinite, and lacking in the quality oi quick decision, which they were led to expect. The Irish question was an urgent Avar problem. The Irish Party's attitude must depend on the Government's action thereon. MiLloyd George suggestions were neither a palliative nor a cure. Mr Redmond urged the immediate withdrawal of martial law and the release of! the untried prisoners, which was best calculated to create a better atmosphere. Drift was the worst possible policy. The Government should take the initiative. He warned them against imposing conditions regarding recruiting and conscription. Thorn were times when it was right to initiate a bold drastic action.