NEW MUNITION WORKS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 586, 27 December 1915, Page 10

NEW MUNITION WORKS.

GETTING THE EMPLOYEES.

MR LLOYD GEORGES SCHEME

(Received December 28, 2.35 p.m.) LONDON, December 26.

Mr Lloyd George addressed 3000 trade union leaders at Glasgow on Christinas morning. At the outset there was a good deal of interruption, caused by the singing of the "Red Flag" by syndicalists, and a small section was apparently opposed to the war. The interrupters were distinctly in a minority and the meeting generally was good humoured.

Mr Lloyd George explained that his proposals were the only means of getting 80,000 skilled workers for the State-owneJ, State-erected, Statecontrolled, and State-equipped munition factories now being established throughout the United Kingdom. "Upon the trades unions' acceptance of the proposals depended, not only victory, but the saving of numberless lives. He could not report to Parliament that British workmen refused to suspend their rules. When the Russians early in 1915 conquered Galicia and threatened to overrun Hungary, a change came over the German factories, which were busy throughout the winter pouring out a torrent of guns and shells, that pierced the lines and

drove back the Russians. That was the German workmen's great victory. The French work people/ by tlieir patriotic devotion, saved their country.

If the British workers were prepared to go on for another year they might get help from American workmen in 1917, but time was vital. In the event of British workmen refusing, the only alternative was to tell the Kaiser frankly:—"We cannot go on."

The Kaiser might let us off with the annexation of Belgium, the payment of an indemnity, the loss of a few colonies, and the loss of command of the sea. He urged Labour leaders to rise and grasp their greatest opportunity. Mr Lloyd George subsequently conferred with committees of trades unions, and made satisfactory arrangements for' the immediate solution of the labour problem.