REDUCED COAL OUTPUT

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 764, 22 July 1916, Page 10

REDUCED COAL OUTPUT

REPRESENTATIONS OF ADMIRALTY. A SERIOUS DECLINE. "The Times" Service. (Received July 22, 9.20 a.m.) LONDON, July 21. The Admiralty has informed the South Wales miners that the coal output for the United Kingdom has fallen by 35,000,000 tons since the war, whereas the national and Allied demands necessitated 20,000,000 tons more than before the war. COMMISSIONS OF INQURY. DARDANELLES AND MESOPOTAMIA. HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATE. A iitstralian and y.Z. Cable Axsoeiition. LONDON, July 20. During the debate which followed Mr Asquith's statement regarding the Mesopotamia and Dardanelles Commissions, Mr J. Annan Bryce said that if the country knew the appalling facts of the hospital arrangements in Mesopotamia, no whitewashing committee would suffice. Mr Lloyd George, Minister of War, said that henceforth the Army Council would have complete trol of the Commander-in-Chief in India in respect to the conduct of the campaign. Abundant supplies were now at Basra, and the War Office was endeavouring to remedy the difficulties of sending them to the troops. The first duty was to put matters right, and the second was to bring those responsible for negligence and incapacity to account. Mr Austen Chamberlain, Secretary for India, said that in the event of incompetence being proved, the Government would act immediately, and would not await the Commission's findings, lie denied that our misfortunes in Mesopotamia were due to financial niggardliness. The Indian Government, which was not responsible to the House of Commons, had voted the money for the expedition. Mr Asquith's motion for the adjournment was formally negatived. IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. OBJECT OF MESOPOTAMIA CAMPAIGN. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, July 20. In the House of Lords, Lord Wemyss raised the question of the Mesopotamia Expedition, and moved that an enquiry be held into the whole campaign. Many people believed that it was a gambling venture, and that the moment the Dardanelles operations failed, Mesopotamia ought to have been abandoned. A madder undertaking, he asserted, could not be imagined than this, in which 12,000 troops advanced 500 miles against the full force of the Turkish Army. Lord Crewe said it was imperative during the critical moments of

August, I!>H, to reassert our paramount position in the Persian Gulf, and counteract the German campaign which was seeking lo yiduce a. Holy War. It was necessary to support the faithful Arab chiefs in that region. Our presence in the Persian Gulf had saved the Empire from the near approach of a great disaster. It was also necessary to consider the great Moslem peoples of Africa, who might easily have been aroused against us. Lord Islington, Under-Secretary for India, stated that all the troops in Mesopotamia were now fully rationed, except for a shortage of vegetables and milk. Political considerations would not allow the overruling of the advice of thcmilitary authorities in connection with the' campaign. Lord Islington added that General Sir John Nixon, formerly Comman-der-in-Chief, undoubtedly believed he could carry out the operations in Mesopotamia successfully. General Townshend had never questioned, in any correspondence to which the Government had access, his capacity to do what was asked of him. It was apparent that Sir John Nixon had underrated the difficulties. The motion was carried.