THE 800 MILLION CREDIT.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14657, 11 March 1918, Page 6

THE 800 MILLION CREDIT.

MR BONAR LAW'S SPEECH

REVIEW OF THE MILITARY

SITUATION

ENEMY'S DISAPPOINTMENTS IN

RUSSIA

and N.Z. Gablo Association)

Lcrafem; March 7

'Continuing his sjHHjcf: on tho znotiri! for % war credit of, 600 millions, Mr ißonar Law said the item of £'39,7oG;n{Xj ■represented «dvacc-es to the Dominions. It wa3 not a loan, but it 4neaufc £aafc the Dominion*.' troops in Britain vvere largely supplied by cur arrangements at Home. Tho increasod ex peridituje was largely due to tho otcjjansion cf the Palc-stino and-Mpsopo-tamian operations, and the increase'! fj^rsonne'l of the army, but the prihoi■|>al" cause was the increasedl quantity kud cost of commodities. • •;

•! Loans to tho Allies on February :kh stood at £1,264,000,1300, and -loans-.to th's Dominions at ' £18QiQ0SflQQi -He estimated the national debt at the end o€ the. financial year at about 55,90 c,1' 300,000. Svrvoying the war situation.. My jßonar Law said we had knowledge' that tho Germans promised Turkey that they would expel the British' from Mesopotamia; but they were forced to abandon the plans. Though German >• -lipped for much food from Russia, tb» -j&ritisb Government's information av.s* that the food'production in Russia tU. year barely supplied Russia herself Prom every point of view it was unlikely that Germany woiild be able-to exploit Russia. -

We had probably a slight superiority of men and guns on the Western front. Wo were overwhelmingly superior iv the air. Our forces in France had been working their .utmost to strongth£B2 the defences, and the results ivwe BKJtoderful. We had used more barbed vnre iv January and"February than in the whole of 1917. He was somewhat sceptical about the Cern>aii.. offensive.-

The general position t;t Salonika wa-s unsatisfactory, In; t this wa; due t.,> feussia'B collapse. We did .-not expect a- y^r ago to bo purely on the defo» fiive. The general eorumu tiding re.--.ir;. fiised tlat thj position at Salon P.-,; «night become dangerous. The Cent1;,. IPowerß, wit]-- better coTOmur.ica.tion.-i, Blight send forces ■which it would .be difficult, perhaps impossible, for us to eneet, but GerEcany'e man-power was laorfc inexhaustible. She could : m>t .ilq everything at once. She would pax Nearly for erory yard cf advance. It ivg.s. not difficult to justify tie expedition. If ifc had not boon sent Germany "woi.ld have controlled tlie Gro.?k- har-L'ikh-h, which were vital to its. If thfi

■encrav secured thorn and' used them submarine bases ifc would bo almost impossible to keep up conjmiuiications with Egypt. v

The victories % in- -Mesopotamia aarl Palestine were not only a moral and material gain, but were an immense military accession, of strength The late Cord Kitchener had estimated, that the tifllops necessary to save Egypt from invasion would be larger than the total now operating in Mesopotamia and Palestine.

r He had no doubt that if the Sllies held together tl;ey could seciye the results which they sot out to achiere. Kfoless the Germans loarnt that war did wot pay.and that it was no longer possible for a group of men to plunge the .world in misery, peace would be a dcs&& for -ihe Allies. If tie question, of" <Jtmtinuing.. the war were submitted to & referendum in Britain the result would astonish the enemy and ourselves.

(Continued oi page 7.)