MILITARY SERVICE BILL.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 1, 12 April 1919, Page 5

MILITARY SERVICE BILL.

THIRD READING CARRIED.

LABOUR AMENDMENT REJECTED.

(Australian and M.Z. Cable Association^

v n ' London, April 8: The House of Commons carried the third reading of the Military Service Bill after Mr Bonar Law moved tS a c We, The Labourites, including Mb " Sf el a bitted? atfJt i *n(l descnbed the measure as - an attempt to continue the war and f tte army. Th e League of Nations 3 might as well decree the number rei quired for future eventualities a Mr New bold, in his maiden" speech • 3 pointed to the West Leyton result as au indication of the country's opiniS r of the Government's breach of faith * ™ •? ard v .Carson- deprecated the i opposition, which was the finest tonS r ior Austria and Germany - Mr Churchill said it was impossible , to + secure voluntarily berore peSTwaS i ratified more than a quarter of the :S^n^r ed- r Th^ ■seburel > only 70,000 by re-enhstment. Six thous sand soldiers on the Rhine had signed i for another,year. " The cost of. the 5 army of was £200.000,000 5 S5> rSinnm e f I*^ to deduc* - &/0,U00,000 for upkeep i Continuing, Mr Churcliill said we ; were maintaining in Germany 264 000 i soldiers; in Italy, 10,000; in India ; 60,000 to 70,000; 'the Middle East 3 '- aoonrlPa^ aSU?' 75^°°S^ Mesopotamia, - dU,WO; Egypt and Palestine, 60 000- ---' 9<?nr# Northern Siberia and Russia,' • 20,000. France, had 120,000 non-com-i batants clearing up the batlefields and T%:n^ te™Srted T keeping in Britain 175,000, and m Ireland 48,000. This ■jwas not a formidable army to maintain the security of the Empire, uphold our, P°t? l0ou m S ur°Rc' and win victory. Mr Churchill said that M. Pichon^s statement that 140,000 British troops were m the East included the Balkans, rurkey, Asia Minor and the Caucasus. ; There were only 20,000 in Russia, Tha | figures did not include tiie Caucasus, yshere the troops were nut engaged in military operations, and wore not in contact with the enemy. Thome's motion 'for the rejection of the Bill was negatived. The House of Lords read a second time the Military Service Bill. Lord Buckmaster moved its rejection Lord Curzon pointed out that the war.,was not yet over. Conditions might revive and the clouds burst at any moment in a more sinister forms than in the past. It was absolutely certain-that the troops in Mesopotamia,' Syria,-and-Palestine must be main* tamed-intact. The small force in Russia would be withdrawn at,the •arliest moment, but the present army of 860,000, of which 208,000 were noncombatants, was necessary to protect I the Empire and the- conquered territories. We held the latter in order to secure..fulfilment of the Peace Treaty. The position at .Vienna was serious, and there was fear of an outbreak of Bolshevism similar to that at Budapest.. Qiir assistance. was required in response, to similar, appeals from various quarters. During the past four or five months we had not responded with, avidity,,but the power to respond was the:^guarantee of the peace of itho world; v . ; • -