MR. ASQUITH'S SPEECH.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 February 1916, Page 5

MR. ASQUITH'S SPEECH.

-NEED FOR ECONOMY, Received Feb. IC, 9 p.m. London, Feb. 15. In the House of Commons, Mr. Asquith announced that the King had appointed a committee, with the Prince of Wales as chairman, to give effect to the generous offer of the French Government to provide land for cemeteries Tor fallen officers and men.

Regarding the censorship, Mr. Asquith said that it was important that Hie people should be enlightened and iV tified by the knowledge of being told the worst as well as the best. Since the adjournment of the House little had taken place in the various theatres that called for special mention. There had been a recrudescence of activity on the front, wherein the Allies had well held their own. The Serbian army, thanks to tse assistance of Italy, had safely evacuated Albania and was now being reconstituted and related. The operations in Ue Cameroons had been brought to a triumphant conclusion. The situation in Mesopotamia was distinctly improving. General Townshend was holdng his own, and General Alymer's reinforcements should have reached him by this time. There was every ground for hoping that the forces would be reunited and that anything in the nature of a serious British check would be averted.

There was no prospect of :i reduction in the cost of the war, which was five millions daily, and he would ask for a very large vote of credit next week. The nation's labilities on January Ist had reached a figure' which would strain our resources for a generation, and staggered imagination, but the expenses must go on because there must bo no faltering nor flagging in the prosecution of.the war. "How is it to be met?" asked Mr. Asquith. "I am no pessimist, and havo ho more doubt of our ultimate triumph than about the righteousness of the Allied cause, but people must be got to realise the position. The Chancellor would have the courage to propose large additions to taxation, but this would not bridge the huge ever-widening chasm. The only other way of maintaining credit was to cut down all unnecessary imports, the consumption of luxuries, and brng expenditure in every phase of public and private life to the lowest limit. The strain of the burden would be great, but not greater than we could bear.

Received Feb. 16, 0.50 p.m. London, Feb. 15. Mr. Asquith continued: During the last three months we have taken stock of our resources in men a«« munitions, in an industrial and financial capacity, actual and prospective, to enable us to contribute a maximum effort to the common cause. The Navy has performed dities wm-iliy or the best traditions of the Navy <! Lord Nelson, and the army lias grov.u since we entered the war. 1W ::<■,.,.,• have an army ten fold larger than a; rii' commencement of the war. in ,> u,n-.i to these gigantic duties Britain Uul - W> ta':» a leading part in providing the Allies and Dominions with the sinews of war. M. Brip.nd's cordial welcomes in London and Rome were a matter for coni.i filiation, and Mr. Asquith hoped that at an early date there would be a general conference of all the Allies in Paris, reviewing all political and strategic questions, and thus effectively counteracting the enemy's early advantage. In centralised control Britain's rosponsibiltics wore not more varied or more complex l than those of the Allies. He exampled the Navy as the most powerful and diverse combination of fleets that ever sailed the ocean. With unexampled efficiency they had defended our shores and neutralised the aggressive power of the German fleet and cleared the liigh seas. The Government acknowledged the extent to which the dominions had swelled the army. Britain had been supplying the Allies with the necessities of war, the shipping of which was a gigantic and unprecedented task. There had been mistakes and miscalculations, but long strides had been taken towards the solution.