MR. ASHMEAD BARTLETT.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1916, Page 3

MR. ASHMEAD BARTLETT.

HIS VIEWS AXD OPINIONS. ADDRESS AT WELLINGTON". (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, April 11. ''To many people who do not know .what the conditions of modern warfare are, our progress in this great struggle seems to be decidedly slow," said Mr. Ashmead Bartlett, when addressing the members of the New Zealand Club today. ".Modern warfare has entirely upset the old, preconceived ideas. During the whole course of this campaign no offensive has achieved any signal success, except the great German drive against Russia last summer. The Russians were pushed back on that occasion, mainly because they lacked artillery and munitions, and , the Germans occupied Russian territory. But the Russian armies were not broken or surrounded. If you look at the history of the early stage of the war you will see that when Germany enjoyed every advantage, when Britain had merely a tiny army in the field, and when the French armies had not reached their full strength, the German offensive did not succeed. The Germans were swept back from the Mame, and later they were foiled in the huge effort to reach Calais. "It was during the German attack in the direction of Calais that the British armies rendered the Allied cause the most signal service of the war. Our troops had to be moved to Ypres, and one of our divisions held up several German army corps for,a whole week until other troops reached their positions. The divisions went into action 1(1.000 strong, and came out with a few thousand men and a few officers. But they had checked the German advance and given time for the other troops to come up. The incident shows w'rnt d.'termined, well entrenched infantry can do against vastly superior numbers. Lately we have seen the same sort of thfng at Verdun. The Germans have made an intense concentration of artillery and have sacrificed an enormous number of men. They have captured a few miles of territory and have tu'em a. tV>w unimportant works, but '.li? gains have been not the least commensm-atc with the German sacrifices. It is always the prayer of our generals that t,h». Germans will attack us ra'air than we attack them.

"Perhaps the time will come when we must make a big effort to break through on the Western front. That depends upon how much pressure Russia can bring to bear in the East, how far the French can eo-operate after their tremendous effort at Verdun, and hnw much pressure the Allies can bring to bear on all the fronts. Our own army has greater strength along its eighty miles of front than any other combatant has, and perhaps it can gain some decisive success. But we should not be too optimistic. You have seen how our infantry held up the Germans at a time when we were not nearly so well entrenched as the Germans are to-day. (Progress against entrenched positions is necessarily slow. When a piece of ground has been gained it lias to be consolidated before a further advance 'is possible, and the enemy can prepare for resistance at another point. "Tf we cannot break through, the outcome of the war will still be the same. I do not think that the end will come quickly. I think we will see an intensification of the commercial struggle and a strengthening of the blockade until one side gives way under strain. The Central Powers, cut off from communication with the, outside world, are sure to feel the strain more than we do, with all the seaways open to us; the end will be hastened if they use up men in these great assaults. I think that the military situation is favorable to us on all the fronts at the present time. That is to say, we have nothing to fear from the Germans. When we try to break through the German lines that will be another question, and, as I have said, you must not expect rapid progress.

''The only real menace to lis at the present time is the activity of the Gorman submarines. These craft are becoming more difficult to handle as they grow in size and the enemy acquires experience in their use. But a certain number of them' will continue to be destroyed by our naval forces, and I do not think that during the present war the Germans can build enough of them to break our hold upon the sea«. The appearance of the submarine is the great outstanding feature of this war, and events have shown that it is absolutely essential for the British Empire to secure a peace that .will prevent the Central Powers constructing great fleets of submarines m the future. We may admit that if Germany in the past had spent on submarines one-quarter of the money devoted to the battleships now lying idle in the Kiel Canal, we would be in an extremely difficult position at the present time. We must secure some guarantee for the future. Germany must not be in a position to spend the next ten years preparing a mighty fleet of submarines for use against the British Empire in another war. The Allies, who happily are firmly united, must demand terms ot peace which shall secure for each nation the secure occupation of its own territory, and that will prevent Germany and Austria launching another war of aggression in Europe. "These terms of peace will be hard to win. We have a long and troublesome road to tread. But it will be better far to continue down that road than to make a patched-np peace at the piesent time. (Applause.) Jf you read bistory you will find that the nation* that have had moral right on their side, and that have upheld certain standards of truth and justice, have generally emerged vieorious in the end. While there is a Higher Power governing human affairs that state of things must be. We are fighting for the higher ideals and for civilisation. A nation that is fighting for those ideals, and that is supported by the splendid selfsacrifice of such communiations as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, must triumph over the nation that has set itself up as the bully and pillager of small peoples, and that has re-intro-duced into warfare the practices of the most savage races of the past." (Applause.)