The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1919. THE EMPIRE'S WAR RECORD.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 February 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1919. THE EMPIRE'S WAR RECORD.

Although the time has not yet arrived when a full review could be made of what the British Empire "has accomplished since August 14, 1914, there is ample material available wherewith to furnish much food for gratification. The record is one which will go down in history as the most marvellous national effort of all time, and though its recital cannot fail to arouse a sentiment of pride, yet it can be absolved from the charge of boasting, for the simple reason that whatever was done was for the benefit of the world at large—the defence of a principal vital to humanity, and successful effort to pulverise a world menace so that the nations could live in peaee and unfettered by military despotism. The Dominions were active partners Avith the Motherland in this titanic struggle and, as such, share in the triumph as well as in the sacrifices of the agonising years wherein ever/'' ounce of strength that could be brought into use was exercised for the attainment of victory—not for self glorification or aggrandisement but in the noble cause of freedom and humanity. The British Bureau of Information has supplied certain statistics that make interesting reading and these figures cannot be too widely or too intimately known, for they reveal what a colossal strain the war created and how magnificently that strain was met and the ever-increasing demands supplied. The Navy tonnage grew from 2,500,000 to 8,000,000, and its personnel from 145,000 to about 500,000, exclusive of the merchant fleet, patrol vessels and mine sweepers. A prominent part of the duty of the Navy during the war was to blockade Germany so as to prevent her being supplied from outside with those raw materials essential for warfare. This grip was never relaxed, with the result that in October last the German Chancellor was forced to admit that his country was at the end of its tether, largely owing to the shortage of law material for ordnance. Important as was that blockade work, the Navy was usefully employed on other essential duties on which the success of the Allies depended. It convoyed thirteen million men, two million mules and horses, half a million vehicles, twenty-five million tons of explosives and fifty-one million tons of j fuel, including oil, for the use of our Allies, besides thirteen million tons of food and other supplies. Then there was the submarine piracy to deal with, and in that work eighty per cent, of the vessels employed were British, b?sldes seventy-eight per cent, of the submarines used for hunting the U boats. Throughout all the Navy maintained the command of the seas and is admitted to have been the deciding factor in the struggle. In the matter of aircraft the record is equally gratifying for when the war broke out Britain had only 130 of this species f'f craft and 900 men, while at the dose she possessed 21,000 aeroplanes, 1300 seaplanes and .103 airships, besides having under order 2500 aerrtplanes and 55,000 engines, and the personnel had risen I to thirty thousand officers and two hundred and sixty-four thousand other ranks. What these craft accomplished is fairly well known and they may well claim 10 have been a factor in the final, tiiumph of the Allies' cause. Attention must now be drawn to the wonderful work accomplished in building up the land forces. Britain's entire army at the outset of the war only reached a total of 700,000 trained men—a mere handful as compared with Gerniaav's millions. Lord Kitchener gut' to work and, in a fortnight, raised his first hundred thousand. At the end of the first year of the war the numbers had gone up to two million, and in May, If) 16, there were more than five million men in the army and Navy, while in 1918 the total exceeded S,">")') - 000, of which India contributed

1,500,000, the Dominions a million, and Britain, six and a quarter millions. But the winning of the war was not confine:! to the mon; the women did thsir share, rive millions of them doing work undertaken by moa. The British Premier paid a flattering tribute to these women workers when he said: "If it had not been for the splendid manner in which the women have come forward .

. . often in daily danger of their lives, Britain ind the Alii™ would have been unable to withstand the enemy attacks." Nor 'fiust mention be omitted of the work of the Boy Scouts, of whom fifteen thousand joined the colors, while 50,000, too young for active service, were employed at the War Office, and two hundred acted as coast guards thereby releasing experienced seamen. It may also be mentioned that amateur gardeners raised the potato crop of Britain !>y three million tons. It will thus be seen that service was practically universal, for those who could

not work manually devoted their energies to raising funds and performing other useful services. It is a grand record of patriotism, and though there has been great loss of life, much suffering and privation, Britain emerges from the struggle with greater strength tli an ever, and the Empire as a whole has the satisfaction of knowing that the sacrifices made have been in a cause that will benefit the world at large.