MR. ASQUITH’S STATEMENT

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16454, 5 June 1919, Page 8

MR. ASQUITH’S STATEMENT

ABOUT EARLY PART OF WAR, By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received June 4. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 3. Mr. Asquith in a speech (of which the first lias not come to hand) said that General French’s intended movements of the army prior to Lord Kitchener's visit filled the Cabinet with consternation. .They would have left France in the lurch at a moment of extreme need. The French Government shared this alarm. Between September 1914 and 1915, the forces in the field were increased fourfold and the munitions ninctceufold. The manufacturers promised a much larger output of munitions than they actually .supplied. Mr. Asquith concluded by reading Lord French’s private loiter of May, 1915, stating: ‘Tn the whole history of war no Commander-in-Chief has been helped in his difficult task by the head of the Government as I have been supported and strengthened by your unfailing sympathy and encouragement.”