MINISTER FOR MUNITIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2481, 7 June 1915, Page 5

MINISTER FOR MUNITIONS

ADDRESS TO MASTERS & MNE "SHOULD GERMANY WIN" "WELL, GOD HELP LABOUR'S London, June 4. . Mr. Lloyd George, addressing a meet, ins of employers at tho Town Hall, Liverpool, said bo intended to use the business brains of tho community. This was not the timo for the usual roundabout, red-tapeish methods of Government. He requested those present immediately to elect a Committee of Man-o-jwment to organise tho district for the production of munitions. Mr. Lloyd George made a similar apxpeal to Labour. "Should Germany win," he said, "well, God help Labour. It will come out worst of' all." The Government appealed to tho patriotism of Trades Unionists to suspend their rules, so that the country would be enabled to turn out the munitions necessary to wiu a real and speedy triumph. LIVERPOOL DOCKERS' BATTALION. STIRRING ADDRESS BY MR. LLOYD GEORGE. London, Juno 4. Addressing the Dockers' Battalion at Liverpool, Mr. Lloyd- George said: — There never was a war in which Labour at home counted for so much. If it gets disorganised, and does not pull with tho Government and the State, '■ho result will' be that the whole war machine mil become clogged, broken, and disorganised, and the end will be that ive will be defeated, not because our soldiers are not valiant —for they are as bravo as ever*-not because they are not fighting skilfully, but because they are not getting the necessary support at home. The fact that you have submitted to military conditions shows that you are prepared to do your duty to your couutry in the greatest crisis that has ever befallen it. If everybody does Ilia duty as you are doing, Ire shall win through in the end. SPEECH AT MANCHESTER. A WAR OF MUNITIONS. (Rec. June 6, 6.5 p.m.) London, June 5. Mr. Lloyd George, in his speech at Manchester, added: "The French have gallant men, tho Russians are in overwhelming masses, and 110 doubt if we wajit more they will coma at the call, but we want tho workshops to equip us with weapons to shatter to dust the cruel military despotism, and attain a glorious end. The State needs tho jhelp of each of you. French private firms have given the State assistance at a critical hour of value beyond computation, to enable them to pierce the German lines. Here.ire ask you to help equip our armies, as a means of breaking through the German lines. "Opponents of conscription are entitled to &ay the youth of'the nation has not refused sufficiently, to respond to tho appeals. The horrors cabled from the battlefield is only sending .them to the recruiting office in greater numbers and speed, and that great story wo would like to see continuod in the same exalted level to the concluding chapter. "I am convinced that we have not yet concentrated half our industrial strength. In this conflict it is a'war of munitions, and we are fighting tho best organised nation in the world. Wo need our utmost strength and resource in turning out munitions, and that means victory and an enormous saving of life. • "I would say to the workmen and masters turning out shells: 'Not only are you killing the enemy, but saving the life of a comrade. 1 1 ask the engineering firms, masters and men, everybody, to put their strength into 'the task, and save the lives of the most gallant set of fellows that' ever quitted these shores. (Cheers.) ' 'We have not decided that compulsory powers are essential to best utilise our resources. We have a great voluntary Army, which took months to enlist, but we cannot afford months to enlist, the "udustrial army." MEN SPEEDING UP. A WARM RESPONSE. (Rec. June 6, 2.15 p.m.) . London, June 5. Brunner, Mond, and Co.'s men are speeding up the output of munitions, and are starting work 105 minutes earlier daily. Many other workers and firms are warmly responding to Mr. Lloyd George's appeals. Brunner, Mond, and Co., Ltd., are proprietors of manufactories for tho purpose of converting salt, etc., into alkali by ammonia process. The company has proprietary and controlling interests in several other concerns. Tho capital is divided into preference shares £1,500,000, and ordinary shares £2,531,870, according to tho balance-sheet issued last year. TRADE UNION REGULATIONS. SUSPENSION URGED DURING THE WAR. (Reo. June 7, 0,20 a.m.) London, June 6. Mr.. Lloyd. George, in his speech at the employers' meeting, said that if all the skilled engineers in the country and those who enlisted wore brought back and set about producing, munitions, even though they were working to the utmost limits of human endurance, we would still have not enough labour to produco all that is asked for during the next few months. Lives at tho front depend upon the production of war material, and there is no room for slackers. After mentioning the number of women employed in the shell factories in France, Mr. Lloyd Georgo said ho hoped any trade-union regulations preventing the . same here would be suspended during war time. GIGANTIC INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE. PENDING IN LANCASHIRE. London, June i. The - Management Committee of the General Federation of Trades Unions iias issued a manifesto hinting at tho possibility of a gigantic industrial dispute in Lancashire. It states that some of the manufacturers are feeling the pressure of artifi-cially-inflated prices, aud are talking of BlmttiiiE down factories through the Lancashire workpeople demanding bonuses to meet the increased cost of living. The manifesto regrets the Government's failure to deal effectively with food and coal prices and war profits, hut urp.es the men to avoid industrial' disputes.