NATIONAL SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2569, 17 September 1915, Page 5

NATIONAL SERVICE

SPEECHES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ! By IWeerarli—Press Association—OopyrisM (Rec. September 16, 10.30 p.m.) London, September 16. , During tihe discussion in the House of Commons on the question of national service, Mr. L. C. Amery (II.), Sir A. M. Mond (L.), the Hon. F. E. Guest (L.), and Sir Chiazza Money (L.) favoured compulsory national service. Mr. Guest's speech was listened to with rapt attention, even from -his political opponents. Replying to the argument that it was dangerous to swop horses when crossing the stream, he agreed that this was so, if the end of the war were near. "But," he said, "we have hardly begun. We havo hardly got our feot wet, and the stream has grown much wider in the past year. Germany, for nine months, thanks to her superior equipment, has held up tho combined Anglo-French forces with her left hand, while her right has dealt Russia a staggering blow. We really -want four million men under arms."

Sir. Dillon (Nationalist), opposing conscription, vehemently attacked that portion of the Press that was doing its utmost to impede the voluntary system. "Many a man in Ireland,'.' he declared, "lias beeii gaoled for muoh loss than Lord Northcliffe has done, and but for his power and connections he would have been, gaoled long ago. This country will commit the greatest blunder if it abandons the voluntary system."

Mr. Walsh (Lab.) voiced Labour's hostility to compulsion. He said that if the Government declared it necessary, in order to win, then it should produce the facts and prove its assertion. Then tho Trade Union Congress would reconsider the Bristol resolution, and urge the trades unionists to acquiesce.