THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2922, 7 November 1916, Page 6

THE WAR

A PARLIAMENTARIAN'S IMPRESSIONS

WHEN WILL IT END? NO GROUNDS FOR OPTIMISM. Mr. E. P. Lee, one of the New Zealand Parliamentary delegates who went Homo recently, passed through Wellington yesterday on his way home to Oamaru. Mr. Lee spent a couple of hours during tho afternoon with the Defence Minister telling him something of what ho had seen and heard.. Mr. Lee has a host of interesting things to toll. Indeed, so vast is the field he lias covered that ho finds it difficult to know

where to begin when ho wishes to speak of it all.

"What can I 6ay?" was Mr. Lee's first Temark when approached .by an interviewer. "It is all so oolossal. We have practically seen the whole war from our side We saw the whole British front in France; we s aw scores of munition factories in England; we saw the training of soldiers in the making; wo saw the-Grand Fleet, and wp saw the yards where more ships are being built; wo had the financial position explained to us. Our time was fully occupied every day. We attended functiong of all sorts, many of them luncheonß and dinners and that sort of thing arranged .for us in order to give us a good opportunity of exchanging ideas, giving one another information about our countries and so on. This we did. Every one of us answered strings of questions, and gave expression to our opinions on any number of subjects. We heard addresses from the greatest men in, the Empire. "The war? It is simply a colossal business. I can't think now on earth it is organised and carried on j how thoy make the munitions and provido for the supply of food, and all the other supplies for thpso vast armies. One can t imagine it all, can't describe it. And .yet, we find fault with and criticise little things,! We saw every detail of the organisation behind the lines-even-'to the arrangements made for giving baths to the men from the trenches. We saw the wounded being dispatched from the front, and we saw them being received in- London. And,. generality, you can see and hear that the organisation is wonderful. Scarcely ever will you hear a complaint. Of course, you will find cases which are proper subjects for complaint, cases in which it would appear I there had heen manifested the uttermost limit of incompetence, but these cases are very, very rare, and you can never expect to bp quite free from thenf where such great numbers of men are employed. England seems to be a vast arsenal in these days. There are between 2000 and 3000 munition factories, and factories covering acres of ' ground. We saw some of them, traversed miles of factories. Hosts of workers are engaged, the bulk: of them women. All factories seem to be converted into munition works. You go to a wellknown motor factory, and you find that it is all converted tor munition-making. Very seldom do you see any article completely made. Tou see parts being made in bewildering numbers, and these parts are' usually assembled somewhere else. They still go on building factories. , x

I notice that Mr, Masseyand Sir Joseph Ward have been' saying something about the end of the war, and they have had oxacty the same, experience that wo nad. "We saw British Generals and French Generals, and ■nowhere did we meet.a man who expected a speedy end to the war. You. can't get anyone there to talk.about the end of the war. They_ all know now that we are going to win, though some, of them admit that there was a

time when they did not know, but they do not think wo are going to win quickly. They all believe that the Germans have the power, if they are steadfast and willing to .use that power to the uttermost, to hold us up for years and vears. They admit that there may be a break in German courage before German power is exhausted, and that there may be sonfething dramatic, such as a big break through in the East, by the Russians, but they do not expect these things to happen just yet.

"You don't need to be a general to be able to form, your own opinions on the subject after having seen the front. One of tho places wo visited was a brewery, or rather it had once been a brewery. /'Now it is a place where soldiers are given baths when they come back from the trenches to rest. They are are then indescribablv dirty; often covered with vermin, and baths are a nccessifv for their health. The men take off every stitch of clothing and hand it over to be cleaned. The! men then go into vats of hot water, 1 and when they come out thev get a complete clean outfit. In the building thero are hundreds of women working, and their job is to clean tho clothes of every batch of men' that comes in. These clothes are steam dried and they are ready for the next batch when th<"' come along. But if tho front should happen to move forward a little it is

useless. It will all have to be moved forward. So with all the organisation at the front. Approaching the Front you have to walk through ahout a mile and' a half of trenches. Through those tranches everything has to be. carried right up to tho firing lino, and behind

these lines of communication trenches there are the depots. So you see what a formidable business it is to fiabt the Germans back and move up all the organisation right : along the'line. All ,wp can hope for is that the Germans will givo it'.up before they are exhiiusted. If they do not we are in for a long struggle. Everywhere I went, and especially in .France, I Heard most cordial'appreciation of the Dominions who have, sent their troopsjto fight in France. It was all very good for its to hear, but what was impressed very strongly wxm us was that the great, burden of the war is .being borne, not by tho Dominions, hut by the people- of Great Britain. I went once' into /a hairdresser's establishment—an' old-established business in a town I know at Home. I saw the proprietor, and he told mo ho was "joining up," as they say there. Ho was a man with a wife and some children, and I asked him what would become of his business. He said, "Oh, the business will have to bo closed tip. My wife can't carry it on." And that man will get his shilling a day and his wife a pound a week. This sort of thing is going on everywhere, and 'every month it is getting worse. _ Tho big men are giving up half of their incomes, and they have had to reduce their expenses. Lord -— (mentioning the name of a nobleman well known in Now Zealand) told me that ho has shut up bis big establishments; could not carry them on. Now he lives in a small way with a few servants, and comes to the city in a bus. Yes,"we saw tho New Zealand: had afternoon tea on board. These Navy men don't" talk much, but I gathered that the New Zealand did remarkably good and effective'.work-in tho Battlo of Jutland. Shb was hit, but her guns were never put out of action, and her guns were used on the enemy to good effect. -