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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 174, 12 April 1918, Page 8

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! GOVERNMENT'S INTENTIONS I ;: .;■■" : ; outlined . J FAR-REACHING PROPOSALS ; CLASS B. BALLOT THIS MONTH

"TANK" BATTALION TO BE FORMED

; ' The Prime Minister made his pro- | Imised statement in the House of Ro- . presentatives yesterday regarding the ! additional effort to be. made >by this I - country in response \o the appeal made j for help by 'tho Prime Minister of ! Britain. The statement and a iater statement by tho Minister of Defense ! . led to an interesting series of ques--1 tions by members. ! 'Mr. Massey said that he wished to i make a statement .to the, House ss to ! the way in which the' recent develop- >. ment of the war on the Western front i .would afflict this country. Sonio of !- Jthe matter to which he would have to : j-efer had' already been before members ; at tho meeting which had been held '.-. ■ ithe previous.day. At the beginning ! of the crisis a message had been re- ; ' reived from the Prime Minister of i ' Britain through the Secretary of State ! for tie Colonies, and that mess;v<e ; : • which had been published in the newsi ' papers, hadibeen supplemented by an--1 • other message, which was secret rnd I .(confidential, giving further part'culars ;-. and details of the position on the date : vben the- appeal for more men was !• blade and a forecast of what might i lc expected within thp i:oxt few ■ months. This information could not i • ibe divulged ito the House, and lie ; ,'•'' tlie fact to show that' t)\e '. Government did not act without Miffi- : cient reasons. On receipt of this ' 'telegram certain measures wero taken ]';■■ immediately. Tlie first thing to .bo '•'■■ .'done was to put forward the de-par- : ture of the next two drafts of 'reinforcement!;, for which fortune W» - ', sTiips were practically -ready and available. The sailing of one reinforce- ' inent had been put forward by one "week, and of the second by threo ' weeks. This, of cour.se. meant that ;■ the reinforcements about to co into ■: eamp would require to be assembled at ■ eorrespondinglv earlier dates, Mid this ; . 'would entail the mobilising < f the first L 'draft of the Spcond. Division men a earlier than was anticipated. \ NEW ZEALAND'S PLEDGE. jj~*-—"ln reply to the first message of tlie : Imperial Government he had tlispatoh- ; ed the following reply on behalf of the ; Government of New Zealand: — New Zealand has pledged herself to main tain, her present eatable lishment of Expeditionary Forces ; in the field whatever the sacrifice. ; New Zealand lias invariably supplied to the full every man required at the rate of -.einforce- ; ■ ;.' ment indicated from time to tima ' , by tlw. Imperial Government. His Majesty's Government has now, ; only to indicate to the New Zea- ;■• land Government if increased re- : inforcements .are required, and . they will be supplied. !t_ is re- ' ! quest«l that an early reply be sent giving details of new esti\ :' , mutes of monthly reinforcements as the result of the present fighting. This telegram was forwarded, and a 1-eply was received that tlie information asked for would be supplied at an early date. So. far that information had not come to hand. To : '. this second message, in which > re- . ;quest- was made that a Tank Battalion : should be formed out of accumulated reinforcements in England, a reply was sent, from which lie would rend to the : House the following extracts:— :'. , ; (1) The Now Zealand Govern- ; ment approves of the formation cf a Tank Battalion from reserves at ■ present in England. (2) Tlie Forty-first Reiiiforcs- ; raents will be brought into camp : four weeks earlier than notified', and the Forty-second Reinforce- '. ments will be assembled five weeks earlier. ' (3) The Thirty-sixth- and Thirty- ; seventh Reinforcement , , will be sent : _ from New Zealand fully trained one ! week and three weeks respectively ; 'prior to the normal dates of dis- [. patch. ...'■■■•• . ; . (4) The New Zealand Govern- - . ment is; willing that any surplus , of reserves in England may be used • <t .. at the front, if in the opinion of the military authorities, including : the General in Command of the iArmy Corps, they are required, • having due regard to the fact that . the scarcity of shipping may make ; it difficult for reinforcements to bo

: forwarded regularly from here. _„ ! The Prime Minister desires further to inform His Excellency that ; the New Zealand Government is ! prepared to increase the monthly ' draft to the number considered i necessary, and on this point parti--1 oularly Ministers will be glad to ! hear, from the Secretary of State at the earliest possible date. : ■ HASTENINC REINFORCEMENTS. Mr. Massey went on to tell the House ; that the Tank Battalion would be TOO ! etrong, and that it would have to be Teinforced at the rate of 60 wr month. In connection with paragrapTi"{2) above ; quoted, he could say that as a result ■ cf the decision arrived at, the Fortyfirst Reinforcements, which were due to mobilise from May 28 to June 1, would : now assemble from April 30 to May 4, ,- and /the Forty-second draft, due tp mobilise from June 25 to Juno 29, : would now be brought into camn from May 21 to May 25. Mr. Poland: Are they Second Division : drafts? : Mr. Massey replied that both of the : drafts would be composed partly of ; Second Division men. He added that . in. his opinion the number of men in the reinforcements from this country would have to be increased considerably, and he had informed the Imperial Government that we were willing to increase the reinforcements. What tho increase in numbers would be he was not in a position to state at present, but advice was daily and hourly ex- : pected from the Imperial Government en the subject, and the matter would then be definitely settled. COMBING OUT NECESSARY. No one could iead the speech of Mr. Lloyd George- in the Imperial Parlia- ! ment without coming to the conclusion that the fate of the Empire might be ■ trembling in the balance to-day. Personally he had no doubt of it, and therefore it behoved us to v do everything within our power to meet the present crisis. There was no sacrifice that any part of the Empire ought not to be prepared to make. They had ; heard the critics who said s that we should give more attention to the pro- ; Unction of fond than to man-power. Ho ■ knew the importance of food production and man-power, and it had been his special business to see that production

was maintained in the country, but in tho present situation man-power was undoubtedly the first consideration. He did not thitk that this could possibly be disputed. As soon as a reply was received from the Imperial Government tho Government would have, to consider this matter again, and he believed that Cabinet would do the right thing. He believed that they would have to commence with a more complete combing out of the singlo men of military age than had yet taken place. (Hear, hear.) He could not help thinking that there was, still a very large number of men of military ago physically fit who had not yet been called upon. An hc-n. member: Thousands of .men. ■Mr. Massey said that he would not express any opinion as to the number of them. It might also be necessary —and on this also he 'would not at present express an opinion—to raise the military age. Tlie fact that it had been done in Britain showed how 'grave the situation was considered to be there. He was pretty certain that we should have ,'to shut down on nonessential industries, in order''.hat the men employed in those . industries might be transferred to industries which were essential or to tho military forces of the Dominion. Mr. iVosworthy: Stop the iace meetings. Mr. Massey said that there were a, great many things that had not been done up till the present! which would have to ho done if NewVZoaland was to do its' duty in the presonfc war. If we were to do this we must be prepared to put into the scale every ounce of energy that we could bring to bear. He wished the House to understand that the Government' was prepared to go the whole length in doing New Zealand's duty and in asking Parliament and the people to make any sacrifice which might he necessary to bring this war 'to the conclusion which they all desired.