A MEMORABLE SCENE.

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 29, 29 October 1918, Page 6

A MEMORABLE SCENE.

NEW ZEALANDER'S IMPRESSIONS OF ME. LLOYD GEORGE. 1 Captain A, 0. Sievwriaht, having teen seconded to the XXII Corps and ordered to report at the Tower or London, had, an opportunity, through the good office 3 of Sir Montague Barlow, M.P. for Salford, to hear Mr. Lloyd George deliver his great speech renewing four years of war on August 7. Captain Sievwrighfc gives in a letter to his father, Mr. J. D. Sieviniglit, an admirable resume of tho speech and an impressionist picture of thuvHause of Commons as it appeared to huh; The British Empire lias done marvellous things, _ nnd the > Prime Minister was in. splendid form as he reviewed the magnitude of Britain's Imperial effort. With the Dominions and India she had raised eight and a half million of men for the Army and Navy since the war began. Britain's - Navy represented i a tonnage of two millions and a Half in August, 1914-. Now, exclaimed the Prime Minister, it is eight millions in tonnage! That was Britain's answer to the German menace, and a sure guarantee of the world's freedom of the seas. Some 150 German submarines had been destroyed; and in i'esponseto the famous March offensive by the enemy Mr. Lloyd George told the House, amid cheers, that 355,000 men had ■ been thrown across the Channel in less than a month, and every gun and , machine-gun lost - had been replaced. Then, he said, the fortunes of the Allied armies had been restored from the moment Marshal Foch assumed True, the danger was not yet over, but ,, he would be n sanguine man on the German General Staff who would expect Ludendorff to force a victory. Rus- ; sia was out of the war he a fighting unit, but she was a tangle to the feet of Ger- ! many. The Prime Minister omitted no ' important feature of the many warring , fronts, and his mastery of detail was.no lees notable than hie mastery of the ' House, which was full, every member seemingly being in his place to hear Mr. , Lloyd George "snrvey 1 the war." On his right was Mr. Bonar Law; on his left, *' Mr. Arthur Bnlfour. There were aleo the brothers Geddis. Mr. Asquith was absent, but the front Opposition benches were full, and on their left Ireland's National forces were marshalled. "It was, indeed, an inspiring scene," continues Captain Sievwright. "Lloyd 1 George was master of the situation. You ' could lmve hoard a pin drop as the clear •, resonant voice rose with its modulations to the climax. The Prime Minister vaa : deeply serious, and his seriousness infected the House. Yet the light of hope ' shone forth as he expressed his appreciation of the' Army and Navy, mid his ! faith in (he ultimate' issue. Then ho turned his scorn upon the Prussian sword awWhe decayed soul behind it. He did not hold out a. prospect of an early peace, but his confident optimism was magnificent. There can be>no coition of hostilities till the German > peuplo come in sincerity, realising their crime against civilisation, to the counciichanii ber'of n league of nations. ■ Sir Hubert, '. Samuel followed in reply with a well- , reasoned speech. It was calm and c Id— without the lightning flushes and corns- '. eating periods illuminnting the effort of the. Celtic-blooded Premier.", Captain Sievwright concludes this part pf his lct- ' ter by saying that he counted'this visit 1 "to the House of Commons as one of tho ; best hours of his three years of active service.