TIME FOR THE PRUNING KNIFE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 274, 15 August 1919, Page 7

TIME FOR THE PRUNING KNIFE

MR. CHURCHILL ON NATIONAL . EXPENDITURE MEN STILL pN SERVICE ByTcleErapU-l'rcsa Association-Co'ByrluM (Rec. August 11, 8.20 p.m.) London, August 12. In the Mouse of Commons, Mr. Winston Churchill, speaking on the subject of general expenditure, said that it had been arranged that the British forces on the Rhine by the end of September would be reduced to one strong'brigade, and the air force to one squadron. There were still over one hundred thousand German-Turkish war prisoners, • needing a hundred thousand troops io guard them. Permission had been granted to repatriate the Turks, but the Supreme Council had not yet authorised the repatriation of tho Germans. The maintenance of a hundred thonfand troops, of whom there were twenty thousand British, in Mesopotamia, was the principal mainspring ni profligate expenditure. Inquiries were proceeding with a view to reducing this force, as well as those in Egypt and Palestine. There were sixty thousand troops in Ireland, compared with thirty thousand before the war. The Irish Executive most strongly opposed any reduction, at present. Wo had to maintain a. hundred thousand troops in Prance for salvage work, otherwise 'valuable , assets .would bo left rotting on the ground. There were still'many thousands seriously wounded in hospitals. It was clear, he said, that the means of reducing the.expenditure. was to bring home tho men'at the earliest opportunity and re-establish private industries. He re-emphasised the urgency of the . problem of reducing the cost of tl\6 National Government, even if that involved the abandonment of many cherished schemes. Tho estimated cost of reproducing the pre-war army, owing to the increased pay and allowances, would be from 65 to. 75 millions, as compared with 29 millions formerly. He had instructed General Trenchard to, provisionally frame a scheme limiting to 25 million the Aair Force expenditure, estimated at 25 million.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.