BRITAIN'S DEEDS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 278, 20 August 1919, Page 9

BRITAIN'S DEEDS

THE WINNING OF THE WAR

SIR JOSEPH WARD'S APPRECIATION

.The Prime Minister (the Bight Hon. W. P. Massey) and the Minister of Finance' (Sir Josoph Ward) Were tho guests of tho New Zealand Club at . luucheon yesterday. The MTnistcre both referred to matters of general interest in tho course of their speeches. The Prime Minister spoke of'the League of Nations and of blio trial of tho Kaiser, a3 reported elsewhere in this issue. Mr. W. B. Spencer presided. Sir Joseph Ward referred to • the achievements of Groat Britain during the war. "Tho old Motherland, for which we can never do enough, was TesponBiblo, by her persistence and courage, for itlhe final suocess of. the Allies in the great, war," ho said. ;"It does not matter what any other country may say, ■whether it is a country with Stars and Stripes or any other kind of 6tripes, the fact remains that had it not been for the strength of Great Britain and the atimliness and steadiness of the British people during times, of great trial, tho Allies could not have won the war. But for ■those factors it would not have been possible for tho Allies to have continued the war until tho United States decided to <xraie in at tiho psychological moment for the purposo of putting the final stone to the structure of victory which Britain had so well laid and so well guarded. >"Wo marvel at the power and strength .of Great Britain in connection with world affairs. Without the support of British firianoo, Fiance and Italy, and in Oho early years of. tho war Eiissia, oould not have carried on. Without Britain's wonderful means of. transport across tau Channel and her supplies of material, tho war could not havo been carried 011. (Without the. determination of the people of Britain, irrespective of the political ohanges that took place during the J&r, the German onslaught could not JJSvft been defeated. Above all and beyond all, tho war could' not have been waged for a month without the commanding power ©f the grand old .British Navy. (Applause.) "Tho great war that the world has suffered," added Sir Joseph Ward, "was made'by a man who was not appointed !'to his high ' position, but .got -there by virtue of heredity. The war started • because tho. Kaiser ■ and his war lords rwanted to overrun the Continent of '33uropo. They hod a mighty good chance .of doing it, and but for tho 150/100 brave j British men who crossed the Channel fin August, 1914, 'th6y would have succeeded. The end of the war finds the Kaiser deprived of his high position and his powers, and telegat'ed to something I like oblivioii. The lesson will • not -be fbrgofcton. This war has brought 'into the minds of peoples dominated by milittarists a realisation that no hereditary ruler should ever have in the future 'the power to.plunge lliasses of men into war. ;Tho nations realise that, the heads' of i Governments should be thfl representatives of the people. There is the key 'to safety. The victory of the Allies has come to. preach for history a blessed sermon of peaco. The young people now growing up .in Europe aro not going, to allow any horeditary ruler to drive tiiera into a harrowing and devastating war." Sir Joseph Ward added that when he had seen the thousands, indeed hundreds of thousands, of crosses that marked the once, smiling provinces of France, his • blood had boiled to think' that so much agony and ruin, so muoh' cruel siiffering find - irreparable, loss, .could, have" been caused by a ruler and his warlords, who wanted to rule Europe. New Zealand people oould scarcely realise the horrors of w;ar.'.'.. But the menwho-had beento tho front from this country would, not forget. Ho believed that'as the. suffering and the loss had been great, so'.was the reWard'gfeat. Britain .and her 'Allies had vindicated .freedom and had taught a' lesson of pegce to the militarists ■of the world. ' :