WHAT WE FIGHT FOR.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 February 1918, Page 4

WHAT WE FIGHT FOR.

LLOYD GEORGE ANSWERS

QUESTIONS.

London, Jan 20.

After the speech «! Mr Lloyd George to the trades unionists at Westminster Hall a number of frank questions and auswera followed. Mr Lloyd George had said that if the pacifists offered terms the cheque would not be cashed by Lndendorff or the Kaiser.

A delegate asked :

You say that Ludendorff won’t cr.slr the peace cheque Cannot we reasonably expect Scheidemann and Liebknecht to cash it ?

Mr Lloyd George: Liebknecht is in gaol, and Scheidemann would find himself in the 'same place if he attempted to cash your cheque. The German Socialists must first impose their terms on their Government.

3 A Delegate : Will Mr Lloyd George, in order to prove the sincerity of our claim that we are fighting for democracy, give an assurance that wealth will be conscripted and maximum incomes instituted ?

Mr Lloyd George : I suppose that would also apply to the workshops ? (Hear, hear.) If there is going to he equality' it must be applied to all classes and sections. Jn no country lias wealth been more heavily taxed for the war than here, not-, excepting Germany, and I don’t say we have come to the end of the path in that direction.

A Delegate: Will Mr Lloyd George give an assurance that the whole of the British armament production will be nationalised and profiteering in engines of war cease ?

Mr Lloyd George: Sneaking for myself, I have entire sympathy for that proposition. A delegate: Docs Germany really know t-lie British and American war aims as recently stated by' Mr Lloyd George and President Wilson ? Mr Lloyd George: We have previously found the German Government deliberately' altering reports of speeches. In President Wilson’s speeches they not merely omitted whole passages, but actually altered words, conveying a totally different impression to the people of Germany'. It is possible that Dr Wilson’s and my r speeches have riot reached the people-of Germany, .in the first instances, in the form in which they were delivered, but 1 should be surprised if by this time tire people of Germany do not know the actual terms of these speeches. LABOUR CONFERENCE DANGEROUS.

Regarding the holding of ah International Labour Conference on peace terms, Mr Lloyd George said : It would be a dangerous experiment. Yon must remember that you cannot confine such conferences to ®ne section. If you allow Labourites to confer you must allow financiers and employers to confer. Thus you would have section discussions which would not represent the nation as a whole. It would end in confusion.

A Delegate: Are w,e getting the British proposals put before the Gem man Government ?

Mr Lloyd George: We naturally are constantly watching whether there are any indications of returning reason in the German Government. I am sorry r ive can find nothing, but complete hardness and a resolute determination to achieve a complete military triumph. A Delegate: Will Mr Lloyd Georgs promise that compulsory military service will be withdrawn as soon as a peace settlement is reached on the Allied terms ?

Mr Lloyd George : That is really what we are fighting for. We want to make such a war impossible again. It is not a question of stopping- it in this country. You must stop it in every counti’y, otherwise you cannot stop it here.