THE WAR OUTLOOK.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 June 1918, Page 1

THE WAR OUTLOOK.

REVIEWED BY MB BONAR RAW. [peh PRESS ASSOCIATION. COPYRIaHT.I I" AUSTRALIAN & N.Z. CARLE ASSOCIATION/ LONDON, Juno 18-

In the House of Commons, Mr Boruir Law, in moving; a credit vote for £500,000,000, said that the daily average expenditure for the current financial year was £6,848,00 as compared with the estimate of £0,986,000, thereby showing a saying of £9,500,000 up to the mfridlo of June. While the. reduction must not he relied on for the remainder of the year, it might. be taken as a general indication of the position. Our votes of credit had risen alarmingly. The total was now £7,432,000,000. The present vote should suffice till the end of the August The debt due from the Allies was £1,370,000,000, and from the Dominions £206,000,000. Continuing, Mr Bonar Law said that the Austrian offensive was part of an intensive offensive now proceeding on all the battle fronts. It was too soon to say that the danger was past. Three months had elapsed since the first German offensive on the West Front, and we were, now able to he confident regarding the future. The Germans had three objectives: —Paris, the Channel ports, and the severance of the ' British and French armies. Wo had yielded ground, hut the enemy had not attained a single objective, and the results bad justified the creation of a united command. The enemy wanted to use up our reserves before the Americans arrived, hut had already failed because tlio Americans were not coming—they had come. Mr Bonar Law paid a tribute to the rapidity of the American troops' arrival, and said that it would bo impossible for the enemy to win by wearing down out reserves before, he exhausted his own. The universal feeling was that our airmen were the best on any front, and we were rightly proud of them Germany had been laying all her hopes of success on the submarine, but all this had been changed. The menace still existed, but. the construction of ships during April and May had exceeded their destruction. There was no danger, as far as foresight could see of Germany starving Britain into submission. Germany had embarked on a campaign of unrestricted submarining because she believed that America could not arrive in time to gtvo serious help, but. Germany had now been shown to be wrong. The numbers of "American troops arrival, and to come, reached a figure which was considered impossible a couple of months ago. For the present there was a lull on the West Front-. Our staff knew where the German reserves wore, but the enemy’s railway communications were so good that it was impossible to foretell where the next blow would fall. The moral of our troops had never been higher. It was impossible to speak too highly of the French valour in the fighting to save Paris. If the Germans failed to secure their strategic objectives within three months’ time, the ■campaign would have failed, having proved to ho the most disastrous advance they had ever launched. (Cheers) Mr Asquith advised the Government to give fuller information ns to the progress of events on all the fronts.,He said he was now disposed to write Bus—sia off the slate as a negligible quantity. We should employ all our resources of diplomacy, and also give naval and military assistance, if necessary, while the opportunity offered, in order to build up friendly relations and an alliance with Russia, who was naturally our friend, rather than Germany’s. The House should enable the Russian democracy to realise that; it had our sympathies. It transpired during the debate that General Foch is definitely Comma ndcr-in-Chief of the Allied forces.