TURN OF THE TIDE

Nelson Evening Mail, 30 September 1916, Page 5

TURN OF THE TIDE

BKITISH WAR MINISTER INTERVIEWED VIEW OF MR LLOYD GEORGE. A STRIKING INTERVIEW. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) 1 NEW YORK, Sept. 28. In a striking iinterview given to the London Press, Mr Lloyd George, British Secretary of State for War, said "The British soldier ds_a good sportsmaw. He enlistcidi in the war in a sporting s'ririt, to see fair play for a small iiat/on trampled upon by a bully. He is fighting for fair play in international dealings. He has fought as a good sportsman, and by thousands he has died like a sportsman. He has never -asked' for anything more than a sporting; chance, and' he has not always had that- Win en he coulid' not •get it he did not quit. He played the fame. He has not squealed, and he as not asked anyone to squeal for him. "Now that the fortunes of the game have 'turned a bit the Bivtish' are not disposed to stop because of squealing by the Germans or for the Germans by iprobably well-meaning but misguid*! svmnathusers and humanitarians. The j British soldier for two years has had ■a bad time; nobody 'knows so well as he what a bad .time it was. He .had sadly inferior equipment, and on the average was inferior in training. He ! saw the Alined cause beaiten all about the .ring, but he dlid not appeal .to the spectator or the .referee .to stop the fight on the .ground that it- was brutal, nor did! he ask that the rules be chang- • ed. He took his punishment, and even i I when he was beaten like a d'og he was ; a game dog. When forced to take refuge in the trench when he ,was too badly used up l to carry ithe fi.ght to the enenuy he hung on without whi ndmg and fought off every attack. He bided his time, cnduredl 'without wincing, and worked' without flagging. "And at this time what was the winning German doing-? Was he worrying over the .terrible slaughter? JN'o. He was talking of annexing Poland ana Belgium as the result of his victory, and -while he was re-imsiking the map of Europe without i'he slightest regard for -the wishes of its -people, the British people'.were preparing to pay the price we knew must be paid for a time to get the armiy ready. It is one tilling to look back on the pounding the British soldier took during the first two years of the war ,;buit it is a different thing to look forward as he did arud J know that a "beatiing could not be avoided during those months when it seemed that the finish) of t'be Ri/tish Array might come quickly. "Germany elected to make iit a fight to a finish 'with England. The British soldier was ridiculed 1 and. held up to contempt. Now we intend to see that 'Germany has her way. The fight must be to a -finish, rto the knock-out. The whole world, including neutrals of the; highest purpose and ihuman'tarians wdth the best motives must know that there cannot be .outside initerference at this stage. Britain has not asked' for. intervention. While she was unprepared to fight she would .tolerate none; now that she is .prepared she will .tolerate none until ■Prussian military despotism is •broken beyond repair. "No regret was voiced in Germany over t'he useless slaughter. No tears were shed by German when a few .thousand British citizens who never expected' to be soldiers went ou.t to be battered, bombed, amd gased The people who are now moved l .to tears at the thought of what is to come -watched .t'he early rounds of the unequal contest dry-eyed. None of the carnage which is to come can 'he worse than the sufferiruo-s of those Allied dead who stood the full shock of the Prussian war machines 'before it 'began to falter. "But in the British determination to carry the fight to a decisive finish' there is- something onore than, a natural demand for vengeance. The inhumanity and pitilessness of the fighting that must icome before a lasting peace is possible is mot comparable with the cruelty that would be involved in •stoppin<or (the war while there (remains a possibility that civilisation would again be menaced from the samie quarter. Peace now or at any time before the final and complete elimination of this menace ■is unthinkable. No nation with the slightest understanding of the temper of the British citizen army which took its terrible hammering without a whine or a .grumble -will attempt to cadi a hait now. "It took England 20 years to defeat Napoleon, and the first 15 were black with dtefeat. It will not .take 20 years to win this war, .but whatever time it requires it will 'be done, and I say this irecogfni ising, that : we have only begun to'win. There ds no disposition fon our side to fix the hour of ultimate victory, and we are under no delusion about the war nearing the end. There ? will be wo quitting among the Allies. 'Never again' has become our battleery. Th! s 'gnastlinesa xniust never be reenacted on this earth), and one method ■ at least of anstweiiing that end is the infliction of such .punishment upon the ] perpetrators of .this outrage against humanity that the temptation to erfiarlate their exploits .will be elimii'nated' from the hearts of the eVil-minded among the rulera of men." EFFECT OF THE~SPEECH IN AMERICA PRESIDENT WILSON'S PEACE I PROPOSALS STAVED' OFF. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Rec. Sept. 30, 12-50 p.m.) j NEW YORK, Sept. 29. Mr Lloyd George's statement staved off President Wilson's peace projrosals. The American Government has now decided that no step towards peace shall be taken until it is assured that it will be acceptable to all the principal belligerents. German-American influences -will not i be allowed.--to interfere or bring relief to the Germans, who are approaching exhaustion. BRITISH EXPORTS TO NEUTRALS FURTHER RESTRICTIONS. 'Australian and N Z. Cable Association.) (Official.) LONDON, Sepit. 28. No further licenses will be issued within the Empire for .the exportation of vaseline, casings, rubber, and Balata manuflactaires, and powdered .talc to Denmark, Holland and Sweden. Privy Council licenses wit not be accepted' bv the 'Customs for shipment without the War Trade Department's special authority. j i { j ! j i j I