TRYING TO MAKE DIFFICULTIES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 110, 19 November 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

TRYING TO MAKE DIFFICULTIES.

TItOUBLE-MONGEttS DENOUNCED M AiK. UitKCHJLL.

FACTS THAT DEMAND UNITY

Tho truth about the Cabinet " crisis" was indicated by Mr. Churchill last September, in an open-air speech to munition workers at Enlield Lock, in which ho said:—

It is not a very easy moment for a public man to open his mouth on any topic, because there are so many people who seem to have less to do than they ought, who are actively engaged in trying to make difficulties even more than those which exist at the present time —(Shame) —and are seeking, it seems to me, to make divisions ot opinion—artificial divisions of opinon—in the country in regard to matters of great consequence which, above all, should be appraoched in a spirit of impartiality and good will . During the last four or five luontiis the affairs of the Allies have not gone so well as we might have hoped. Ihijee great military events have taken place —three great outstanding events, none of which has been & disaster, all ot which have been disappointments. First, in May and in June our armies in France and Flanders deliver, ed a series of resolute and very costly attacks on the. German fortified lines in their front. Ground was gained; guns and prisoners were taken; large numbers of the enemy were killed or disabled. But with all our efforts the fact remains that those lines were not pierced, and the general military situ ation in the west was not dccieively or even substantially affected. That is the first great event of the last few months.

IN THE DARDANELLES. Then we have had a great battle at the Dardanelles, and here agam, although we have gained invaluable ground which lias led us forward 'towards a decisive conclusion, we have not yet gained those vantage points at which we were aiming, and which we might reasonably have expected, with the forces employed, to have secured. That heart-shaking struggle is continuing and proceeding from week to week, and it differs in its character from almat any other part of the immense theatre of war, because neither s'de in Gallipoli Penninsula can afford to lose ground. The armies there are like men fighting on a high and narrow scaffolding above the surface of the earth. liiey are grappling together in their deadly struggle, and to 6tep back means, not merely defeat, but destruction. That is why we have always, in speaking of this, dwelt on the immense importance of every yard of ground, of every furlong that is gained by Mie henjio courage of our soldiers and by our superb Australian fellow-citizens.

Every yard couhts, but we have this reflection with winch we may fortify ourselves —that whereas our men are able though very slowly, to make advances and to gain ground from week to week, our enemies have not hitherto succeeded in retaking any of the ground which we have captured and which we wished to retain.

And when you consider how very narrow is that platform of which 1 6peak, how very short are the distances involved, you will see for yourselves that we have only to persevere witn resolution and unflinching courage to move forward to a conclusion which, when it is achieved, will repay all tne heavy costs and losses we have endured.

INVASION OF RUSSIA. Then there is the greatest of all—far greater tha neither of those two to winch I have referred. I mean the invasionof Russia by the German and Austrian armies in enormous strength, and the consequent retreat of our gallant Russian ally. Here again there is light as well as shadow. We have seen with what skill and firmness the Grand Duke has extricated and withdrawn his armies unbroken, intact as military forces, in spite of heavy losses in men and weapons, which are as precious in this struggle as ever men can be. The state of the supply of munitions in Russia during the months which lie before us does not permit us to hope that the Russan power can be exerted to anything like the same extent as it have been in the earlier periods or the war, and therefore, while Russia i 6 rearming and gathering again her inexhaustible strength, inspired by the brave heart of her people, while she is fitting herself again to attack the enemy anew, a grave and as yet an unmeasured burden falls on us. We shall not shrink from bearing it, and we shall not fail in the duties which this new situation imposes on us. But this is not a time in which we can afford to throw away any means which are open to us of rousing and of realising the national effort at jts highest point.

OUR SITUATION IS A SERIOUS ONE.

We have it in our power by our exertions to carry this war to a successful and decesive conclusion, but we nave it in our power to do so only if we exert our strength to the very limit of human and of national capacity.

Mr. Churchill afterwards addressed in tlie recreation hut the day workers who had just quitted the works. He said:—

It would be folly to underrate the immense magnitude of the task that lies before us or its terrible nature. It would be for us to suppose that we are through the worst of it yet. It would De equally wrong for us to lose confidence in our power to right the wrong that has been done, and to bring ourselves as a nation safely out of the formidable situation in which we stand to-day, and, coming safely out, to bring safety and peace to the nations who are our faith!ul allies.