Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 99, 29 April 1915, Page 5

Great Britain

THE POLICY OF REPRISAL. ' K*» | OPPOSED CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES , Ijondou. April ‘h ■ Mr Asquith, speaking in the House of Commons, said the Germans from the beginning had treated the loi. ish prisoners with indiscriminate harshness. At the end of the war the ( Government would not forget the horHMe record of ealenlhted cruelty, and |( would exact such reparation against . the guilty as they might possibly inflict. ,< Lord Lansdowne. in the House of , Lords, said he greatly regretted the , [reprisals policy which a Christian country could not deliberately adopt. He deplored the Admiralty’s action towards the submarine crews. The real culprits were the German Govern, ment. There were other forms of retaliation. He suggested compensating the victims out of funds levied on the property of Germans in Britain. Lord Cromer said a strong feeling existed in the army against the Admiralty’s policy in regard to submarine crews. Lord Lucas said that Germany had now given Mr Gerard, the American Ambassador to Berlin, and nine of his staff, permission to visit the camps, and had also agreed as to the distribution of the British Government’s money placed in Mr Gerard’s hands, and the sending of simple foodstuffs to prisoners. Public gifts sold at Christie’s on behalf of the Red Cross realised ess,non. SALE OF FAMOUS MANUSCRIPTS. Times and Sydney Sun Service. (Received 8.0 a.m.) London, April 28. At a Red Cross sale, five pages of Dickens’ autograph manuscript of chapter 19 of Pickwick papers fetches £450; Kipling’s draft of “lor all we have and are,” £36; and a poem of Hardy’s £2l. RE-EXPORTS FROM NEUTRALS TO GERMANY. T'ntthti Prb»» (Received 9.55 a.in.) London, April 28. The Hon. Neil Primrose, in reply to a question regarding the Scandinavian re-exports, said neutral countries re-exported foodstuffs and other cargoes to Germany, despite their undertaking to prohibit re-exportation. It showed that the consignees were in collision with the German authorities. If the steps taken to prevent a recurrence were nnsuccesslul special measures might he necessary. THE POSITION CRITICAL. London, April 28. Lord Derby, speaking at Manchester, said the people did not seem to realise the tremendous things happening, or how critical the position actually was when we were acting on the defence and had to fall back. Asquith’s speech suggested that we weie doing very well as to munitions, hut this was absolutely opposed to facts, ami not a single man in the army or at the War Office would support that view. Lord Kitchener had told his yesterday that the demand for munitions was absolutely unlimited, as the more shells and cartridges we got the more men we would he able to put in the field. He had Lord Kitchener’s authority to say that he was satisfied with the rate of recruiting for the moment, hut the time would come, sooner perhaps than was expected, when we should he asked to redouble our efforts. Lord Derby added that he believed it would he necessary to make a compulsory demand upon the services of the country. A MILITARY CRITIC. Times and Sydney Sun Service. London, April 28. A military correspondent has pointed out that Mr Lloyd George did not say that there were 36 divisions in France, hut said they were abroad. Consequently considerably less than that number are actually in France. A period of great and decisive operations finds ns with six other campaigns on our hands, all needing men and ammunition. There is scarcely a man in the British armies in France who does not ask daily when the new armies are coming nut. None are able to give a satisfactory reply. England is literally crammed with troops at a moment when decisive operations are imminent. If the operations are not suc,cessfnl the blame will he on the Cahii net alone, REPORT OF INVESTIGATION INTO | USE OF POISONOUS CASES. j (Received 1.45 p.m.) i London, April 28. 1 Dr. John Haldane, who was sent to France to investigate the effects of the gas, reported to the War Office that a post mortem revealed that the deaths were due to acute bronchitis, caused by the use of irritant gas. The symptoms indicate either chlorine or [ ciroutine. Facts were also adduced indicating the use of German shells containing irritant substances, though 1 in some cases these agents were not of the same brutally barbarous character as tile gas used against the Canadians. The effects were not those produced by the ordinary combustion i of explosives. I Captain Bertram, a Canadian, states that he saw twenty-four men lying dead from gas on a small stretcu of road eluding from the advanced trendies.