Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 8, 13 December 1915, Page 5

Great Britain

LORD DERBY'S SCHEME. " i I ■ ! RECRUITING EXTRAORDINARY. ALL RECORDS BROKEN.

EXTENSION OF TIME UNAVOIDABLE. KING'S 'EXAMPLE TO EMPLOYERS. ALL ROYAL SERVANTS ATTEST. "SOMETHING LIKE A MIRACLE." United Press Association. (Received 8.40 a.m.) London, December 12. The recruiting offices were closed at midnight to enable the exhausted officials to snatch a few hours' rest before the final rush, as it was an .utter imnossibility to attest all the applicants. The extension was fully justified, as so many were not attested that to-day promises to rival Saturday, which easily broke all records. .Most of the offices attested at the rate of three hundred hourly. South London enrolled 11,000 during the day. At Lambeth the officials were overcrowded and were forced to send five hundred in one batch to Camberwell, where the total was three thousand. Other districts record excellent results.

The King set an example to em- | ployors. Many servants enlisted long ago, but it was announced yesterday that in compliance with the King's wishes, all eligibles in the Royal service had enlisted and been placed in their respective groups. Mr O'Grady, Labor M.P. for Leeds, who is a member of Lord Derby's Committee, declares that something like a miracle was performed. He was never prouder of the country. He paid tributes to Lord Derby's influence and to all concerned in the scheme for their. cheorfulness,undaunted courage in smashing red tape,and in overcoming difficulties. He also paid tributes to the newspapers' loyalty, irrespective of their views on Conscription, in backing the scheme. The Weekly Despatch warns the public not to imagine that the final rush settles the question, and points out that success depends primarily on the single men, whose response before last week was disappointing.

ELICIBLES SENT TO SIGN ON IN ' THE CITIES, j I WONDERFUL RALLIES IN THE PROVINCES. London, December 12. (Received 9.55 a.m.) It was noticeable that in the papers signed by those who enlisted and which included an empty space to state their record, the possible number of Victoria Cross men took the oath. They pocketed the 2s 9d representing the recruiting fee and first day's return fare home, with the gratifying feeling of duty done. Several of the City banks and insurance companies sent all the eligibles in their employ to sign on, hoping that those essential to the carrying on of the business would be released by the Investigation Committees. The working classes were predominant in many of the London districts, particularly shoemakers and upholsterers at Shoreditch and hefty dockers at Deptford. All records were broken at Stratford and Barking, and wonderful rallies are reported in the provinces.

ENTHUSIASM OF THE CLERGY. THE EXTENSION OF TIME. ——— (Received 10.315 a.m.) London, December 12. A feature of the recruiting in Scotland was the tremendous enthu siasm of the clergy. Many Presbvterian ministers enrolled, and the divinity colleges and baiis are almost empty. The Press Bureau has issued a statement that owing to physical impossibility to attest all who ofl'ced. it was decided to allow the men to offer for the Army Reserve on Sunday. These instructions were telegraphed throughout the United Kingdom, fnd officers were instructed to make a list of the applicants who made an attestation under the group' system on Saturday and Sunday, and whom it was impossible to attest before Sunday midnight, such to be included in the lists if they attest up to Wednesday night. The Bureau urges citizens to attest, and swell the volume of evidence of the determination of the country to resoluteIv i prosecute the war to 1 a victorious conclusion. ,

MEMORABLE SCENESj EVERYWHERE. J j WAITING IN THE RA|N n V MEDICAL EXAMINATION; DISPENSED WITH ?| TOP-HATTERS RUB SHOULDERS WITH EAST END COSTERS. (Received 10.15 a.m.) London December 12. The close of Lord Derby's campaign was' marked, by memorable scenes. Every recruiting office has been thronged for several nights, and midnight on Saturday witnessed extraordinary displays of enthusiasm. Long quenes stretched into the darkness. From seven o'clock 'on morning were waiting in the rain.

Lord. Derby's report was, presented on Sunday but in order to, facilitate enrolment, he issued a statement on Saturday entirely dispensing with medical examination.

The queries at the central offices at Whitehall comprised every class of profession; top-hatted City men mingled with East End costers and Thames-side workers. For days it was noticable that the recruiters were silent and in earnest, realising the responsibility as breadwinners but on Saturday night the crowds cheered and re-cheered the new enlisteds.

BRITISH RECRUITS IN PARIS. SPLENDID RESPONSE. Received Noon. Paris, Decebmer 12. The response of the British residents following Lord Derby's scheme greatly exceeded anticipations, and created an excellent impression on Parisians. SPEECH BY LORD ROSEBERY.

'COLONICS" AND "COLONIALS."

TWO SURPRISES OF THE WAR.

(OmTEr Press Association.)

(Received 8.10 a.m.) London, December 12. Lord Rosebery, in a stirring speech in Edinburgh at the opening of a club for Colonial soldiers, said he, did not like the words "Colonies" and "Colonials." He thought they had expunged them from the language long ago, substituting the magnificent "Dominion" and "Commonwealth," expressing the grand Empire which sprang from the British Isle. He regretted, as all friends of the Empire regretted, the words again creeping in again. The war had two surprises. The Germans visited us. with genial smiles and Judas kisses, and their chief came with the chief spy; amid the acclamations of a simple-hearted nation, bland deputations came calling us the Teutons' brothers;,, and crowds of oily burgomasters and silver-tongued professors came preaching amity and brotherhood; yet Germany all the time was plotting a I war which meant the ruin and devastation of the earth. That was our surprise, but Germany's fptil idea of conquest would, God helping us, never be realised. But Germany had | her surprise', Prussia sent spies and r

emissaries everywhere—to India, Egypt, and Canada, and Australia—but with what result? Uploaped the common impulse the moment war was declared, and men rushed to the assistance of the Mother Country. Come weal, come woe, the British SjSmpire was a fact wherewith the Universe had got to deal. We were able to confront any danger while; we stuck together. The valor of the Overseas troops at the Dardanelles would never be forgotten. Lord Rosebery added that a gentleman named Ford, who, he believed, made perambulators, was coming to pour oil on the troubled waters. He hoped Ford would not get into mischief!

WORKED HIS PASSAGE HOME. JOINED THE BANTAMS. (Received 8.10 a.m.) London, December 12. Mr William Broad, who was rejected in New Zealand owing to being too short in stature and who stowed away in a steamer and worked his passage to England, has enlisted in the Bantam Battalion, Leicester, which is his old home.

ANGLO-FRENCH CANFERENGE. ' ■ , r ■ i • ; I . Paris, December 11. The conference between M. Biiand Sir Edward Grey, Lord Kitchener, General Joffre, Sir Francis Bertie and M. Gallieni aroused the most intense interest. General relief was caused by the report that the conference had removed the divergence of opinion between France and Britain regarding Salonika. There is now no question of abandoning Salonika, and the decision renders an energetic action possible in Greece. It is probable a joint Note will be presented at Athens, couched in firm language and /u'ruiring an immediate settlement.

RECRUITINC RECORDS BROKEN. London, December 11. A rally for single men was the outstanding feature of the close of Lord Derby's campaign._ Some of ,the ( recruiting .officers did not take off their clothes for four days., Many recruits, have gone straight to the army. Several- officers announce they have j;beatenj all records, M •.'.-.' ": i

Apart: from Lord Derby's group scheme 8 per cent, enlisted at the White City. • They were under 30 years and apparently not married. Nine hundred night-shifters at the Woolwich Arsenal were sworn in. On ["Friday night there were left a thousand gathered at the Lambeth Town Hall at midnight, waiting to be signed Oil. '_, f i % ~; ; ,V ■■_,. / .,' : u ;■-; There were similar scenes in the: provincial centimes.