Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 27, 7 January 1916, Page 2

Great Britain

THE COMPULSION SCHEME. SPEECHES IN THE COMMONS. THE BILL EXPLAINED. .L/lUIiCD ITttlß .'.BSOOUMON. London, January 5. The Premier, Mr Asquith, continuing bis spaech, said bo never thought '—though, perhaps, be was too sanguine—that the contingency uontempiated by tbe pledge would he realised. He had hoped and believed it [would not, but they had to face the 'fact, and if he were forced to confront the same situation again he would take precisely the same course. There were 6-50,000 unaccounted unmarried men, and while he was pre'pared to make large deductions he [was totally unable to treat the figures as anything but substantial and 'considerable. Mr Asquith added that !Sir John .Simon ,thought tbe figures I could be reduced to an inconsiderable [quantity, but he (Mr Asquith) did not share this • view. • Therefore there were only two ways in which the pledge could be fulfilled. Firstly, it [would be possible to release the married men. numbering 400,000, and this would create a huge gap. The scheme had provided lor a million men which the House had voted the other day. The. second course was to provide for single men of military age, who had no ground For exemption' or. excuse for not doing their duty to the state in times like this why they should be treated as though they had attested or enlisted. This course would be taken. The Bill was confined to the pledge given to Lord Derby's scheme/' and therefore was limited to Great Britain. It would come into operation on the twentyfirst day alter the Bill passed, and would last for the period of the war only. It applied to British \ subjects who, on the 15th of August, had attained the age of 18 and not more than 41 years, unmarried or widowers without children. The exemptions included men not originally resident in Britain, or resident For educational or other special purposes, men of holy orders, regular ministers of any denomination, and conscientious objecttors to combat service (Dissent).,3l, r Asquith -said be was very sorry to hear expressions of dissent and derision. He pointed out that William Pjtt and his successor, in enforcing the militia ballot, expressly exempted people who had conscientious objections, .such as Quakers. Our Australasian and South African fellow subjects, who adopted compulsory military service, included these exceptions, with the best results. Indeed, be (Mr Asquith) believed that the words in the proposed Act were taken from the colonial Acts, and on these i grounds the Bill had been carefully devised to meet all cases of possible hardship, in order to secure that none came under the obligations of the Bill unless there was manifestly no reasonable ground for not responding to the country's call. The exemptions also included those who are in illhealth, those who suffer, from physical intimity, men engaged in work ol national importance,- and men with dependents. There was also exemption in cases where a family had sent three or more sons to the war. who were perhaps wounded of killed, leaving a single unmarried son to work for the family, ft would be a monstrous injustice to call such a man. Certificates might also be granted to any Government Department's employees after consultation with the War Office. The Bill proposed -a service tribunal in pad) local registration area, and a' larger appeal tribunal in each local registration area, and a larger appeal tribunal in bigger m-eas, with a final appeal to the central body in London. Tie Imped the Bill would be passed with something of the nature of genera! assent, and be V yas sanguine enough ["> anticipate this fortune for the Bill when its provisions were clearly understood.

LORD KITCHENER'S SPEECH. SUCCESS OF THE SCHEME. London, January •">. In ihe House of Lords., Lord Kitchener said the voluntary system should l»o given the fullest and fairest trial, hut without modification it was unequal I" maintaining the army needed to secure victory. He continued: "Speaking in this House, seventeen months ago 1 stated the hroiid principles of the military steps ] considered necessary to meet, the emergency of the war. My scheme was based oii a definite plan to secure by successive increases of our miliuiVy strength an army commen : sur.ite with our power and responsibilities, with a proper complement oi reserves and reinforcements. The scheme also aimed at keeping up the army's effective strength in the field during the war. Further, we had to produce for the army thus created onus, ammunition. and military matorial requisite to maiutniu its lighting value. This scheme had developed under the existing voluntary military service system. I must say ,thai this system has given results far 'greater than most of us dared to predict, certainly beyond anything our enemies contemplated. Men in the par l v stages of the war responded to the call in almost embarrassing thousands and the steady How of recruits n-iis maintained until a few months ~,,„. giving men in as large numbers ;l V W g could train and equip, H is now necessary to keep up tile targe

army we now possess by a constant supply of ie>.> imv, replenishing me wastage of «ar. ■..- ■ ■,/...,, aowover, die numbers oi voluntary recruits ceased to insure lull njovision for the necessary trained reserves, and it is essential to redeem Mr Asquith's pledge in order to maintain the voluntary principle. As regards the married men in the future, personally, I always hoped we would finish the was successfully without changing the system which has done so well, as I had been given such splendid material. As our soldiers are now lighting in different theatres of the war I do not consider that the proposed change should he regarded in the light of any derogation of the principle of voluntary service. It only affects, during a period, one class of "ion amongst whom there are undoubtedly a certain number who have hut a poor idea of their duties as citizens,* and require some persuasion) greater than an appeal, to bring them to the colors. Whilst there are some shirkers in this class there are doubtless many whose reasons for not joining will be found valid. 1 am far from wishing it thought that all to whom the new proposals apply can be described as shirkers, and many of them, who probably have conflicting calls, will only be too happy if the Government should resolve the doubts which they arc unable to decide themselves. In making these remarks 1 speak as a soldier, with a single eye on the successful conduct of the war. I feel sure that everyone will agree to the fullest and fairest trialof the system which I .found in existence, and of. which I have felt itrmy duty ito make the best use. The Government is now asking Parliament- to , sanction the change that has been proposed in the special circumstances in ihis utterly unprecedented struggle. The existing system, without modifications, is unequal to maintaining the army needed to secure a victory."

"It is still hoped," concluded Lord Kitchener, jjfcHai the Bill will be a dead letter, Let these men come forward of*tbc.ir own free will. The erou.n system lias been re-opened, but in the meantime the Government must nu»ke provision to keep its promise and must not allow it to he said tout tney dallied or delayed in their of an obligation, of honor." ■■< •:. iL„#' : '",!,. f>: LORD CREWE. , . ~'; . . Lord Crewe:said_ ..that [thp a number of unmarried, men ,-liad not attested was due to ; an imperfect realisation of the situation, rather than a deliberate refusal, to help the country. The present, proposals ought to excite no disunion either [n Par/lbi-j ment or in the [country. Durvig ths coming year the most stupendous exertions must he made by u s and -lit. Allies if we were to secure complete victory, which be .had- every reason to believe would 'be ours. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

Sir John Simon, who followed Mr Asquith, said thai he did. not rise to make a personal explanation, lie had made his choice, which had been all the mora difficult and painful hecan.se he owed Mr Asquith all the help and i encouragement/ which could have beeii given a younger..man, at every oppor 7 tunity. He enjoyed party life, but it seemed to hini that this Bill should be resisted,. The Bill was specially recommended . because of , the fulfilment of a- pledge. It must be distasteful to Mr Asquith that many who effusively assured him of their perfect confidence that he would keep 'his word were the very men belonging to newspapers who for years past had made it a trade to accuse him, I without reason, of breaking faith. A 'sensitive, scrupulous, and honorable {man, exposed to such gratuitous insults from such quarters, might well be too ready to perform what he (thought was ' his, bond I before the conditions- he attached chad been fulfilled. TbV'is.-ue was not" that of a great statesuwn-'s;: ,-. ;faith,/,aud ; there was no honest Englishman who doubted but that the real issue was whether or not to introduce a fundamental change in- soeicbvv Sir John Simon' continued: Lord Derby's report has not shown the bankruptcy of the voluntary effort, but the attachment of a National institution whereby alone a- nation: could remain united. He Imped that the Bill would not reach the Statute Book, but if it did he would not associate himself with anyone violently resisting the law.; He regarded compulsion not as a mere expediency, but as a vital principle of the national life. Mr Asquith, on November 2nd. had indicated that compulsion could only be brought i" n . v something like general consent. He

t .,■,.,, n..t men were, still remam- . ing in the Cabinet who possessed • ti .,v;s identical to his own. The condition attached hi jMr Asquith's i pledge was that the facts must he fully learned, and that legislation would conic afterwards. Thai condition had not been fulfilled. There were many strange features in Lord .Derby's report, and the strangest was the manner of the negligible minority beine attached to the wrong figlure; the right figure was the number lof spimible men for military service, ,'and who dared say that the figure was more than a negligible minority? 1 He doubted whether there was a substantial number of shirkers, for whom he had not any sympathy, but Iho 1 Kill reversed the promised pro- ' gramme. The Government was now legislating first, and investigating afterwards. Some people regarded i voluntaryism as a priceless heritage, and if >ve are going to sell our birthright we should make sure that our i mes; of pottage provides a square meal. The Bill had brought compulsion on in the dark arousing bittei

division without Lbe assurance of a Lvnt'lu likoh to result. Would tic [liucipio vi compulsion stop with the Bill:' Lord Orrby had stid that be felt somewli.it in the position of a receiver put in to wind-up a concern. Sir .John Simon denied that the \ounr,' men of England had refused to pay their debt, tie appealed to the House not to teli the enemy of the hundreds of thousands of free men in the country who refused to fight for freedom. He asked ihem not to pay Prussian /milUtfaiism the compliment of imitation. The first task should be to thoroughly investigate the tacts. OPINIONS OF MEMBERS. .Mr Hodge thought that the voluntary system had failed through Mr Asquith's pledge to the nmrriec' men. He was not hound by i the Labor Party, whose attitude would largely be dictated by the decision of the conference to-morrow. If the decision were adverse he hoped that the Bill would be withdrawn, but there must he no industrial conscription. Hon. C. E. Hobhouse did not oppose the Bill, but he wanted an assurance that it was only a temporary measure and would not be made permanent. Sir W. P. Byles opposed the Bill because he had an invincible objecti >n to compulsion in any form. Mr Boscawen said that it was impossible (otherwise to maintain the Empire's strength, and he could not understand patriotic Englishmen opposing the Bill.

Mr J. H. Thomas resented the suggestion that the opponents of the Bill were unpatriotic, and deprecated the suspicion that prevailed among workers that conscription was forced upon the Government, not with a view of winning the war, but in response to the demand from a certain section of newspapers'. Conscription bad always retarded progress. The Workers' Executive, representing three hundred thousand railwaymen, had resolved to-day to go to any length to see that conscription did not become law, and Labor believed that conscription would result in a huge conspiracy. There had not been a systematic canvass, and therefore he urged that the Derby scheme be re-opened. He implored the Government to realise the dangers ahead.

Colonel Seely said that be always believed a voluntary army fought better with a considerable 1 proportion of unwilling men, hut the number of Unwilling shoiflU be small; Therefore the* ebi.oction- was. unreliable, and Parliament ought to suportLord -i-Kt-chenerUuid the Government-. ,Colonel. Seeley repudiated the, vile suggestion that there, was a deep-laid capitalistic plot in the Commons. , . . ~, Mr vloim , Redmond , drew, attention to the sacrifices , tlj,e , Ivj&h. had, made ami would-continue.making. The Nationalists di,d ,not support the i3ill t nithoUgb previously they bad supported <>\>"i\ ,>.'ar proposal. Ireland

bad thoroughly identified herself with the. Kiiipiit-, and was determined as far as her poor resources allowed to make the fullest sacrifices to hasten a successful, issue. All Irish members opposed tiie, Bill, but if was. able 'to . show that voluntarism had broken down, and that conipulsion was the only means possible'for raising the necessary men, nobody would allow personal Innti-conserip-tipn predilections to stand in the way! [Mr, Bbnar Law said tliat without Mr Asquitb's pledge tlni Dtb'hy scheme wbiiid have been ah absolute failure. Any'plain man, looking at the figures, could see without the shadow of a doubt that the condition mentioned in Mr Asquitb's pledge bad now

arisen. Sir J. B. Lonsdale said that the exclusion of Ireland was degrading and humiliating to that country, which had become the shirker's re luge. Mr John Dillon said that Ireland had more than done its duty. Irish- ! .men did not need conscription to make., them light, and Ireland was right 1$ excluded. lie opposed the Bill, fiecausc it was not shown to be, necessary, and the real reason for it was that Mr Asquith had tripped into a pledge. Mr Bonar Law said that if the House decided that there was no .national necessity for the pledge Mr 'Asquith would resign. The -debate was adjourned. PRESS COMMENT. A Daily News lobbyist, predicts that a .general election over the compulsion question is probable during the next few weeks.