LATE WAR NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 222, 8 June 1915, Page 7

LATE WAR NEWS.

MR. CHURCHILL’S SPEECH. ON THE MUNITIONS QUESTION. A CHEERING MESSAGE. BIG VICTORY IN SIGHT. LONDON, June 5. Mr, Churchill, speaking at Dundee, said he did not intend to embark os reproaches, or recriminations. The years succeeding the Agadir crisis, when Mr. Asquith charged him to place the fleet in instant and constant readiness for war, constituted the most important period in our naval history. He had done his best. The archives of the Admiralty would show the part he had played and would be his defence. The terrible dangers at the beginning of the war were over. The seas had been swept clear. Everything was in perfect order. Nearly everything had been foreseen. We had taken our foe’s measure and had only to go forward with confidence. Ho was glad Mr. Balfour had been able to take up the task allotted to him. The operations at the Dardanelles would give him an opportunity to show those qualities of calm courage and inflexibility which prevented Ladysmith being left to its fate and forced to surrender. In regard to the Dardanelles we must expect losses on land and sea, but the fleet employed was a surplus fleet after all other needs had been provided for. It .was presumptous for anyone to suppose that Lord Kitchener had embarked on the Dardanelles expedition without thoroughly and carefully considering every requirement in relation to the paramount needs of the army in France and Flanders. In looking at our losses wc must not forget the prize for which wc were contending. The forces were within a few miles of a victory such as this war had not yet seen. When it came, it would make amends for all. It was the duty of the Press to sustain public confidence, x?c condemned newspaper attacks bn the responsible leaders in the field or at home. Any criticism should be in Parliament. He regretted that the Liberal Government had not had an opportunity of stating its case. It would have been found that Lord Kttchener has a strong case for the War Office. He (Mr. Churchill) might , have had something to say about the Admiralty. The nation expected from the new Cabinet action, not hesitation. It must act now, ac? with courage and trust the people. If it was impossible to win the war without compulsion he ■vyould support ir, but he did <not believe it was unneces- : sary now. The whole nation must organise in order to gain a decisive victory, The nation must be socialised. The Government, in form must make sure that every man and woman in every rank is doing a fair share. I he nation must bend anew together for a . supreme effort. The times are hard and the need dire. Europe’s agony is infinite, but the might of Britain, hurled unitedly, will be irresistible. We are the great reserve of the Allied cause. That reserve must march as one man. (Cheers). Sir lan Hamilton’s army -at. Dcro- : becks and the fleet ane separated only

by a few miles. The importance of victory in such a war is not understood. When speaking of victory he was not referring to those victories which crowd daily placards of the newspapers. He was speaking of victory in the sense of a formidable factor in shaping the destinies of nations, and shortening the duration of the war. Beyond those few miles was a ridge of senib, whereon our French comrades and our gallant Australian and New Zealand fellow-subjects were fighting for life, the destruction of the enemy’s fleet and army, and the fall of the worldfamous capital. With the probable accession of powerful allies the struggle would be heavy, the risks enormous, and the losses cruel, but victory would make amends. Never was there a great subsidiary operation in which more complete harmony, where strategic, political, nad economical advantages were combined, or which stood in truer relation to the main decision to which, in the central theatre, through the Narrows and across the ridges of Gallopoli, lie some of the shortest paths to triumph and peace. We were confronted with a foe who, without the slightest scruple, would extirpate us, man, woman, and child, by any method that is open to him. To fall is to bo enslaved or destroyed; not to win decisively is to have all our misery over again, after an uneasy truce, to fight under less favourable circumstances, perhaps, alone. After what had happened there cannot bo peace until the German military systm is shattered, torn, and trampled so that it was unable to resist the will and decision of the conquering power. Mr, Churchill, in conclusion, said: Above all, let us be of good cheer. The loyalty of our Dominions and Colonies vindicates our civilisation and our enemies’ hate proves the effectiveness of our warfare. If any were anxious or depressed they should watch Australia and New Zealand in this, the last and finest crusade, smiting down the combined barbarism of Prussia and Turkey; they should see Botha holding South Africa for our King, or Canada defending to the death the last few miles of shattered Belgium. Then, across the smoke and carnage of the immense battlefield they could look forward to the vision of a united British Empire, on the calm background of liberated Europe.