ARMS AND MEN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 225, 2 March 1915, Page 7

ARMS AND MEN.

ENGLAND—A WORKSHOP OF WAR. MR. HAMILTON* GRAPES' IMPRESSIONS. Mr. Hamilton Grapes, the well-known motor engineer, returned last week to Wellington after spending some months in England, travelling about the country, . which is now a great workshop of war. "When I left England," said Mr Grapes, to a Wellington Evening Post reporter, "there was less unemployment than there had been for years. Manufacturers proved far more adaptable than could have been anticipated, and in my own trade; the makers of pleasure cars who found their market curtailed turned with profit to the making of spare parts for war motors and fuses with, a variety of work of that kin 1. England is a workshop of v.ai at :)ie present time. Indeed such is the demand for labor on War Offi.w and Admiralty work that men in the uniform of the new army had to be sent back to fill the.gaps in the ranki of the industrial army. "As for recruiting, well, I think thr Old Country has dr.nc wonderfully v'l. You may take it from me there are rmre men under arms than the sdmit. It may seem extraordinary, lut the response from the cities hai been far greater than the response from the rural districts. I travelled by motor between August and the middle of December over 6000 miles in England and Scotland, and I made part of my business to notice things. I don't think that rural England, at any rate, has appreciated the gravity of the situation. I don't think they realise there that this is a life and death struggle for Britain and the Empire. But in the cities—especially the cities of the North and Scotland, the response has been splendid. I saw thorn often in the streets of Glasgow, crowds and crowds of silent Scotchmen waiting patiently—outside the recruiting stations. These are the men who are the ideal for this heavy stern struggle from trench to trench. "As I motored through the country it seemed like a huge armed camp, Every town and village nearly had its little army of men billeted on it after the fashion of a hundred years ago—chalk marks on the walls and the houses—--3 engineers, 2 engineers, 4 D.LI. (Durham Light Infantry), and so forth. 'I fancy, when results are compared, it will he found that Scotland has contributed to the Army more men in proportion to population than any other part of the Empire. I found the Highlands sadly denuded of men, so -many had joined. Now that permission has been given to form Irish Brigades, I fancy the Irish will make a: good second as time goes on. Personally, from all I have been able to sec and learn, I think it will he a long war—at least two years. I know the Germans and their spirit, and I don't think they are likely to go down to one assault or a dozen assaults. They still think themselves the chosen people, and when it comes to fighting on their own soil, then they will fight. I expect that's what Lord .Kitchener means when he says he doesn't know when the war is going to end, but he knows when it it going to begin. We shall win, but only by putting forth every effort. Nobody who knows Germany can believe otherwise. There is absolute confidence at Home in the Army and Navy, and the spirit of solidarity throughout the Empire was never stronger! And that is the spirit that wins."