CONDUCT OF THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1915, Page 5

CONDUCT OF THE WAR.

DEBATE IN THE LORDS. A MUTILATED MESSAGE. Received Nov. 9, 11.5 p.m. J London, Nov. 8. Lord Loreburn said that unless collective common-sense prevailed Europe might become, a wilderness peopled by only old men, women and children. The idea of a small Cabinet reporting to a full Cabinet was unsatisfactory, and would merely secure a maximum of delay with a minimum of efficiency. Lord Milner declared that the war news sent to this country had been seriously misused and constantly doctored in an optimistic sense. If we had been prepared against contingencies, which were a likelihood for months past, it would have been possible to have given Serbia weeks ago such assistance as to enable her to resist the combined attack of tho Central Powers and Bulgaria, with reasonable prospects of complete success, and at the same time we would have carried Greece with us. Received Nov. 10, 1.30 a.m. London, Nov. 9. Continuing, Lord Milner said:—Even when Greece left us in the lurch we could, if we had acted with promptness, put such a force into Serbia as to save the south and southwest from destruction. On the contrary we seemed paralysed until General .Tofl're helped us to make up our minds. The Dardanelles should have been determined by military considerations, alone. To bring politics into tho question was to court disaster. If our prestige had suffered in the Dardanelles, the way to recover it was to do better elsewhere. (A break in the message occurs here.) Received Nov. 9, 11.15 p.m. London, Nov. 9. The Government could not expect to deal openly in debate with acute diplomatic negotiations while they were in progress. The .Ministry unanimously desired to give as much information as the naval and military authorities would allow. Only cables to and from the country were censored, and no compulsion existed as regards leading articles or military correspondence that was published in the leading newspapers. He thought the system worked well, but he thought it might be that the naval and military authorities took an unduly narrow view of the points submitted to them. The Government were now conmilting the leading military authorities with a view to better co-ordination regarding the supply of news. Lord Curzon condemned the cruel slanderous attacks on Ministers, especially Mr. Asquitli and Sir Edward Grey. He acclaimed the latter's ability juid integrity, but because two Kings in the Balkans had disappointed the expectations, the public had bespattered him. Referring to the suspension of the Globe, he'said the paper had untruly stated that Lord Kitchener had resigned, and the paper had assigned a false, malicious reason. The offence was the worse because it was made when Serbia tvas in agony and was appealing for help, and when the whole East was watching for England's action. The Globe even dared to repeat the statements on Saturday, declaring that the Government's denial was untrue, and the Government accordingly authorised that paper's suspension. (The first, portion of the above message has not come to hand.) LORD KITCHENER'S DESTINATION. A COMPREHENSIVE TOUR. Received Nov. 9, 5.5 p.m. Paris, Nov. 8. Le Petit Parisien states that Lord Kitchener i& proceeding to the Dardanelles, Egypt, Macedonia, and Greece, and will be reporting the result of his visit to London.