BRITAIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1916, Page 5

BRITAIN.

THE WAR IN PARLIAMENT. RECRUITING AND COMPULSION. Received April 14, 8.45 p.m. London, April 13. Mr. Asquith announced that Cabinet had appointed a committee to deal with after-war reconstruction generally, including trade, and sub-committees dealing with particular aspects that were most important. A sub-committee was now in communication with the Dominions. He also stated that he hoped to announce next week the results of the examinations of the recruiting figures, and the numbers obtainable by general compulsion. Many military officers, Mr. MeKenna, Lord Lansdowne, and Mr. Chamberlain attended a Cabinet committee that examined the question of recruiting. The Pall Mall Gazette believes that unless an extraordinary and unexpected change occurs in tlie situation the Cabinet will decide, for the meantime, against extending compulsion to married men. Lord Milner will move, in the House of Lords, favoring general compulsion without delay, and thus the question will be debated by both the Lords and Commons before Easter. | NEWSPAPER MAN'S ARREST. THE "SCOOP" HE DIDN'T WANT. Received April 14, 8.5 p.m. ■ London, April 13. Middleton, a Daily Mail correspondent, i has been remanded in custody for a week. He was formerly in the Royal Naval Air Service, and came to Dover yesterday. He invited two officers to lunch, saying that he had come to do a bit of spying on behalf of Mr. Pemberton Billing, M.P., whom the Daily Mail was running. The police appeared in the middle of the lunch ami arrested Middleton. "LIONISING" MR. HUGHES. COMMENT STRAIGHT FROM THE SHOULDER, Received April 14, 7.15 p.m. London, April 13. The Westminster Gazette continues its. campaign against Mr. Hughes, and gives prominence to an interview with a leading Canadian manufacturer, who says that Canada, in any alterations of tariff for handicapping or boycotting Germany, will-certainly not aliow her own position to be prejudiced. Canada wants the world's business, and must remain untrammelled. The paper adds: "Many Colonials regard the lionising of Mr. Hughes as supremely ridiculous. He comes to England and speaks with easy confidence on subjects that are far too vast for comprehension ,by ordinary mortals, and these untested assertions are hailed as the highest wisdom. Healthy press criticism is almost wholly absent concerning the British trade policy, and 'anti-Germany' may create friction endangering the integrity of the Empire." GERMAN SECURITIES. SEIZED ON DUTCH SHIPS. Received April 14, 7.5 p.m. j London, April 13. Tn t'he House of Commons Sir E. Grey said that the face value of the enemy securities seized in the mails from Holland to America was approximately two millions. They would bo dealt with by the Prize Court, similar to other German exports. Various neutrals had protested, and discussion with them was proceeding. A STRIKING INSTANCE. j OF HUNNISH FEELING* (Received April 15, 1.5 a.m. London, April 14. The Times, in an article, contrasts Germany's execration of our '•inhumanity" and her whimpers about the infamy of the blockade, with Bismark's policy of starving Paris in 1871, and reproduces instances of Bismark's Prussian witticism over the suffering babies in Paris. THE NATIONAL MINISTRY, Times and Sydney Sun Services, London, April 13. A meeting of seventy members of the Unionist War Committee decided that Sir E. Carson should. submit a motion embodying a general conscription policy. It is stated that it was believed that fifty votes would be given in favor of general compulsory military service, but it is certain that there will be a hundred, It is expected that the latter will be regarded as sufficient to force the Cabinet to adopt the measure or face the disruption of the Coalition Ministry. AVERAGE AGE OF GENERALS. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, April 13. It is interesting to note that reliable calculations give the average age of British generals at 53.9 years, Frepch generals 60.5, and German generals 05.66, excluding those of Royal blood. CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS FALL IN> London, April IS. Two conscientious objectors who were compulsorily enlisted in a non-combat-ant corps iiave been sentenced to two years' imprisonment by a court-martial, for disobeying orders.