MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1916, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

PERMITS TO CARRY ARMS. POSTPON'F.MF.N'I' <■!•' HOLIDAYS. London, July 13. An Onler-inComicil under the Defence of the Realm Act prohibits carryingarms without naval oi military permits. In the House of Commons, Mr. Asquitli announced that, owing to the war tlie (,'overnment proposed the postponement of all holidays. Tlie Allies' offensive, which was only beginning, required a great and continuous supply of munitions, of which there was ample at present, but the daily consumption was enormous; therefore he appealed to the patriotism of the workers and the public generally to postpone the holidays in older that Ihe attack, brilliantly begun, might be carried to a triumphant conclusion. Mr. Asquith will make a full statement on the Dardanelles and Mesopotamia on Tuesday. GENERAL TOWNSEND'S LOT. GERMAN TREATMENT OF BRITISH PRISONERS, London. .Tiilv 11. The Daily Mail publishes a letter from General Townscnd to a friend. He say. that he is living in a charming villa in the most beautiful island in the Sea of Marmara. He lias free use of a yacht, and can visit I'era ami Constantinople as often a s he likes. lie is treated, as a guest, not as a prisoner. Enver Pasfia has granted permission for his wife and .daughter to join him, ! i I j0r( l Robert Cecil, in the House of Commons, read a lengthy German reply categorically repudiating the charge that they had not, recognised their obligations regarding food for British prisoners. The Government sanctioned the dispatch of a collective consignment to the prisoners on condition that it did not contain a predominance ol those commodities which are only obtainable to a limited extent by Germans, in consequence of the British blockade. If, as reprisals, the rations of German prisoners were re--1 need, the (Government proposed not only to withdraw the collective consignments of parcels, but also the reception of individual parcels. He added that the last part of the German reply regarding the exchange of civilian prisoners appeared to mean that we should release all German civilians in exchange for all British civilians regardless of their respective numbers. lie proposed to reply that this could not be accepted, as it meant sending 2(1,000 Germans for 40<J0 British.

. He would propose to repatriate civilians over 50 and all over 1.1 unfit for service. Of the remainder equal numbers of each nationality should lie interned in a neutral country. Replying to the ijuery whether this meant the abandonment of the policy of reprisals, Lord Robert Cecil said the (ioverntnent would hold a free hand to retaliate if it was the only way of securing justice. CONDITIONS IN MESOPOTAMIA SAID TO BK JDISIiRACKFUI,. Received July 14, 8.25 p.m. London, July in. The lli.kt of Somerset, in the House »f Lords, said that letters from ollieets in Mesopotamia disclosed a disgraceful state of affairs. He was informed that a thousand vounded were sent down in one boat in charge of one oflicer and one orderly. Their ivounds were undressed until tin y arrived at Bombay.

The Di.ke of Somerset, in the House of Lords, said that letters from ollieers in Mesopotamia disclosed a disgraceful state of affairs. He was informed that a thousand vounded were sent down in one boat in charge of one oflicer and one orderly. Their tvounds were undressed until tin';/ arrived at Bombay.

MEN AND MUNITIONS. POSITION REVIEW RD BY MR. LLOYD GEORGE. ■SUPPLIES SOON OVERWHELMSfI. Received July 14, 7.30 p.m. London, July 13. Mr. Lloyd George, addressing the Munitions Conference, whereat France, Russia, end Italy were represented, insisted that the complexion of events had changed since the conference in 1!)15, when the Champagne offensive had just failed in attaining its objective, and the Russians bad been pressed back hundreds of miles. Vow the Russian- were overwhelmingly victorious, and had struck terror into the hearts of the foes. The immortal defence of Verdun, the brave resistance of the Italians and the combined offensive in the East and West, had wrenched the initiative from the enemy's bands. Cm prospects had impro\ed because the equipment of the armies had been improved enormously. Then, the Russians had faced a hailstorm of iro" with flesh and blood, and the British were condemned to inactivity because their munitions were unequal to a sustained attack. The navy had absorbed more than half the metal workers of the country, occupying the energies of a niliion men. We had to create an nrmv and arsenals out of nothing, but we were now turning out hundreds of guns cm 1 , howitzers monthly, also twice a3 much ammunition in a single week, and three-fold the number of lie-vvy shdls as were fired in the grand of'ensive in September, though that supply the result of many weary weeks of acei'mule tion. The new factories and workshops had not yet attained a third of their full capacity, but the output was increasing with great rapii'.i'.y. The main difficulty was the lab"i- supply, and when the re:idj.is;nient was solved tie supplies would si.i n lie overwhelming.. The suecesss oi I-''v'.ieh miinit'.on making proved that (!; pivsent offensive had been followed ii; an appalling expenditure at VcrdTf..' Tile lesson of the present war was tlia " :v nm;m,n;ti.n: means more vicluri, - 1 fewer ca?pa!t:es.

STATEMENTS IN PARLIAMENT. KMI'LCUIENT, OF INTERNED AT. I EX'S AX I) PRISONERS. AN INTELLIGENT SPIRIT NEEDED. Received July 14, 7.30 p.m. London, July 13. Mr. Samuel announced that four thousand inttvned aliens were employed on useful work", but there had been some difliculty in getting people ta employ I lit in. In the House of Lords, Lord Newton (Paymaster-General), replying to a question. <ir,d many of the enemy naval and inilit:iry prisoners were employed at lin-bev cam]«, quarries, road making, and bug making. Numbers had also been sent ti' vurfc in France. The employment of civilian prisoner!; was a more difficult tn.'k He had tried to induct the Marquis of Crewe to employ them, but was confronted with the threat of a ftrike by something like a hundred thousand men. Unless a more intelligent spirt prevailed, the end of the wnr would find thousands of aliens still behi"d barbed wire enclosures, demoral:sod and brrken in health. EFFECT OF WAR BONUS. COCK CHARGES RAISED. Received July U, 8.30 p.m. London, July 14. OwiiK (o the cost of the, war bonus to their employees, the Port of London authorities are raising; the dock dues and charges for shipping and goods on July 24.