The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1916. WINNING THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1916. WINNING THE WAR.

Anyone reading the cables intelligently during the past few days must realise now, if one never realised before, tliat the task before the British Empire and our Allies is as stupendous as it is grim, and that the war is likely to be a protracted one. We read in yesterday's cables, for instance, that no one in England now speaks of an early end to the war, and that some critics are already discussing the crucial, supreme offensive in 1018. The events of the past three months have shown that it is going tc take some time to push back the Germans. In the West the Allies have made a great effort, but the ground recovered k only seven miles, and th'i extent of the cost is now being brought home to us by the long casualty lists. Of course, our success here, as we have before pointed out, is not to be measured by the actual ground gained. We have taken admittedly the strongest fortified lines of the Germans, lines indeed, that were regarded as impregnable, and thereby have shaken the Hun's confidence in his invincibility. But it takes time and men to shift him. This is why the public men of Britain are clamoring for more men and still more men, and why the Government are a'oont to raise the age limit to forty-five. There can be no doubt that we will have to put every available man in the Hold. The C3ll coir,!,; to every part of the Empire, and we must face the situation and < take midsiiTts at onco for letting every possible man go. 'Up to now we have not regarded the position very seriously. To a large extent this is because of the lack of direction by the Government. It never has told the country plainly what would be expected of it, its leading members preferring flag-wagging and screeching about what we are going to do \vi ( th the Germans after we have licked them. This fact has to be faced: inside ofl a year this country will require for military purposes another thirty to forty thousand men. They have to come from the various industries and substitutes must be found for them, otherwise the country will be seriously affected. As the industrial laws stand, nvany industries are unable to employ boys or girls or inferior laibor. Here the Government should have stepped in ibefore and suspended all industrial awards and removed all restrictions on the employment of laboi until after the war. It should not delay any longer. Employers should be warned and be training substitutes at this very moment. In six months it may be too late, and their businesses and operations may be

brought to a standstill through lack of trained employees. How different from what lias taken pluce in England! There the indu-trial laws were suspended nearly two yearn ago, and everything done to keep the industries going, as well as organising and manning munition works on a colossal scale. The result is that England is able to provide herself and some of her Allies with all the munitions they require, to maintain 00 per cent, of her pre-war export trade, and to spare ever five million of her best and most vigorous manhood for the fighting line. It is a wonderful achievement, but the Old Country is not satisfied. She ia combing out her Government departments, her trades and industries for more men, and finding substitutes in the way of women :md hoys. Britain knows that success is only possible by exerting her maximum force and power, and she is taking no risks. Sim dure net; she has put her hand to the sword, and there is .10 turning backer- hesitation. She must go on and conquer. Sic lequires every ounce of assistance we can give 'her, and it would be more to the purpose if the Prime Minister and Sir Joseph Ward were here organising tin.- affairs of the country to enable us to give the necessary support instead of gallivanting about Britain and prating about doing our duty to ourselves and the Empire. We have not done our duty, by long chalks, and it is simply nonsense to talk about making sacrifice? when we have to .00 twice as far before we catch up to what England has already done. Let there public men of ours face the position, not only as patriots Init as business men, ami organise the country's resources with a view to giving the Old Land our maximum support. If all parts of the Empire do that we will win the war . We will not win it 'by waving flags and making florid speeches and threatening the enemy with all manner of penalties after, the war.