BRITAIN'S TASK.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 February 1917, Page 2

BRITAIN'S TASK.

LLOYD GEORGE'S HISTORIC STATIC MENT. Spc:il;i:i K :.i the ITo-j?e u7 C. " • o" December 10, Mr. Lloyd George said: What is the urgent task in front of the Government? To complete nnd make even more effective the mobilisation of all our national resources, a mobilisation which has been going on since the commencement of the war, so as to enable the nation to bear the strain, however prolonged, and to march through to victory, however lengthy and however exhausting may be the task. It is a gigantic task ("Hear, hear.") Let me gi\e t'his word of warning. If there be any who have given their confidence to the new Administration in expectation ot a speedy victory, they will be doomed to disappointment ("Hear, hear.'') I am not going to paint a gloomy pictuie of the military situation. If I did it. would not be a true picture. (Cheers). But I must paint a stern picture, because that, accurately represents the facts. The British people are just as sweet-toothed as anybody, and they like pleasant things biing put on the table, but that is not .the stuff they were hrough up on, and tl.ar is not what the Britisa Empire has been nourished on. Britain has never shown at its best except when it was confronted with a real danger am, understand it. ("Hear. hear."l

OUR NEW ARMY OF STEEL I should, like to say one word nl 1 ' ilie lesson of the fightim. on the western funt, one of the greatest struggles in the history of the world. It is full of encouragement and of hope. (Cheers). Just lrok at it. An absolutely new Army—the. old had done its duty—(cheers) itiul spent itself in tho achievement of its gnat task. This is a nnv Army.—ne\. men, new officers, generals new to this kind of work—have faced the greatest army the world, has ever seen, the best \cqv.ippcd, the best trained, and .they have ■ beaten them—beaten them, beaten them! '(Loud cheers). Battle after battle, day after day, vVk after woek; from Uiu slongest eii'i iichments ever devised by human skill, they have driven them out by valor, by valor that is incredible when you read the story of it. (Cheers). A great French general said to me: "Your Army is a new Army. I must leal a—not merely its generals, not merely its officers, but its men—what to do ami how and when to do it." Therefore, basing our confidence upon these facts, I am as convinced as I ever was of ultimate victory if the nation proves as steady, as valorous, as ready to sacrifice, and as ready to learn and to endure as that great Army of our sons in France. (Cheers).