7,000,000 DEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1917, Page 7

7,000,000 DEAD.

HENDERSON'S ESTIMATE. MONEY COST STUPENDOUS. London, May 22. Mr. Henderson (Minister without portfolio and member of the Wut Cabinet) estimates that the number of killed and wounded in the war exceeds the population of the United Kingdom (over 45,«0O;«0O). The cost of the war, hit said, includes:— Killed 7.080,000 Expenditure .... '£9;000;O0e,000 This expenditure does not include the millions of pounds' worth of shipping and other property that has been destroyed. Mr Henderson went on to say that there was no immediaie prospect of a cessation of hostilities of i Bevere character, and the prolongation of the war tcrnptcd some to ask why peace was not attempted toy other means. Ho replied that Germany's challenge in M 4 still held good. The lust for world domination continued to be supported by the Kaiser and his Prussian advisers. Gorman armies continued to threaten the existence of independent nationalities. 'Hence, victory for Germany would imperil the future of the democracy of Europe. "However much we might welcome peace," he added, "we cannot falter till the great act of liberation is fully achieved."

Mr Henderson sympathised with the proposed League of Nations to enforce peace, "but," he said, "it must be a league of free peoples."