WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 July 1917, Page 5

WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE.

STATEMENT BY PREMIER. THE SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME. Received July 29. 5.5 p.m. Paris. July 29. . Mr. Lloyd George, addressing the jour., nalists. outlined Britain's effurtd on behalf of the Alliance. The Kaiser, at the start of the -var. referred to the contemptible little British army," but we had raided half a million sailors and s'-- million soldiers. He paid a tribute to the help the American navy had given with fast destroyere and in organising convovs.

Britain was showing activity in building merchant ships (o replace those that had been destroyed. The- programme for 1918 comprises four million tons instead of two million that were built during a good year in peace time. Mr. Lloyd Geors« em;,iiasNed that apart from the millions raised in Britain about a million men had responded to the Mother Country's call

from the Dominions and the Colonies. These figures were astounding, when they were considered in conjunction with the British position as a great transporter and purveyor to the Allies. A million Britishers were engasred in coal mining, apart from the production of food. The only labor permitted in Britain to-day was labor of national im. portance for the war. He could state quite definitely that Britain could not he starred into 'ibmission. The submarine warfare could not put her out of business.

MB. CHURCHILL OX AMERICA'S HELP. Received July 29, 5.5 p.m. London, July 28. Hon. Winston Churchill, speaking at Dundee, paid that United Static, fr; a:id unexhausted, wan coming to the Allies' aid. and it depended on Britain whether the European nations eould l)old out until America arrived.

THE POTATO BLIGHT. Received July 29, 5.5 p.m. London. July 2r. The Ministry of Reconstruction Bill has been read a second time. Soldiers have been detailed to spray the Devonshire potato crops that are affected with blight, which is spreading.

MINERS ON STRIKE. Received July 28. 8 p.m. London. July 27. Eight thousand mi 'ers at F.bbw Vale. Struck owing to the manager's refusal of an independent expert examination of the alleged unsafe winding gear. IMPROVED HARVEST PROSPECTS. London, July 27. The Press Bureau states that preliminary annual agricultural returns show the following aoreage of the England and Wales harvest for 1917: —Wheat, 1,911,000 acres, a decrease of 1000: barley, 1.45?,000 acres: oats, 2,230.000 acres; potatoes, 504.000 acres; increases of 127.000, 145,000. and 7100 acres respectively The result exceeds expectations and proves that farmers have made an exceptional spring elfort tinder unusually adverse condition-. This averts the estimated decrease of 200.000 acres. Tims tho net result of the food production campaign fc an additional 550,000 acres of corn and potatoes, irrespective of a still greater relative increase by small growers. The estimate of quadrupled hreas under small cultivation is probably below the mark.