MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 April 1919, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

IMPORTANT STATEMENTS. BY MR. LLOYD GEORGE. ' THE RUSSIAN PROBLEM. Received April 20, 5.5 p.m. London, April 17.

Continuing his statement in the House of Commons, Mr. Lloyd George said: Had we abandoned Generals Kolchak and Deniken to the Bolsheviks it would have been an act thoroughly unworthy of any great land. They had only asked to be supplied with arms. He did not regard that as in the least a departure from the British fundamental policy. Our policy was to prevent the forcible irruption of Bolshevism into Allied lands, therefore we were organising all the forces in Allied countries bordering on the territories from the Baltic to the Black Sea. If Bolshevism attacked any of our Allies it was our business to defend them. The world would not be passive so long as Russia was torn and rent by civil war. Our policy was to induce the warring parties in Russia to meet and discuss the establishment of a commonly acceptable authority which the Allies could recognise as the Russian Government. He did not despair of a solution, for there were, even now, promising factors. Reliable information indicated that, while the Bolshevik forces were, apparently, growing in strength, Bolshevism itself was rapidly waning and breaking down before relentless economic pressure. There were unmistakeftble signs that Russia was emerging, end when she was again sane and normal we should make peace in Russia. Replying to an interruption by Mr. dynes, the Premier said the Government had bad no aproaches at all from the Russian Bolshevik Government. He heard reports that others had had proposals, which they assumed to be authentic, but these had never been submitted to the Peace Conference by any member of the conference, therefore the conference had not considered them.

GENERAL PEACE TEEMS. Referring to the general peace term 3, Mr. Lloyd George said that representatives of the Great Powers had reached a complete understanding on the great fundamental questions affecting peace with Germany They had formulated the demands, and he hoped that by the end of next week they would be presented. The Premier strongly denounced attempts to sow dissension and distrust between the Allies, and said that none could have treated more sympathetically the peculiar problems and susceptibilities of Europe, with their long and bitter memories of national conflict, than had President Wilson. They had never forgotten the poignant fact that most of the war sufferings and sacrifices had been borne by heroic France, and they had not forgotten that she was entitled to feel a sense of security against the repetition of the attack. "Upon all questions that came before us we came to unanimous conclusions. What happened at the Vienna Congreßs showed the importance of unanimity"

KEEPING TERMS SECRET The Peace Conference unanimously and unhesitatingly concluded that it would be a first-class blunder to publish the peace terms before they were discussed with the enemy. No peace conference had ever given its proceedings so much publicity, but he would rather have a good peace than a good press. The conference would take every action necessary to prevent the premn'/n-e publication, which might only ci.:ourage the enemy to resist.

A STERN PEACE NEEDED. The Premier declared that every pledge that the Government had given had been incorporated in the Allies' demands. The Government had never swerved one iota from these demands. They stood by them because they thought them just. What we want is a stern peace, because the occasion demands it, not to gratify vengeance, but to vindicate justice. Every clause in the terms must be justified on that ground. Above all, we want to protect the future against a repetition of the horrors of this war.

MENACE OF ARMAMENTS ABOLISHED. Mr. Lloyd George, after denouncing newspaper attempts to sow dissension between the Allies and emphasising the necessity for freeing commerce and industry as soon as possible and reducing the enormous war expenditure, said that one of the results of peace would be the abolition of the great Continent's menace of armaments. The forces of Germany would be reduced to an army only just adequate to police her cities and p'rotect her commerce We, and Europe, must profit thereby. The danger was not ihat there might be a recrudescence in Germany, because Germany would only, with difficulty, raise 80,000 armed men to preserve order. The danger was that the world was going to pieces, and the gaunt spectre of hunger was stalking through the land.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. and Reuter.

IMPORT OF *w7NE SUSPENDED. Received April 20, 5.5 p.m. London, April 15, The Board of Trade states that the general license recently issued permitting the importation of wine other than French, Italian and Portuguese, has been temporarily suspended.—Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assoc, and Reuter.