Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

16 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

NOTES ON NEWS.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

NOTES ON NEWS. Tin Compulsorv Service Bill has behind it, 0 Mr. Ioloyd George informed the House of Commons, "a i Go?.i l'ULSION FO i, ALL. perfectly united Gov- ernment." It is pretty certain that that could  Hot have been said a few weeks ago, and we .may therefore take it that those mem- bers of the Government who held out for a continuance of the voluntary system have been convinced that all the men available are urgently needed, and that they can onlv be raised by compulsion. The final argument, the death-blow which the House of Commons gave to Mr. Long's lill for giving the voluntary system yet another trial, was unanswerable. Com- pulsorv service was the only thing left, and now all men, married and single, bc- tween the ages of eighteen and forty-one, sire" to be liable to military service. The reception given to the measure by the country leaves no doubt that it is ap- proved* by the majority of the public, who, indeed, only required the assurance that the Government, in possession of all the fads of the situation which are hidden from the wise and foolish alike among outsiders, considered the measure neces- sary. That assurance once given, there was never much room for doubt that the jiation would accept the situation. The only question with the people has been, Is it necessary in order to win the war? The answer is given by "a perfectly united Government," and there is no need of fur- ther argument. No doubt a great cause of the delay in tCOillmg to a decision on the question of WAR AND INDUSTRY. compulsory service for all has been the urgent necessity for keeping the industries of the country going as well as finding men for the Army. This is the most diffi- cult task of the Government. It could have passed a measure of compulsion a year or more ago, but the effect on trade and industry might have been disas- trous. Tn the meantime there has been opportunity for a gradual adjustment to meet the new conditions, and traders and manufacturers should now he much better placed for "carrying on than they would liave been if compulsion had been sud- denly sprung upon them, and they had had to make other arrangements at short notice. Even now there may be difficul- ties. Men cannot be spared from the shipyards, where, indeed, even more are needed; the railways must be adequately staffed; there must be sufficient labour at the docks and in the transport trades. The shipbuilding .problem is particularly urgent, and Mr. Lloyd George has assured us that not a single shipyard man is to be taken, and that the Army authorities will give every help to send back shipyard workers from the Army to the yards. How 'urgent is this problem of the ships was made clear the other day by Lord Curzon, who said that only forty-two per cent. of our mercantile marine is now available for our ordinary trade, the other fifty-eight per cent, being constantly employed by the Navy and the Army, and in keeping up the supplies of our Allies. We shall want all the ships we have and all we can build, and even then we shall probably have to put up with much greater incon- venience in restriction of imports than we have suffered up to the present. A few years ago the proposal for day- light saving by putting on the clock one hour during the summer MORE LIGHT! months was considered I matter for laughter. All I sorts of objections were sTa ised and a select committee of the House of Commons settled the fate of the Bill because of the great diversity of opinion on the subject, and because of grave doubts as to whether the objects in view could be attained without causing serious inconvenience to important inte- rests. Now, however, we hear nothing about inconvenience to important inte- rests," and there seems to be very little -diversity of opinion. The proposal is re- ceived with almost universal approval, and nearly everybody is found to be only too glad of the opportunity to get an extra hour of daylight, and hoping that it may be an hour of sunlight. There are still some people who wonder how it is going to be done, and anticipating that it is going to be a very complicated and con- fusing business. There may be some little difficulty in certain cases, but for most people it will simply be a matter of put- ting the clock on an hour, and then regu- lating lives by the clock as heretofore. Those energetic souls who are in the habit of rising at six o'clock will still rise at six, and after the first few moraings they will forget to tell themselves that it is really cnly five. There has been something of a slump in Zeppelins. Germany has lost three in a week, one because it had SLUMP IN ZfiPJMiLINS. ventured too far from I home and had not enoug h I petrol to take it ba.?i and two which were brought down by the .gunfire"*of the Navy. One of these was bagged at Salonika, and the fither in the North Sea off the coast of Sclileswig. Two British cruisers and a submarine share the glory of destroying the latter, the sub- marine having finished it off and saved seven of the crew. This must be reckoned as one of the most remarkable incidents of the war. The bagging of three of these giant airships in one week is the more gratifying because of the comparative immunity which they had hitherto cn- joyed. The wreck of the L20 off Norway shows that their range is limited because of the limited weight of supplies they are able to carry, so that a very slight mis- calculation or a change in the weather may bring about disaster. The bringing down of two of the monsters by gunfire is more significant as showing that, when they come within range of good guns, manned by good gunners, they are not likely to get back to Germany. Notable testimony to the excellent work -done by girls in munition factories has WOMEN SHELL- MAKERS. been given by Sir \\11- I liam Beardmore, presi- dent of the Steel and Iron Institute. In an ad- dress to the members the other day, Sir William mentioned as a re- markable fact that the girls employed in a certain projectile factory, owing to the scarcity of skilled workers, produced in all cases more than double the shells pro- duce d by thoroughly trained mechanics working the same machines under the conditions. The production was double in the turning of the shell body and in the boring of the shells, while in the curving, waving, and finishing of shell bases the output of the girls was quite 120 per cent. more than that of ex- perienced mechanics. The men with whose work that of the girls was compared were members of trade unions, and Sir William quoted the case as an example of the re- strictive methods of the unions which were practised early in the war. He added: "These conditions applied to war time, when the peril of the nation demanded un- selfish patriotic exertion by everyone, and the men who thus limited the output can only be regarded as unworthy of the privi- leges of citizenship.

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I 11 IRISH REBEL'S ROMANCE…

ISUBMARINE WARFARE.1

IVINDICTIVE "AVENGER."

IHOMAGE TO SHAKESPEARE.I

I A GERMAN FABRICATION. I

I PRISON FOR SOLICITOR. I

I PROSECUTED FOR LIGHTS.I

I IN LIGHTER VEIN. I

ASLEEP ON THE WAVES. I

I THE BRITISH FRONT. I I

BATTLE OF VERDUN.

NEW DIRECTOR OF RECRUITING.I

MOTHER AND HOME.

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