The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-22

London. December 22-The debate in the House of Commons on the sup pIementary estimate of the governmen, providing for the raising og 1,00O.0Ot extra men for the army continued un- til 5,3O o'clock this morning, at which hour the vote for additional men was agreed to and the house adjourned. London, December 21.-Premier Asquitf made his long expected statement on the allies military position in the House oi Commons today in connection with thu introduction of supplementary esti nate providing for the "a sing of tn, numerical strength of the British army from 3ooo 900 to 4.ooo,OOo men,
 The House was crowded and the pre- mier's speech was listened to earnestly and silently. In the peers gallery Lort Fischer, the former first sea lord, anc the Earl of Derby. director of recruiting occupied the most prominent position above the clock.
 The prime, minister, as usual got tc
 the heart of his subject in his openins sentences, and declared that although the
 British fighting forces in the various the atres now total more than 1,250,000 men the wars demands were such as neces. sitated calling out the empires recruit able maximum"
 Although the premier did not put him. self on record as either for or agains, conscription, John Redmond, reader of the
 Irish nationalists, at the close of MT Asquith's speech, flung bombshell by declaring that the nationalists would op- pose conscription by every means in theii power. And John Dillon followed ---,th a severe arraignment of the British wal leadership, inquiring: What is the use of sending out more troops to be led by
 men like those responsible for the Suyls bay and Anzac failures?''
 TRIBUTE TO PATRIOTISM The premier's statement of the need ol the army for ''every fit man included z warm tribute to the overseas -,t he took paiTs to mention par,icularly .th,
 men eager to be attested who have made application from far distant places-Hong kong ana RhOdeSfa-addfng:
 This has been commentary o,, the lethargy of some of those here at home No more splendid exhibition ce and self-denial could be conceived, d enc more cauculated to carry conviction to the hearts of all our gallant a'r7s." Referring to the Derby scheme, Mir Asquith said the report from Lord Derby F. ,,,1xr L.. ing and was now being considered by the members of the cabinet T'>---~~ore any statement regarding the government policy on this subject must be dc ] He indicated, however that another chance would be given those who ha6 rot yet responded, saying.
 Those who have been disposed to hans back may now seize the opportunity se them by the mass of their fellow courtr,- men,
 AT THE DARDANELLES Turning to the military situation. t's. premier said that the retirement from tho Dardanelles postions-with the notabl, exception of the position at the tip O. the peninsula-had been taKen on -,'.. of General Monro and Earl Kitcharc~ 'The retirement he continued, wa.
 
 least misjudgment might have led to se ricus loss. e. It was carried out by tho navy and army combined Tn a m~-1--9 fol which no praise could be too high ant W hich will give the services enduring fame in the annals of warAre. With the exception of relatively small proportion of the stores and very few guns which had to be left behind and which were destroyed. the whole force al both places was removed with perfect serenity The total casualties-it seems almost incredible-in the whole operation were two military and one naval wounded T am sure that the House will take the earliest opportunity to express it's admira- tion and gratitude to General Munro for carrying out these difficult operations while other officers deserving specia praise are General Birdwood and Admiral Wemyss. the latter supervising the naval operations.
 'It is most gratifying to know that these splendid troops were embarked to a new destination without the loss of q single life and after a short and much needed rest they will be ready-and am sure also eager-to resume their gal lant career
 ANNOUNCEMENTS DESIRED Summing up the governments war policy, MT, Asquith said:
 Tn order to win the war we want an adequate supply of trained men to rein force and augment the army in the field We want next an ever growing supply of munitions. We want further such a stewardship of the economic resources of the country as will enable us to lift and carry the financial burden which we are called upon to bear in behalf of ourselves and our allies.
 "Finally. what perhaps is as important 1 as anything, we want to counteract the | advantage the enemy has over us in a I single direction, by greater unity and 1 concerted strategic control among the allies The staff conferences inaugurated | in Paris fortnight ago will mean a I greater concentration of purpose, CO
 ordination of plan, economy of energy and effectiveness of action
 In closing, MT. Asquith referred to the | speech of MT. Lloyd-George, minister of munitions, yesterday saying:
 1T agree with the minister of munitions | that while at this or that moment the | superficial facts of the campaign seem I against us, the facts that really in the | long run matters >>e steadily and grow l ingiy on our side There has been in I this war as in other wars an abundance i Of error and miscalculations on both sides, but our will has never wavered l for moment and our fighting resources l both in men and material, are becoming more ample better organized and better
 Ynobilixed for the purposes of victory