Lord French On the "Trouble and Inconvenience " of Volunteering.
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The appeal of His. Majesty the King; for general civilian support in aid of the Volunteer;' appeared in our issue of the 8th February last. We then announced that the Commercial Motor Users -Association had offered to establish the City of London Motor Volunteer Corps. Two matters, which we think call for comment in this connection, arose last week. They are a speech by Field Marshal Viscount French, and the issue of -an official summary of particulars concerning the C.M.U.A. efforts.
Lord French, speaking at the Albert Hall, Nottingham, on the 18th inst., very strongly urged the necessity for the widest possible support of the Volunteers. Ho commented upon the fact that he had heard it pleaded that volunteering involved too mu ±" trouble and inconvenience." He proceeded:— " Cadt, your eyes overseas at thoWe trenches over there. Look at the present condition of the country and the critical sate of the world generally. What is such 'trouble and inconvenience' compared with the awful life-and-death struggle of our compatriots in the desperate fighting lines which exist all over the. world."
In regard to the risk of invasion, Lord French expressed himself in the following words :— " All they were asked to do was to prepare for an emergency caused by a powerful invasion of the country. He felt certain it was because they did not see the necessity of their services that so many of them refrained from. giving them. Let him earnestly and solemnly assure theta that unless every able-bodied man did his utmost to help we cannot win this war."
The foregoing words of Lord French are -certainly very strong ones. We hope they will sink into the minds ofnot a few of our readers who have so far not taken the revival of the Volunteers seriously, and who have not appreciated the extent to which men over military age, or younger men who are in certified occupations, can give part of their time to participation in the organization for Home defence, thereby serving a dual ,purpose—preparing themselves, and bY the creation of a trained reserve relieving the military authorities to the point that they can send a higher proportion of regular troops overseas. Particulars of the C.M.U.A. arrangements, which primarily concern London, are given on page 185. It will be observed that registration of vehicles and enrolment of drivers are proceeding with Ale full approval of the Court of Lieutenancy for the City of London and the City of London Territorial Force Association. These re-arrangements of the Mechanical Transport Column of the City of London National Guard appear to us to be deserving of much volun• tary help, especially having regard to the clear intention of the organizers to -make no unnecessary calls on anybody. The entrance fee for a driver is 2s. 8d. per annum ; owners of vehicles may become hon
orary members by paying 21 Is. per annum per member. Fuller particulars will be furnished, in response to any direct application, either by the Editor of this journal, or by the Acting Adjutant of the National Guard •HeaVy. Squadrons, Mr. F: G. Bristow, Scoretary of the Co' mmercial Motor Users Association, 53, Pall Mall, SW. 1.
Priority for Steel and Other Materials after the. Peace.
We have already given several hints of the probability that Priority Certificates will continue to rule the industrial and manufacturing sections of the community for a not-inconsiderable period after the peace, whenever that consummation of our hopes may receive the sanction of the victory of our arins, • We are told, on authority which we regard as reliable,. that the railway companies, by reason of their close working touch with and for the State,' Departments, have already practically assured themselves of first place on the after-peace priority list se far as steel as concerned. We have little doubt that the shipowners of the country will take good care thatthey rank equally with the railway companies, or at worst immediately after them. Where will the motor industry be placed, is tho point of interest to us ?
The necessity for the .continued regulation of allocations -of steel and certain -other materials appears to us to he almost an obvious one, yet we have not been able to find a single record in the proceedings of either the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, or of the newer Association of British Motor and Allied Manufacturers, to indicate appreciation of the call upon them for concerted measures in. respect of adverse possibilities hereafter. The huge extensions of motor factories in the country are good so far as they go, but they parry with them both added risks and grave responsibilities. Those risks and responSibilities have admittedly been the .,cause of numerous conferences, one of the latest subjects to come up at these being programmes for a union of the industry, either as a whole, Grin groups. This is no secret. The motor industry is not alone in seeking to set its house in order according to the new world conditien.s which are one day to burst upon us. We repeat, however, that. the question of rights to high classification in the priority list for steel and ether materials after the peace does not appear to have been raised.
e We leae
rnas we are going to press with this issue,
that the railway companiesshipowners are to be -closely followed in fhe afer-peace priority claesi, feat-ion by the electrical industry as a whole, ,which order of priority will naturally be of considerable benefit to electricetramear undertakings. This third party to the class of activity with' which we have dealt will surely cause members of our own industry to embrace in their active propaganda such steps as they may conceive to be expedientfor the attainment of the same desitable end. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. we may recall.