Lord Kitchener then went on to speak of the Register
:-
" The Government have asked Parliament to pass a Registration Bill, with the object of ascertaining how many men and women there are in the country, between the ages of fifteen and sixty-five, eligible for the National Service, whether in the Navy or Army, or for the manufacture of munitions, or to fulfil other necessary services. When this registration is completed we shall anyhow be able to note the men between the ages of nineteen and forty not required for munition or other necessary industrial work, and therefore available, if physically fit, for the fighting line. Steps will be taken to approach, with a view to enlistment, all possible candidates for the Army—unmarried men to be preferred before married mon, as far as may be."
We may add that the declarations of Sir Edward Carson and Lord Derby that if Lord Kitchener's appeal failed compulsion must be used were greatly cheered; and that Mr. Churchill
defended the late Government, making the curious assertion that nothing that might have been done last autumn could have materially altered the existing military situation.
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