19 FEBRUARY 1916, Page 2

Mr. Asquith said that thanks mainly to the Italians, the

Serbian Army, to the number of a hundred thousand, had been reorganized and refitted, and he hoped it would prove an important element in the future fighting. The campaign in the Cameroons .had ended triumphantly, as the Germans had been !practically swept out of the country. In Mesopotamia the campaign had caused some anxiety, but the situation had distinctly improved. General Townshend's supplies at Kut ought to last a considerable time. General Aylmer ought to have received all his reinforcements by this time, in spite of the abnormal weather, and he hoped that General Aylmer would be able soon to reach Kut, and that anything " in the nature of a . serious check " would be avoided. The most conspicuous fact in the general situation had been the growing co-ordination and unity among the Allies. This was true of diplomacy as well as of strategy. At home there had been a stock-taking of our resources in order to enable us to contribute our maximum effort to the cause in the coming months. The Navy had sue. ceeded at every point of its task. As for the Army, we had in the actual fighting theatres an Army ten times our original Expe- ditionary Force, without including as theatres India, Gibraltar, and Malta, and without reckoning the soldiers of the Dominions;