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Show CONSCRIPTION IS SERIOUS THING Asquith Expected to Stand Up For Married Men of England. London, March 29, G:30 p. m. An important pronouncement from tho government on tho question of enlistment enlist-ment of married men was expected In the house of commons today. Tho cabinet met in council, before tho house assembled, to discuss the matter mat-ter and in some quarters It was expected ex-pected radical decisions would be made. However, as Premier Asquith, Foreign For-eign Secretary Grey, War Secretary Kitchener and Minister of Munitions David Lloyd-George havo not yet returned re-turned from Paris, where they took part In the conference of the allies, this was not posslblo and the settlement settle-ment of the question as to whether St would be possible to avoid resort to obligatory service for married men, as well as single men, was necessarily nncitnfinpH Asquith in Way. The pivotal point of the situation Is Premier Asqulth's emphatic declaration dec-laration some months 'ago that ho would not remain a member of any government that Introduced general conscription and In trie face of this binding declaration It would seem that conscription of married men could only come about by the disappearance disappear-ance of Mr. Asquith from the ministry. min-istry. It may be assumed therefore, that another obligatory service bill will not be introduced in parliament without a grave cabinet conflict, especially es-pecially as tho conscrlptlonlst party strongly opposes the accession to the premiership of David Lloyd-George, who Is regarded In political circles as the natural successor to Mr. Asquith. When Walter Hume Long, president of the local government board, moved adjournment of the house today to make his recruiting statement In bo-half bo-half of the government, It was found that the ministers had limited their resolutions to ameliorating as far as possible the hardships to the married men, seeming by all available steps to swell the number of single enlisted enlist-ed men by abolishing some of the reserved re-served occupations, more extensive employment of women and the Immediate Im-mediate calling up of men betweon 18 and 19 years of age who are to be put in training, but will not bo sent abroad. Defends Derby Policy. Mr Long opened by defending Lord Derby, the director of recruiting, from what he called unjust attacks. He said that Lord Derby's demands had been reasonable and that the government govern-ment had met nearly all his wishes, while other suggestions he made were still under consideration. As the result re-sult of the investigations of a committee com-mittee appointed for that purpose, the government had found it possible to reduce greatly the number of reserved re-served occupations and to substitute women for men In munitions factories factor-ies to an extent previously believed Impossible, by which means a large number of men had already been released re-leased for military service. By the first of May, he said, a large number of occupations connected with the manufacture of munitions would be removed altogether from tho reserved re-served list and steps were being taken tak-en to Investigate whether it would be posslblo similarly to release more miners without reducing tho coal output. out-put. Two hundred and seventy-five thousand women had been found for commercial, clerical and transport work, and another 14,000 for farm work. Mr. Long paid an eloquent tribute to the loyal self-sacrifice of the married mar-ried mon who had attended. |