ARMY SERVICE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 254, 27 October 1942, Page 4

ARMY SERVICE

CONSCRIPTION ISSUE Clear Statement Of Policy In Australia United Press Association—Copyright Rec. noon. CANBERRA, this day. Conscription for overseas service was neither necessary nor justified in Australia at the present time, declared the Army Minister, Mr. Forde. He was replying to a demand by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Fadden, for the merging of the A.I.F. and the militia into one army. "I depreciate Mr. Fadden's efforts to play the game of party politics at this critical period, said Mr, Forde, who charged Mr. Fadden with attempting to wreck the present Government.

"The Government's attitude has been clearly defined," declared the Minister. "It is opposed to conscription for overseas service and the introduction of the issue at this critical period does a great disservice to Australia. During the regime of the Lyons, Menzies and Fadden Governments, definite statements were made to the people that those Governments would not introduce conscription for service overseas. They now want us to do what they pledged themselves not to do. "1 cannot give the number of men In the A.I.F. (Australia's volunteer force for overseas service) for reasons of security, but I can say that we have a very large force and the members of the militia (the conscripted force for service within Australia and in Australian mandated territories, including New Guinea) are voluntarily transferring to the A.I.F. at a rate four times greater than that of the enlistments in the A.I.F. when iho last Government went out of office. "In other words, with the changed position following Japan's entry into the war. there is less need for conscription for overseas service to-day than at any previous time," he added.