AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15486, 13 January 1916, Page 4

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

BECKUITINGr BALLY, (i-'BOil orn OWN" CORBEsrONDENX.) SYDNEY, January 5

From each of the six States it is reported that- since the Christmas holidays there has been a remarkable spurt ill recruiting, reminiscent of the earlier months of the war, and a complete change from the condition of affairs a few weeks ago, when the general reports told of very slack times at the recruiting depots. The number of volunteers who presented themselves at Brisbane on Tuesday constituted a record at that placc. Is'ew South Wales leads in the present rally, which is consistent with the record, of which the people of this State arc duly proud, of a larger proportion of enlistments in relation to population tnan any other State can snow. Ttio present number of men accepted for service at the front at the Sydney depots alone averages about 400 a day, and it looks very much as if New South Wales will provide without the employment of any measures of compulsion its quota of the new army of 50,000 men promised to the Imperial authorities by the Federal Government, m addition to supplying its quota of the reinforcements required for forces already sent away. It may be taken for granted that the current gratifying spurt in recruiting is in a large measure duo to the Prime Minister's special appeal, in connexion with which there arc being sent to every male of military age in the Commonwealth cards bearing questions that arc of the nature of a new and directly personal application t-o pack man to consider still more earnestly lyhether it is not ins duty to offer himself for the fighting line. The rate at which volunteers are now coming forward, and the proportions of men accepted, with continued insistence upon a pretty severe standard of physical fitncsn, make the prospect of the introduction of conscription hero much more remote than during the couple of months before Christmas. FAIOILETS FOR SOLDIERS

It is being proven that returned Australian soldiers, 110 matter liow "citified" they wero before thov -went to the front, would far sooner have employment out of doors in roomy spaees than within tho walls of offices or business places. It is also being discovered • that there ale Extensive possibilities in tho matter of providing at small cost opportunities for soldiers to become occupiers of agricultural holdings near the markets offered by the larger cities, and holding out possibilities of good returns for steady, intelligent work. A very promising beginning has been niado with a scheme for making available for returned soldiers farmlets of about iivc acres each suitable for growing supplies of Sydney's needs, only partially satisfied at present-, as regards poultry, eggs, fresh vegetables, and fruit-. There is being got ready an instalment of thirty-seven of such • farmlets handy to Sydney. It is proposed to placc these farmlets, ready for occupation and cultivation, at the disposal of returned heroes at a, rental of about £2 a year. Private eitizons arc enthusiastically co-operating with the Government in the matter. All strata of society arc represented m "working -bees" that have been putting in spare time in clearing, fencing, and building. Timber merchants and others are generously giving material, and there is no lack at all of enthusiastic and capable workers. In a fine spirit of rivalry sectional "bees" are coming- forward. Thus the schoolteachers, at present enjoying a spell from tho task of teaching children, aro organising contingents of. clearers and builders who mean to show that they can teach grown-ups a lot too. A party of. thrco dozen bushworkers is going to- spend the greater portion of a "holiday" visit to Sydney by working on soldiers' farmlets, and they will bring with them all their own tools and implements, and provide their own "tucker" and sleeping accommodation. They reckon "they will by their seasoned strength and skill do things that will make, the softhanded city men gasp with admiration and hopeless envy. BETTING TAX. Under new _ taxation measures passed by the New South Wales Parliament on the last days of sitting beforo Christmas, thcro has como into ofFecfc a tax on betting tickot6 —a nanny 011 every ticket issued by a bookmaker in tho paddock, and a halfpenny on every ticket issued on any other part of a racecourse. There ! was at the last hour such a rush by | bookmakers to get tickets stamped that the officials of the Stamps Department had a very strenuous time in what is usually a very slack time for them. In a week there were sent in to the Department no fewer than 1,205,000 tickets for the new betting tax to be stamped on them. This gives some idea of tho extent to which betting on racecourses prevails in this otato. The bulk of tho tickets was for business with small customers, and it can safely be assumed that in the majority of cases the tickets sent in by bookmakers wore for 'a limited, period only. _ The bookmakers make no secret of the fact that they are Eassing the tax on to tho betting pubc. They can easily do so with the monopoly of the betting business which they enjoy in the absence of the totalisator. It is understood that the "bookies" themselves suggested the tax as the alternative to compliance with the increasing demand by tho racegoing public for the legalisation of the "tote." SILVER. A new departure in money-making has been decided upon by tue Commonwealth Government. This is ui consequence of the world-wido shortage of silver. When the Commonwealth Government recently applied to Great Britain for £100,000 worth of silver coins, the reply was received that Great Britain could not comply because she iiad not enough for fler own needs. However, tho Imperial authorities agreed to send out tho dies to enable Australia to mint its own silver coins. The dies will shortly arrive here, and it is intended, to go straight ahead with tho minting of £500,000 worth of silver coins. This seems a great deal of money to make, but, after all, it is only a trifle compared with the millions worth of bank notes which tho Commonwealth Government has turned out during the flast rear. APPLES. AVe have far more apples than we know what to do with. Our export markets, for this fruit have been almost crippled by the -war. Germany used to- take the greater portion of our ante-bellum heavy' shipments of apples to Europe. In addition American growers, who aro also bothered by the disturbed condition -of affairs iu Europe, aro sending thousands upon -thousands of cases of their apples to Australia as about tho only chance left them of getting anything (at all. for a lot of their fruit. Letters from our soldiers at tho front tell us how the men long for fresh fruit. This conibination of circumstances has led to the suggestion, which has been taken up with considerable approbation, that a certain number —a largo number —of cases of choice apples should be earmarked by our growers for Australian troops at the front, the Defence Department to take delivery at a bed-rock price, and the fruit to be sent direct to the

soldiers without the intervention of middlemen. It is not suggested that the growers, who hare in any case .« prettv bad time ahead of them, shall give the fruit altogether, but they are expected to do without any appreciable profit on these apples for the men who afe fighting. It is said that under this scheme the o.ntiro cost of placing the fruit in Egypt would bo inside 4s, 6d a case. Hoiv our boys would appreciate it!