CIVIL WAR.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20545, 13 May 1932, Page 3

CIVIL WAR.

♦ — AUSTRALIA'S DANGER. BISHOP'S REMARKABLE WARNING. iritoM UCK OWN COBItBSI'OXBKNT.) SYDNEY, May ;>. A remarkable utterance by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Dr. Duhig, has attracted attention throughout Australia, when he asked the Church to pray that-such calamity and humiliation ns civil war should never happen in "this bright land of Australia.'' lie made veiled references to the Xew Guard and similar organisations that have been established in the various Htates, under different names, but all with the one object—-meeting the onslaught of disruptive forces which seem to bo gaining in strength. "The position in Australia to-day is far more serious than the majority of tho people realise," he said. "If tomorrow, or any day in the near future, you take up your morning newspaper, and find that a revolution has broken out in one of our chief cities, you need not be at all surprised. Who can deny that events arc shaping towards a civil war, and if such a calamity comes it will be attributable directly to men entrusted with the Government of tho people, and the welfare of the nation. Dangers of Conflict. "Bet'vcen the Commonwealth and one of the States there is r conflict that never should have arisen, and which seriously threatens to end in the destruction of life and property. The law of reprisals, liowover just in its findings, is not always wise in its execution. The peace of our country is worth more than millions of pounds. The existence of a civilian force, or guard, as they term it in defence of the Commonwealth laws, is a direct challenge to other and sinister elements in the community to organise and assert themselves. Australia has always found sufficient protection in its splendid and efficient police force and military, without irresponsible private citizens making a pretence at maintaining the law. "Tn the public life of our own country to-day there is such - a dearth of far-seeing and resourceful men that it is a question whether we are destroying more than we are building. Perhaps never before in the history of the British Empire have men a more favourable opportunity for nation building than they have in Australia, yet look at the condition of the Commonwealth to-day."