AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 97, 24 April 1912, Page 10

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

[FEOM OVa OWN COBBESPONDENT.] i SYDNEY, loth April. THE REFERENDUM AGAIN. Mr. Fisher. Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, came over to Sydney on Wednesday, together with several other Federal Ministers, to engage in a conference with State Ministers re-» fcpecting several important matters — particularly the building of the warships for the Australian Navy at the State Government's dockyards — and "he ! had something more to tsay about the referendum. The referendum, ia fact, k to be one of the main features o* the next Federal election. The peoEle's No, when _ asked to consent to and over additional powers from the States to the Commonwealth, ie to be turned into a Yes, if the arts and wiles of the Federal Labour Party can manage it, by hook or by crook. The trouble with the referendum last time was that the Government asked for too much; if it had been content to make a smaller bite at the big stick it might have got more encouragement. But Mr. Fisher's motto, apparently, is "Nil desperandum." Discussing the matter in Sydney, he said : "The Comwonweaith should undoubtedly have .more power. It is not a party matter, but one of vast national importance. Whether it is popular.or unpopular, it is our duty to go on with the referendum. The electors will b» asked ,to say 'Yee* or 'No' to it on the same day as they are asked to choose between the" Labour Party and the Liberal Party. I shall enter into the campaign when it comes with the utmost confidence." He added that if it wero possible to make the question* to be submitted to the electors clearer by amplification, or otherwise, it would be done. It was his intention to make the thing ao clear that no one would have the excuse to vote against it on the ground that it could not be understood. He regarded the acquisition of greater power© by the Commonwealth as an absolute necessity. .The question of the referendum will be one of ihe principal questions to be discussed by the Federal Cabinet on Mr. Fisher's ratui-n- to Melbourne After .the Queensland_ election campaign. The Ffderal Parliament will probably meet in June, when, the full Government programme will bo announced. The Prime Minister states that the Cmmonwealth banking scheme will undoubtedly be launched. "We don't want to hurt the State banks,'* ho says, "but to work in cooperation with them. There aif a few differences to be settled, but T think everything will come right." The func- I lions of the State Governments, it is ! felt, are being interfered with seriously enough already, without the .referendum proposals being endorsed ; if the people say "Yes" to the proposals next time there will oe little left for the State Governments { o do, and they may as well shut up shop. ■ THE DEFENCE POLICY. _, Senator Pearce, Minister for Defence, is well satisfied, he says, v/ith the progress of the Commonwealth defence scheme, so far as it has gone. He considers that the Government has donfi very well up to dais, all tilings considered. "The parades of cadets are particularly gratifying," lie says. "A record is being kept of those who are shirking their responsibility. We will give them till the end of June, and after that steps will be taken to bring them to book. This is a national matter, and we must look to it." Some of the boys U'ere at first inclined to stop away from the parades, but they soon discovered that this was a very, serious matter arid that cricket and football were not to be allowed to interfere with it. Many of •them miss their Saturday afternoons, but by way of compensation for the tune they have to give to drill the Defence" Department arranged with the educational authoiities in the States to allow the boys one afternoon off a week for sport. But there are a number of parents who have a rooted objection to sending their sons to be diilled for the purpose, as they put it, of "murdering their^ fellow-creatures," and who forbade their boys to attend drill. Upon these peace-loving people the department, whose belief is that the best way to maintain peace is to be ready for war, has come down heavily, »md will come down on still more heavily in the future. In a word, ihe new defence fcheme of Australia h to be taken seriously by all, by parents and fion3 alike. Senator Pearce is not perturbed at the periodical resolutions passed by ultra-Socialistic bodies piotesting against the scheme. "People ara sometimes misled/ he says, "by reports of meetings vvhicii would appear to be influential, but are, in fact, dominated by a few firebrands responsible to no one. For instance, there has been a great deal made of the opposition to the scheme at Broken Hill, yet when I addressed a meeting theie a little while ago there were not more than twenty of these extremists in the whole audience. I am convinced that the people who are opposed to the scheme are a very small minority, not worth, considering/ The cadets may be raw, as they are yaung just now, but in seven or eight years' time Australia will have a well-drilled fighting forco totalling something between 125,003 and 150,000. That will be a great defence army. To-day the whole of Australia could net muster above 25#00 trained men to defend "her shores in case of invasion. DISAPPOINTED FOREIGNERS. Immigrants are flocking into the Commonwealth, amL ior the most part t<.-eni to lind life ill Australia to their liking, but occasionally one heais coinplainis. Seeing that labour of all kind* is so scarce, it seems strange to hear of anyone being unable to had work, no matter what country he may, happen to belong toj bub a gradual© of a Russian University, by name V. M. Karo, ■who has an acquaintance v/HH Lalf a dozen languages besides English, has been telling of his experiences in this country, and his inability to lind work of aary kind. "This is a very fine country," he says, "and I would much like to stay here, but it is evident that you doa'fc care about foreigners. if they have money they are welcome ; if they can swing a pick you can piovide them navvying work; but if they haven't money and cant swing a pick you make it very plain that this is no place for them. Ths experience of other foreigners is the same. I met highlyeducated Russians in Queensland, working as navvies because they could getnothing else to do. One of my friends, a Russian, doctor, is a kitchen hand in a Krisbai* restaurant, his duty being to clean the fish. I tiiscl to gel work as a bottle-washer, but was told 'that previous experience was necessary. It seems to me that any man oi' culinary intelligence would scon gpt to know all there was to learn about bottle- washing. Then I tried for a bitualioa as a rou^aboub in. a grocery establishment, 'i'luj reply was tEe same. Expoiknce was needed, though all there was to do was to sweep the place, move goods about, and lake the shutters down in the morning ami put t_keni up again at- night. It_ has been Ifoe- sazne everywhere in. this country, and it is quit© clear' to me llow that what stands in 'my way is th&i'acfc of -my not being a Britisher. ' Mr. I£uro arrived recently from Java", after a trip through India, which followed oil a- jouiucy through Central AiLi. ttlijue lie a c gotidtsd tt^ _yreat fcjiJid

»ea of the Takia Makan desert, discovered portion of a long deserted town, and found there some volumes of ancient writings, which he presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Ho spent some months with the monks in tho Tibst monasteries, and, having heard some good accounts of Australia, while in the East, hs came here "to settle down." Now ho is off again.