AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 50, 27 August 1914, Page 4

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

WATCHING THE WAR SAFEGUARDING THE PUBLIC FEELING OF CONFIDENCE IN THE THROES OF AN ELECTION.

(from our own correspondent.) SYDNEY, 21st August. The one thing still uppermost in men's minds is the war. And it is likely to remain uppermost for some time to come. It has been said that the war may last three years, but it is quite certain that we cannot spend three years thinking about the war and nothing but the war. Indeed, the people, now that they are beginning sto realise that it is a thing and a long thing, are already showing signs of" setting about their work again as in normal times. The first thing in the morning, of course, all eyes turn to the papers for the. latest news from the seat of war, and every I special edition of the papers that is printed during the day is eagerly bought up, while there is always a little crowd standing in front of the newspaper offices in expectation of some important item of news being posted up. Apart from all this, the work of enrolling volunteers for the Expeditionary Force from Australia — for there are hundreds of young fellows up at Victoria Barracks every day, and all day, giving in their names and getting examined by the medical officers — is dislocating business. But for all that the people are calmer than they were a week or so ago, and business is rapidly becoming normal. There has been some unemployment, as was to be expected, but not a great deal so far ; and in this respect the departure of some twenty thousand men is to be regarded aa a balancing factor. Twenty thousand workers cannot leave without creating a demand for men toy take their places, so that many of those who have been temporarily thrown out of their former employment will find some other employment, though it may be of a kind they have not been accustomed to. In this way it is hoped matters will speedily adjust themselves. FINANCE AND THE DEADLOCK. We may expect to find some distress, of course; sooner or later it must come, though Australia is less likely to feel the evil effects of the war than any other country perhaps. Apart from the fact t that we can provide all our own requirements, so, far as the things that matter most are concerned, there must of necessity be a great demand for our products abroad. Our wool-growers may suffer for a time, but our wheat, our meat," oui' butter will still be 'wanted. Australia is fortunately placed. She has never been in a stronger position than to-day. Her gold reserve iotnh £40,000,000; and the State P.'uiW-, .Mr. Holman, stated in the Leri=l.i ! ,ve Assembly on Tuesday that \v; !¦ io come a*-ay from the conference <>," V.*»miera and bankers in Melbourne fulh confident of our ability to weather the itonn. The Commonwealth Goveriimom, and <ha vaiious State Governments, voiir.ug together, have decided on hi ; stuv- for safeguarding the public welfaia and. nd far as possible, preventing i.-ophmiUjv-ment._ Railways and other pu'-l-c *"oi'l-3 will 'go on just as if there nt-r? no wqr. The loan moneys with which' liu-y ;u'e ordinarily earned out cannjL oi course, be obtained at present, but Iho banks ¦ have undertaken to finance th>n\ And I the banks themselves will have behind them the whole of the credit of the Com- i monwealth and State Governments. Every, effort will be made to keep men in employment, but the public are subscribing largely to the patriotic and other similar funds with a view ,to helping those iwho may find themselves in distress. In _ Melbourne, Sydney, and other cities big funds are being raised, primarily for the purpose of providing for th© wives and families of the soldiers who may be killed or wounded in action. There is a patriotic fund ; there is a Millions Club fund ; there is a Red Cross fund ; there are newspaper funds. There are so many funds, in fact, that the position is becoming somewhat embarrassing. The patriotic fund has already reached £30,000, and it was only started a, week ,ago. The fund in Melbourne was started earlier and is close on £50,000. | THE RED CROSS. Women are not only giving their husbands andwsons to fight fdr Australia and the Empire; they are combining also to provide thousands of pounds ) worth of medical comforts for sick and • wounded soldiers. "Men m,ust work, and women must weep," runs the old Iin&; but the women are not spending all their time weeping — they are workiug, too, and working hard. An Australian Red Cross Society has been established. At its head stands Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, wife of thfe- GovernorGeneral, and in each State hundreds of patriotic women are engaged in making and packing up all sorts of, comforts {or the soldiers at "the front." Many dreds of "soldiers' bags" and "hospital bags " have already been packed up, and there will be thousands more. The Red Cross Society may be described as a sort of second Army Medical Corps; and the head of the A.M.C. has expressed his high appreciation of the noble work that is being done. The A.M.C. provides bare medical necessaries; the Red Cross provides the comforts and luxuries. In Sydney* a number of depots have been established for receiving and packing up any comforts sent in for the soldiers, and a shop has also been opened for the sale of flannelette (for making pyjamas), wool (for Socks), and other such things. The goods sold at the shop were purchased in the first place in bulk from the warehouses at considerably below the ordinary price. In charge of the shop and depots are a number of leading society ladies. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS. Politically Australia finds itself in an extraordinary position at the present time. It is a strange time for -an election, but, although we hardly realise it, i we are in the throes of an election. Mild throes they are, to be sure. No- ¦ body can bring himself seriously to think about ordinary political questions just now; the war engrosses us all. Nevertheless, the people of Australia have to 'elect a new Parliament on sth September ' — not .only a new House of Representatives, but also a new Senate. At any other time this election, following on the granting of a double dissolution for the 'first time jn our history, would have excited quite uncommon interest, but ai it is we find both parties united aa one. There may be a pretence at fight•ing one another, but it is only a pretence/ certainly it does not extend further than the candidates themselves. All that the people care about juat now is presenting a united front to the enemy of the Empire. Mr. Fisher and Mr. Hughes have even been % conferring with Mr. Cook and Senator Millen regarding the watf and Australia^ share in it, just as in the State of New South Wales Mr. Wade, the Opposition le^deij who tecently declared that "there w«< now m PpppSiiion/-' k b KVtASt £ak&g

part in the Cabinet meetings. The strange, incongruous part of it all is that whilst the leaders of the two parties are behaving in tiiis way the rank and file are going on with a sham-fight on the hustings — and, strangest thing of all, it is mostly a squabble as to which party can best manage Defence matters. As to such things as preference to unionists, preferential and proportional voting, pension and national insurance schemes, the control of trusts and combines, and the extension of State enterprise, nobody wants to hear anything about them. It is a great pity that some means could not have been found of postponing the elections. Perhapß, however, it doesn't matter much. Liberals will vote the Liberal ticket and Labourites will vote tha Labour ticket in the usual way.