AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 134, 3 December 1915, Page 4

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

NEWS AND NOTES

CONSCRIPTION : MARKING TIME

DEFENCE AND POLITICAL

MATTERS.

(PROM ODR OWN CORRESTONDBXT.) SYDNEY, 24th November. Much less is heard now than a month ago regarding the movement for the introduction of compulsory enlistment for service in the fighting line outside Australia. Our Commonwealth authorities, upon whom alone devolves the task of declaring our military policy, seem disposed to hold back as long as they possibly can in the matter of conscription. One explanation is to be found in the fact that positive declarations against such a policy have come from influential labour quarters. At the same time it is felt that no section in AustraJia would , hesitate in the least to give to the utmost in the most expeditious way should there be an authoritative announcement of necessity. The new Prime Minister, ! Mr. Hughes, has in reply to further requests stated that, as regards the Labour .Party, his position is the same as that of his predecessor, Mr. Fisher, who, as. you will doubtless remember, said plainly that he and his colleagues had no intention, of bringing in conscription. Mr. Hughes's statement is, however, modified to a very interesting degree by his own additional announcement that the Federal Government is preparing "a definitely directed recruiting campaign based on the recent war census, and on the lines of Lord Derby's campaign." This is taken to mean that we shall soon be very close up to conscription in the broader sense. In view of what Mr. Hughes says, the Universal Service League, which stands for proconscriptionist sentiment here, is "marking time."

RECRUIT MARCHES. One of the most effective of the latest devices for appealing to public atten tiou with the view to securing volunteers for the Expeditionary Forces is that of having "snowball armies" of recruits marching from country places to the city. It began with the march of a contingent of recruits from Gilgandra to Sydney, 320 miles. By the time the march was completed the number of men had grown from 30 to 300. Besides it is reported that the march has left so strong an impression at places it traversed that steady little streams of volunteers are coming along still from those places. In a, fine spirit of local patriotic rivalry quite a number of similar marches have been arranged to be made from other districts, with the hearty co-operation of local residents. However,, it seems that the military authorities in this State are not ■at all enthusiastic about such marches. They hold that the time occupied is a waste of time which might be better employed in training recruits in camp, and that anything which tends to delay training is not good. In reply it is pointed out that these marches gather in men who would not otherwise have enlisted, and that the movement has not only locally beneficial results, but spreads a recruiting stimulus all over the country.

OLD GOLD. Sovereigns and half-sovereigns figure but very little now in public circulation. They are being put aside as war reserves. Consequently the collectors for patriotic and war relief funds are looking around for extraordinary devices for getting the precious yellow metal. Thus there has been initiated an Old Gold Fund for patriotic purposes. People are being invited to send along any old trinkets and other articles of gold (and silver too) that they feel able to part with. By this means it appears there has been opened up to many people an acceptable avenne of giving in cases where they have no cash to spare. T-he responses are proving very gratifying to the organisers of the fund. There is in the contributions far more of the element of sacrifice than is known to be associated with the bank notes and coins given t" other and bigger funds. For instance, is it not eloquent of selfsacrificing devotion to the country's cause when a widow sends in her last remaining bit of jewellery, or an old age pensioner sends along the sole relic of days of prosperity in the form of a piece of well-worn watch^ chain, and says he is proud to be able to contribute something. Cases of this kind are numerous. MB. CARMICHAEL'S RENUNCIATION. What is acclaimed as a striking act of renunciation on the pan of a public man for the sake of the Empire has juat been made public here. Mr. Campbell Cannichael, M.L.A., formerly Minister for Public Instruction, was a few days ago offered by the Government the position of Commissioner of Irrigation for New South Wales. The position carries with it a salary of £1250 a year, as well as_ an excellent residence. It was certainly an offer that would have had ready acceptance from most men. Moreover, it lis known that Mr. Carmichael is deeply ! concerned about the success of the extensive irrigation settlements, established in this Statet, and has made a serious study of all related matters. But he is also a great enthusiast in relation to the rifle club movement, -which he considers a splendid reserve auxiliaa-y to our forces fighting abroad, and a very \-aluable recruiting agency. When others have scoffed at the rifle club 3 as a refuge for shirkers, Mr. Cannichael has been constantly ready to speak and write in defence. In z-efusing the tempting Commissionership, he says he feels it is duty to go into the fighting line at the present hour of the nation's need; that he i 6 enlisting for the front, and that he has set himself the task of raising for the Expeditionary Forces a battalion of a thousand riflemen witnin the nest month.

THE STJGAB SUPPLY. Having made himself responsible for' the maintenance of a supply of sugar for the ppople of Australia, because, as he saye, -he felt obliged to relieve the people from the risk of being exploited by private concerns in a lime o;: shortage, i the Federal Prime Minister finSs that he has undertaken a pretty difficult job. He has arranged for the purchase of the_ whole of the Queensland crop; but this is not enough, and he realises that, having made himself the sole importer of sugar, he has left himself, and incidentally the public, open to be squeezed by sellers abroad who know that we must get sugar from outside. It is undoubtedly with the idea of mitigating the consequences of this position that Mr. Hughes is making a strong plea for general economy in the use of sugar, so that importations from abroad may be avoided as far as possible. He does not make the appeal on business grounds, but puts it forward as a matter of patriotism. He says it is our duty to the Commonwealth to conserve our national wealth, arid to be so careful tha-t only a. little sugar will need to be imported, because any money paid for sugar from abroad is " gone for over .is far as Australia, is concerned." He does not tell us the same thing in regard to, say, tea. But then he is not a. trader in tea, with the prospect ot' having to account for a big loss in dealings in that necessary commodity.

MR. O'MALLEY'S ORIGINALITY. The new Commonwealth Minister for Home Affairs, Mr. King O'Malley,. does not hesitate in the ltast to introduce into his official doings the methods which helped to make him very successful as an American life insurance canvasser. He is now giving much offence and material for a lot of denunciatory writing to the anti-Labour press by going to the Trades Hall in whatever capital he happens to be and waiting on union secretaries there to hear what representations they may wish to make concerning affairs over which he has administrative control, including all the Commonwealth public works now in course of construction. He is accompanied by Departmental shorthand writers who have to record what is said at these novel interviews. Mr. O'Malley says that by thus going to the "mountain" he saves scores of men from " leaving their jobs," and that as a business man he means to adopt in all his dealings methods which appeal to him as being most expeditious and most effective, regardless of tradition or routine. Of course, he is being roundly rated for " trotting around union offices to receive instructions," and his proceedings in this respect are described as an " insult to Australia." But he does not seem to mind at all. Rather he appears to revel in the advertisement which he is getting in the Opposition press.