CONSCRIPTION

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 114, 10 November 1917, Page 4

CONSCRIPTION

AN AUSTRALIAN VIEW

THE SECOND TIME OF ASKING.

"Will conscription be carried- in Australia?" Lt. D. Doull, formerly intelligence' officer in the sth Australian liifantay Brigade, believes that it certainly will. On. this, the second time o! asking. Lt. Doull, who is to lecture here on Gallipoli next Wednesday, went "through it" on that tragical peninsula, and he knows what the Anzacs have done and what future Anzacs can do. In conversation with a representative of The Post to-day, Lt. Doull said that apart from the serious outlook in Russia and Italy he supposed that the most important question of the war was the conscription issue .in Australia. He had just com-' pleted a long tour of the country on recruiting and other work, from the Victorian coast towns to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the general feeling undoubtedly was that the voluntary ■sy'sterii had broken down. The Australian cost of war would be £240,000,000. This was entirely out of proportion to the efficiency of the Australian Army as a fighting force. It is probable at the moment that the Australian 3rd; Division, will be cut up to reinforce the Ist and 2nd Divisions. It is impossible to think of maintaining five divisions under the present system. • PLAYED OUT. "Voluntaryism is played out," the Lt. added. "Let me tell you that in the great Eden-Mana.ro district, with 30,000 electors, there is not one recruit available for service. In Brisbane a band of buglers plays a fanfare outside the business places in order to coax men out to enlist. Absurd and humiliating! ' "But the failure to recruit is entirely due to misunderstanding. That is quite clear. Misrepresentations made by Australian legislators, . who take their cue from their electors and adopt any policy that is calculated to keep them in their | seats. That is the truth of the whole j matter. But its effects have been the raising of bogeys. of which the people have shown themselves afraid. But they see clearer now.".-

Mr. Doull -referred to "the Maltese labour bogey" and other cries raised, as he said, by Labour at the instigation of the I.W.W. . WATCHING NEW ZEALAND. "Australia (he-went on)' has been intently watching the developments in New Zealand, and what has been done here has made people previously biased against conscription now in favour of it. So far as I could learn in my travels the carrying of conscription in Australia is a foregone conclusion, and- Australia will fall into line with New Zealand, Canada, and other parts of- the Empire." ■ - Mr. Huo;hes's undertakings made at the time the first conscription referendum was taken were" referred to. "Yes," said Lt. Doull, "he did say that the question of conscription would not be raised again unless necessitated by national peril. 'But that national peril is now here. The Imperial Army is now engaged in a Titanic struggle, in which the last man, the last pound, will tell. THE TWO FAMILIES. "It is heart-breaking to know that every week 12,000 men will be found enjoying themselves at the Sydney Stadium watching a' fight, and the great majority of them eligible for military service; it is heartbreaking to see (as I have -seen) in the rural districts of Australia some poor mother grieving still for her boy who lies lonely out on | the Gallipoli hills,■-,while next door to her may be a : family of seven grown-up, big, strong sons, who have never stirred a finger in this great national life struggle, nor will do so until made to. Why should that mother give her son, her only son, may be, and the other next door keep hers around "her —and they themselves in peace and security at home? • ■ "No, the voluntary system is at its last gasp in Australia. Recruiting is being abandoiied.^ For we have got down to mere boys (more power to the brave (lads!) and dead-beats, and now it is time every man did his turn. With New Zealand's experience of compulsion to go by, you will find ' Australia will take the place that is hers by right—in the front rank, with Canada and New Zealand; and "the effects of mistakes, misunderstandings, misrepresentations, that lost the issue on the first occasion will be found to have disappeared at the. second time of asking."