OUR SYDNEY LETTER

Evening Star, Issue 16051, 1 March 1916, Page 8

OUR SYDNEY LETTER

I

THE AFTERMATH. State politicians v -aro slowly getting their breath' After the " douche " bestowed upon them by the Minister of Defence. The situation as ho judged it became too seri- •'' ous for further trifling, and he issued a proclamation peremptorily prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor after 6 p.m. "The trade "—as well as'the local parliamentarians —axe, of course, very wroth. They arguo that tlio recruits got druril: long before the hour named, and that therefore the proclamation, while causing a. great deal of loss, deprivation, and annoyance, will not effect the object aimed at. The best opinion, however, inclines to believe that if an error was committed it was an error on the right side. State Ministers say that as all military responsibility rests with the .Commonwealth Government they ought to have taken action long ago. In that case the: provincial Government Would not have 1 been torn, as they are at the present moment, between the rival claims of the teetotallers and the publicans. " Which, oh, which, will count most heavily at the polls?" is the all-im-portant question. Is it possible to placate one side without offending the other,? Meanwhile the Temperance people and the.Prohibitionists are applauding Senator Pearce, the Minister of Defence, so vigorously that he has had to explain that his E reclamation is only to operate until quiet as been effectually restored, to the several camps. He and his colleagues are no more easy about the political aspect _ of the matter than are the State luminaries. The latter are painfully excogitating a new Licensing Bill with the view of saving the situation. UNIFICATION. The stress of the state of war, showing, as it does, the unescapable necessity of strong centralised government, is strengthening the feeling in favor of unification. The State Government, when they are not uselessly inert, are apt to be positively obstructive and mischievous, as, for instance in their insistence on an extravagant loan expenditure on public works, which could very well be allowed to stand oyer until the war is ended. This "offside" local Parliament is enormously costly, .and shows a good deal less than nothing—to the purpose—in return. RECRUITING. Recruiting, as might be expected, has fallen away since the military outbreak and the adoption of the stringent measures which were deemed necessary in order to restore order. A thousand men who failed to present themselves at the next parade or who had otherwise _ offended were summarily diswithout pay, and over 100, who were judged to be ringleaders, are detained for trial by court martial. " Striking " has become such an inveterate habit among Australians that it is pleaded that the action taken is too drastic, more especially as in industrial strikes it is always stipulated that there shall be "no victimisation "—i.e., that all the men shall go back as if nothing had. happened! It is also suggested that all these difficulties might, be obviated if the men were sent off to Egypt to be trained instead of getting their training here. They are trained in the daytime and' get away into the city at night, and, besides too often kicking over the traces, they forget all they have learned. Reform is evidently needed somewhere. CAN IT BE DONE? Meanwhile, it id becoming more and more problematical whether the 50,000 additional men offered by Mr Hughes, the Prime Minister, can be raised in the time specified. To provide this number, in addition to the reinforcements needed, would need a weekly quota of over 4,000 recruits for the whole of Australia. In this Stats and Victoria 3,500 new men should join the colors weekly. This number has not been approached. New South Wales figures more creditably than any other State except West Australia, but of 18,690 men whom, according to the quota, she should already have raised she has only sent forward 15,750, the deficiency being 2,940. All _ the other States, except West Australia, are in much worse case. Victoria, which, was expected to furnish as many recruits as New South Wales, has only managed to raise 6,760, her deficiency being 'nearly 12,000. Queensland, which should have furnished over 8,000, is 3,600 short, iriouth Australia, which was put down for over 6,000, has. only raised and Tasmania only 631. West Australia is said to have furnished 3,266 actual enlistments:. This, considering her population, which is smaller than that of any ' other State except tiny Tasmania, is a phenomenal showing—so phenomenal, indeed, as to raise the suspicion that some eiTor has crept into the figures. In all the States special recruiting efforts are to be.made, and it is hoped—almost against hope—that the deficiency may be made good. Meanwhile, it is not at'all reassuring to nsmember that nearly every one of the thousand dismissed men may be expected to become an active propagandist against recruiting in any shape or form. LAND FOR RETURNED SOLDIERS. The necessity for making provision for returned soldiers is occupying the attention of -both the Federal' and State Goreranenls. So far nothing definite has been at, and it is thought that each State will have to make provision for its own men. It is really the old problem in a new form. Generations before the war Australian Governments have professed to be considering the problem "how to settle the people on the land." They have tried almost every plan but the right one, and the problem is still unsolved, because it is still to the interest of landowners to keep land out of its most profitable nse in order to secure the "iin*. eamed > increment" which usually takes place in its value. In the case of the returned soldiers there are many complications. Most of them have been more or less disabled by wounds or by sickness. To succeed in wresting even a bare living from the land a man must possess exceptional endowments in the way of physical , stamina, as well ae the mental qualification of unfailing courage and dogged, perseverance in tho face of difficulties. To make the men landowners in such fashion that they could live on their rents or in some other way at their ease is manifestly impossible. It is not surprising, in view of theee facts, that a comparatively email number of the men desire to become cultivators, and it is feared that of those who do, not all will be able to stand the severe test which awaits the Australian settler. Those who have come from farms to the colors will have the best prospects, of course. But for many others the outlook is not encouraging. ' The popular belief that when a man is onco placed on the land he is provided for is true only in exceptional cases. When all ie done in this direction that can be dona there will still be » very largo number to be otherwise provided for. February 22.