Grey River Argus and Blackball News MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26. 1917. AUSTRALIA'S PART.

Grey River Argus, 26 February 1917, Page 2

Grey River Argus and Blackball News

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26. 1917. AUSTRALIA'S PART.

Delivered every morning yi Grcj-piputli, Knmara, Uokitiku, Dolisoii, Wttllsemr, Tav.lorviile, Croiiaduu; iffrftliei-ei'Blaetiiiill, 'Velsoj/! (81-e^k, JJrt/UUer, Te King:hil,.K'otoiuanH;TderaivVlirculjOuuie, Patat-rt, Bui;n, Kaimata, Kotuku, 'Moaua x Ar.itika, Rmiauga, Dtiuollte, Coljtlejj,- Ba'xter'si Koki'ri, 'Aha'iu'a, Ika-matua/StillWater.-Waiiita, aAd Iteeftoii j j . ' ; ' I ' : ■

THE political situation in Australia is by no means encouraging" at the present-..time, and the ( parties are not in.si mood tp be placated, and to turn their whole energies to- the groat task of winning thp«rwar.. Men vyjio.afew years ago were 'highly (thought of 'by the Labour Party have by.their stateineiits lont. f avour,; and, have, ,bcpn disclaimed by . a--great section."' of . the people. It seems that the effort to.in: troduce conscription has,.',been the sole reason for the .preserit.i jumble/.' ( The gallant Australians... niaclc -a splendid name^forj,. the-.great .Island ;.Contineait at p Gallipoii and in France, where their sel'f-sacia/ice .andf wonderful .. bravery were on everybody's lips. They. .w,ere . keonvoiuhteers, and; were full of fight; But the drain* of war began to tell and reinforcements ,\ began ;to - fall short. The -Hoiv. •■• W. M.* -Hughes -as Prime Minister found, .himself faced with a real difficulty in; finding recruits to keep the divisions', up to strength, and; to fulfil the -promises made by the 1 Hon. Andrew Fisher and himself .to the ,Mother- Country.,^ The shortest path}, in v his opinion was to. bring in conscription, and •arrangements were made for "the taking of a •< veferendum. For some reason or other'; he put into operation an pld constitutional law, and .^called up 180,000 men for, training, and. it; was here/; we .-beHove, that the mistake was made. The mass of the. people was not prepared for such a,'move, arid the liberty-loving crowds, without studying the, greater question, confined themselves;ito one- narrow view; of the fact that the men' wore< «called.rup."'- The meetings held by the advocates, of j conscription aj4id 'those against' it were marlced by; very heated- speeches, and m. some gases' violent -scenes Were wit- , nesscd, and the gap between; the "re- ; spective sides . . grew wider, . though : both expressed themselves' as ■" certain of, winning at-the <poll.rvTho form^pt" conscription presented for ;the people's determination was by } -.-no -means drastic, and, had it been'.'passod% we do not . beliovq that"its. i -operationswould 'have been seriously disputed:. . by. ; anyone, not even by its enemies. The result of the ref^ren';durii showed a 'very-de-cided opposition to the measure, an 3 also increased.. • the- dislikej .for -Mr. Hughes and those members of Parlia-) menfc .whov<fayoured fo^ of'co'm> pulsion. VHowever, tfife. vo|e having■', been taken,* thVre reinained.*iio other . -' ■ 1-'

courses except persuasion, and this | method seems to have sadly . failed. Tho-f great difficulty was that Mr. j Hughes could not; present to the public the information which he had doubtless received by virtue of his position, . which information must unmistakably have convinced him of the necessity of keeping the drafts at full strength. We do not believe for an instant that the conscriptionist politicians of the Commonwealth had any idea of securing kudos • for their efforts; Conscription was simply brought before the •people because .of the undoubted urgency .of keeping up the strength of drafts so as to. hasten victory. Al- , though the idea of a- referendum has long -been considered by the majority of people to be the fairest way of settling" any .question which vitally concerns them, it does not always prove in practice to represent the true will of the people. Could the full facts of t:lie ease for a proposed alteration be put' before the masses, and could they . be' left to vote solely on the "merits?' of those facts, the result •would-' undoubtedly' represent the 5 collective idea of a nation. -What actually happens, is that the personal views of leaders on" both sides are so intermingled with the subject, that the side with the- most plausible leaders wins. As we. have said, Mr. Hughes was' undoubtedly handicapped because of the fact -that the important information in his possession : could not be divulged. This, coupled with the misunderstanding which, arose over his action in calling up men, lost the ,day, and he lias fallen many degrees in the opinion of a great section of his party. I There is a great cry for an election, and of course the main point of the cry is to get rid. of Mr. Hughes and his followers. But an election during such a time of stress is very undesir- , able, and, after many weeks of nego- ■ tiating, . a National Cabinet, with Mr. 'Hughes at its head, has been .formed by a. coalition of the: Liberals with the Labour conscriptionists. The present finds the new Cabinet endeavouring to secure its tenure of office until after the war. and, though the opI position of Mr. Tudor and his friends lis likely , to be very determined, it is almost certain that the extension of j the life of the Ministry will be' grantI cd. Apart from the trouble *in the | Commonwealth itself, the want of harmony has delayed the opening of the Imperial Conference, and Mr. Hughes when he goes to Britain to attend the great gathering will be without a de--1 finite lead from the people and will mainly have to rely on his own initiaitive., The general outlook in the Coin.--I monwealth is by no means good, and j the main object of doing their utmost !to help in winning the war is not firmly embedded in the mind of, the whole nation. From the brief news which we receive from India there is more unanimity there than in the Australasian colonies as to the great necessity for doing, the utmost. The foolish' statements about the small number that this place or that can send being so very minute as to have an unapj preeiable effect upon the great decisions are due to want< of thought. For every man the colonies- send, Germany has to find another to meet him; or again, armies consist of-indi-viduals and the greater the numerical strength of the armies the sooner the victories. All the nations in the Empire must make greater efforts if we are to win. In Australia, as in New Zealand there is far too much making jof excuses by employers and >„employed, and when analysed the whole want of energy can be put under the one word "self." Mr. Hughes, regardless of anything but the effort of doing his (best, has lost much influence and power, but he has at least shown himself to be unselfish. The Dominions, though they have done ihuch t still have to learn the virtue of unselfishnQss and to see to it that every man and every woman sets to work immediately to do his. or her share towards the Empire 's safety. Let us Tnake no mistake, Germany still has power enough. to pull, the match put of I the fire if she can gain " anything like 1 a 'big win in any direction whatever. | The whole British Empire will do well to, remember that there is yet a . possibility that there are not enough mon under -arms to win even now. "We all trust and hope that the armies of the Allies are sufficient, but . we still haye to . prove it. Far better is it that all the Dominions .and the Motherland should, have., a great margin of strength than that we should rest by the way and think; to pat ourselves on the back for the great work which we have done. It is to be hoped that Australia may wake up to her' duty and that she will hurry to make up for the time lost in , talk. • ;Thc fact 'that neither the people of tho^ Commonwealth nor -New Zealand have had the actual experience of war by seeing what enemy shells; -can do is, we bei lieve, .the main reason for. the want of unanimity ;in doing - their^dufcy; A visible reality is a great teacher. ■< :- , .-,:. ... ' ..• .- • * I