AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Grey River Argus, 1 February 1946, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

STANDING ARMY 100,000 Tor Defence Forces SYDNEY, January 31. Cabinet will consider proposals tor a standing Army, Navy, and Air Force in Australia of 100,000 men. The present plan is for an. Army of 70,000, an Air Force of 20,000, and a Navy of 10,000 men. Enlistment will be voluntary for the initial period of probably two years, with the option of re-enlist-ment. Most of the men sought will be between 21 and 25 years. By the time the present demobilisation scheme is completed, there will be 97,000 left in the Army, and 36,000 in the Navy and Air Force. Demobilisation is well ahead of schedule. Unions Strike Debit NEARLY £30.000. SYDNEY, January .31. Bodies financing the recent steelworks strike face a total debt of nearly £30,000. The strike of 13,000 members of the Ironworkers’ Union, which indirectly involved thousands of other workers, and at a later stage embroiled members of the Coal Miners’ Federation and the Seamen’s Union, lasted 15 weeks. It so impoverished the Ironworkers’ Union that an appeal was made to other unions for' help, which was refused. The principal unions concerned have since been forced to impose levies to replenish their funds. The Newcastle section of the strike is still £16,000 behind in payments for vouchers issued by unions to storekeepers. Representatives of • the Newcastle and Port Kembla Disputes Committees will present the bill to the Australian Council of Trades Unions, which finally mediated.