AUSTRALIA'S PART.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17263, 2 September 1916, Page 8

AUSTRALIA'S PART.

The Australian Government, having received an urgont request from the British- authorities to keep up the strength of the Expeditionary Forces, is talcing effective steps to . comply. That a Conscription Act will be passed within three months may be regarded ns a certainty. ■ A referendum is to bo taken on the question next month, and Mr Hughes is on very sole ground in saying that the proposition will he supported by an overwhelming majority of tlie people. Nobody who reads Australian newspapers can doubt the spirit of the community, which Ims been almost clamouring for the lever of compulsion to bo got ready for usu if necessary, and the recruiting during the last few months has been' slack enough and uncertain enough to warrant tho agitation. In tho last few weeks, it is true, the position has been considerably improved, but that may reasonably be attributed to the shadow of compulsion, which had grown larger owing to the tone of the Prinie Minister’s speeches since his return from London. There is a certain amount of opinion apparently very hostile to conscription, and its most articulate section js identified with tho political party led by Mr Hughes. No doubt that fact has induced the Government to strengthen its position by obtaining a mandate from the people, including, lit the way. tho soldiers at the front, whose verdict will arouse no small amount of interest. The whole of the Empire t ill receive the announcement of the Government’s intentions with something more than cordial approval, and it will not fail to influence cither tho Allies or the enemy, for it expresses and emphasises the determination of all tho dominions to fight on until victory is secured. . Wo anticipate that the opposition to compulsory service will steadily subside before tho irresistible avalanche of facts which mako tho policy necessary. Tlie Commonwealth has rendered magnificent service in tho last two years, supplying men, ships, munitions and money in something like profusion. But, like the other parts of tho Empire which have also made such generous contribu..tioua. Australia must and will do more.

This is no time for counting tho cost or for adulatory surveys of what has boon done. The great consideration for all sensible minds is what remains to bo done. The enemy may have lost th© initiative and may be showing plain evidences' of tho strain. There are, indeed, most fortunately for the whole of mankind, grounds for taking a much more cheerful view of the situation than was possible only a few months ago. Thcro is justification for solid confidence in an ultimate victory that will reward the Leaguo of Civilisation for tho huge sacrifices and expenditure involved. But it would bo the height of folly to imagine that tho Central Powers are exhausted, because they aro not. They aro still strong and formidable, and still infamous. If they wero in the stages of exhaustion their crimes would make them' light more fiercely than over* in very desperation. Peace will come, assuredly—peace and victory—hut it will he sensible to realise that they can only be reached through further sacrifice and travail. What will shorten tho struggle, however, is tho undying spirit of tho Allies—the spirit that is behind the enrolment of tho New Zealand Reservo to-day and that urges the people of Australia in tho same direction.