AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

Otago Witness, Issue 3214, 20 October 1915, Page 32

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, September 22. CONSCRIPTION. With support given by several of the leading newspapers, those responsible for the Inauguration of a conscription campaign in New South Wake are striving energetically to make it a big public movement. Thenenthusiasm. has not been diminished by the publication of explanations by a number ot prominent persons to the effect that their mames have been included without authority, or at any rate, in partial errOEj amongst these who support the conscription policy for which the Universal Service Association stands. There still remains a qa 'e imposing list of names who advocate this policy, but there remains room for doubt as _ to whether the Universal (Service Association wants al the “fit and free” young men who persist in renuiinmcr behind to bo gathered in forthwith and sent to the front, or wishes 'o have a compulsory obligation to serve militarily outside of Australia brought in as part of a thorough organisation of our resources in order to meet possible extreme emergencies. As far as one can judge, the movement is having a decided effect in crystallising into definite expression a general feeling that, as a matter of fairness, all “fit and, free” men should be treated as equally responsible for service in the field as upholders of the safety and honour of the Empire. We are still waiting for a more defimto statement from Federal Ministers as to whether our obligations and our capacity for the training and equipment of expeditionary troops are mot by the numbers of volunteers who offeq themselves. It may be remarked that recruiting has lately shown a pretty decided falling off Another platform recruiting campaign will bo entered upon in New South Wales early next month. RETURNED SOLDIERS. Those who have been insisting upon the necessity for the early institution of a pro-perly-organised scheme of finding employment for returned soldiers are gratified on account of a beginning made in VictoriaThe State Council on Employment for Returned Soldiers has this week entered upon its beneficent task. The council works through the medium of several committees. First, there is a committee of leading citizens, who devote themselves to finding work for soldiers with private employers. Then there is a section of men prominent in municipal circles, and well in touch with likely Government departments, who will attend to the placing of returned soldiers in civic and Government services. Another committee has been entrusted with the task of securing for maimed and invalided heroes medical attention and artificial treatment to fit them for the best that is possible for them. There is a special Finance Committee. A strong committee will have for ita particular effort the getting into personal touch with returned soldiers at the council's bureau and in the streets. Business people in large and small country towns axe being asked to co-operate in finding employment. The (State Government is providing _ funds for the payment of the salaried officials of the council. It is reported that, under this system, good results have already been achieved. KILL. Australians are being earnestly exhorted to kill—kill by the million. This applies, not to fellow human beings, but to flies. Only during the past two years has serious attention been directed in a public way to the astounding extent to which the fly acts as a purveyor of disease and death. Spring has come to us rather earlier than usual this year, and those who can speak with authority tell us that the fly scourge threatens to bo especially bad in the approaching summer. The newspapers are co-operating with our public health officers and doctors generally. Steps are being taken for the special instruction of school children with regard to the menace of the fly, which, we are told, is more merciless than any German or Turk. A comparative statement like this at the present time ought to stir folks to alarm and wholesale slaughter of the winged peril, September 30. Not much additional has been hoard this week about the movement for legislative extension to compulsory military service abroad of the provisions of the commonwealth Defence Act, which also provides for compulsory service within Australia. The Universal Service League inaugurated at Sydney, with the New South Wales Premier, Mr Holman, as chief advocate, for the introduction of what is generally called conscription, is said to be Busily engaged with details of organisation, but it has not shewn any outward signs of progress. As far as tile Federal Ministry is concerned the league finds that there is across the path a solid obstacle, which it may not be able to get over. The Prime Minister has, in very plain words, said that he is irrevocably opposed to conscription, and that the Federal Ministry has no intention of extending the provisions of the Defence Act to service outside of the commonwealth. It is generally taken for granted that this positive announcement is in consonance with the quietly ascertained views of a majority of the Labour Party, which controls the affairs of the commonwealth, and State Labour men like Mr Holman cannot afford to disregard a declaration such as that made by the Labour Prime Minister. In addition, Mr Holman lias of late been, confronted with a good deal of uncomplimentary evidence that he is fast losing the confidence of Labour supporters in New South Wales. One can hear it said by Labour people on all sides that Mr Holman is now too much addicted to looking for limelight for himself while neglecting the special interests which he is expected to cherish as a Labour Premier. WAP, FUNDS. One of the indications of the settling down of peox>le here to a long pull and a strong pull together with all the other parts of the Empire is to be found in the present discussion as to the best means Of handling the hnge sums of money Which Australians have subscribed with fine generosity to patriotic and

war relief fund-. The very magnitude of the sums contributed seems to be a source of difficulty. The honorary officials of the various funds, mostly business persons, who have their own aff 'xs to attend to, find themselves obliged to deal with most extensive tasks, while they are duly concerned about attention to details which is necessary for justice to be done to subscribers and to tnose who make claims for relief and assistance. Complaints are made on the one hand of improper delay in affording relief to persons for whose benefit the public has given so generously, and on the other hand of the ease with w r hich impostors have been able to get money from different funds in turn. In New South Wales alone the public contributions to the principal patriotic and war relief funds, of which records are printed in the newspapers, amount to £1,900,000. There are many smaller funds which easily make up a total of £2,000,000 for one State. A suggestion which is meeting with favourable expressions is that the principal funds with connate objects, and covering between them £1,000,000 and £1,500,000 of public contributions, should be put under the immediate direction of a competent man of business, who would be paid to devote the whole of his time to so arranging and directing matters as to ensure that what ought to be done with the money is done dxpeditionsly and justly. A LOST MAJORITY. A queer political position has arisen in We-tern Australia. The Labour party, led by Premier Scaddan, has in the Assembly a majority of only one as compared with the combined Liberal and Country parties, but it now seems that the majority has disappeared. Mr Joseph Gardiner, who was returned as Labour member for Roeboume, has not attended the Assembly this session. His actual whereabouts at present are uncertain, and the time for which a member can be absent without leave of absence, as in this case, expired on Tuesday night. It is expected that the Speaker will now declare the seat for Roebourne to be vacant. That will leave the Government in a very awkward predicament, which nobody appears to have foreseen and provided for. The perturbation in Labour ranks can be imagined. A SQUEEZED MINISTRY. One of the features of politics in Victoria for years past has been that while the anti-labour section of the Legislative Assembly has had no reason to fear the advent of a Labour majority, there has been persistent bickering between the liberal and the more conservative elements in the Ministerial The conrervative element is made up in the main of country members, while the slightlypreponderating liberal section is constituted principally of city men. The Premier (Sir Alexander Peacock) is blessed, or handicapped, by a very strong inclination to avoid difficulties;, and as is often the case with men of his kind, only evades one perplexity by plunging into another. A little while ago he and his Ministry*, greatly offended metropolitan interests by yielding to pressure by country members of the Ministerial party in connection with a measure affecting the Melbourne tramways in relation to country railways. This led” to strong attacks by the metropolitan Liberal press, and the leader of the Labour party came along with a censure motion, which came to nothing. However, the country section in the Ministerial party has vigorously taken up the demand made in the press for the reconstruction of the Ministry, although for an entirely different reason. The Ministry, pressed from without by country and metropolitan interests pushing from different directions, would doubtless have been led by Sir Alexander Peacock to agree to reconstruction if only one set of troublesome critics had to be' placated. At latest it says in its perplexity that it means to hold on as an entity, which means that it does not know what to do. On this the country division of the Ministerial party announces a motion of want of confidence in the Ministry! And the Labour Opposition says it will vote for the Government! MATERNITY BONUS. When the Fisher Government brought forward its maternity bonus critics said that the proppsal to offer £5 for every baby born in the common-wealth was only of the nature of an election bribe to a certain section of the community, and that the majority of parents would scorn to make application for the money. However, the records indicate that in nearly every case the bonus is’ now applied for. The bonus was instituted at the end of 1912. The official figures for 1914 show that the number of births in the commonwealth was 137,983, while the applications for the baby bonus numbered 136,159. It appears that many parents ask for the bonus, not because they are in need of money, but as a matter of equity. They say : “ It is money which we as taxpayers have to provide, and there’s no reason why we should not get some of it back when we have a chance. Goodness knows, we pay enough that we can’t get back.” A RETURNED LAKE. In Australia, as in New Zealand, lakes disappear and reappear, but we here cannot boast of accompaniments of cataclysmic spectacles of fire and brimstone. Our lakes that disappear do so slowly as the result of drought, which shows only cracked, parched earth. Lake George, once the largest lake in New South Wales, dried up nearly 20 years ago. When full it was about 25 miles long and about eight miles broad. For nearly a quarter of a century it has been a sheep walk. Before it dried up its waters teemed with fish, and it was the homo of countless wildfowl that made it a sportsman’s paradise and a great asset to the Queanbeyan district. Then came a succession of dry seasons. Evaporation and rapid drainage took away all the water. The bed became overgrown with a thick coating of timfoil, and the Government offered the area on leasehold to graziers, who soon had it stocked with thousands of sheep. There is now more water in the lake than it has held for two

decades, and it is confidently expected that before long it will be again completely filled.