SYDNEY LETTER.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 564, 30 November 1915, Page 6

SYDNEY LETTER.

ALLIES' DAY.

GOVERNOR-GENERAL AT DRILL

MR CARMICHAEL DECLINES £2OOO PER ANNUM. From Our Special Correspondent.; . SYDNEY, November 25. Once again we have been asked to Pay, Pay, Pay, and once again Sydney has risen to the occasion. This time our contributions go to the Allies, more especially Servia, Poland, and Montenegro. It was not expected that the street collections would reach over £7OOO. That was the amount put down by. the most sanguine of the promoters, but by 9 o'clock at night £9061 had been emptied from the boxes, while the day's takings from every source came close to £40,000. This sum was raised only, from the city and suburbs. "The country districts so far have not contributed, but they intend to do so probably when the harvest has been garnered; in fact, many districts have notified the executive that it is their intention to run an Allies' Day shortly after Christmas.

I have already described the coronation and crowning of the Queen of the Day, Mrs George Black, and on the following day the Queen and her maids of honour headed tl i long procession which wended its way through the city streets in the morning. Business was practically suspended, and even staid business men gave themselves up to a few hours of enjoyment. Confetti was thrown by old and. young alike till footpaths and roadways appeared to be covered with "hundreds and thousands," and the packed masses of humanity moving slowly along them presented a curious sight when viewed from high up in one of the big city blocks. The confetti with which every one, including the police, was sprinkled, made them look as if they had broken out in variegated measles. Good humour was the keynote of the day, and there was only one objector to the general enjoyment. The Familiar "Flapper."

An elderly gentleman in Moore Street very indignant when a flapper flung half a boxful of confetti over his immaculate suit. He started to expostulate in no gentlemanly manner, but a burly policeman who had his own uniform liberally besprinkled with the little coloured discs, patted him on the shoulder, and rendered him absolutely speechless by saying, "Don't take it to heart, Grandpa. Try and imagine you are 70 years younger than you look!"

There were auction sales everywhere. A-lamb decked out in red, white, and blue ribbons was put up time and time again in a city hoteL and fetched £3O altogether. Whiskies and sodas went for 5/6"a time, while clarets and lemonades fetched 13/-, which, according to the auctioneer, was a distinct score for the temperance advocates. '£15,000 of the money collected was cabled the following day to the Consuls of the various distressful countries, in London, and a further £15,000 will shortly follow. Physical Culture.

It is not given to everyone to see a vice-regal representative indulging in gymnastic exercises while wearing the uniform of his rank. Last Monday, however, such a sight was witnessed by a few persons who happened to be at Victoria Barracks. The Governor-General, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, paid/., a courtesy call on the new District Commandant, Colonel Ramaciotti. After a chat in the commandant's office, his Excellency canie down on to the recreation ground to inspect a guard of honour drawn from the Tramway Company, under Lieutenant Wells, the officer who raised this corps, and a squad of men undergoing a course of physical culture under their - instructor, Captain Cooke-Russell. . The Governor-General took a keen interest in the physical drill, and, borrowing a walking-stick from one of the staff, he went through a series of exercises for the edification of the squad. He. explained, too, that he considered the Swedish drill preferable to the English drill, as it was less jerky in its movements, and tended to make men more supple. His Excellency added that he had studied physical culture both . in England and Europe, and not so long ago had inspected the Swedish Guards, when he was particularly struck with their magnificent physique and perfect movements, both of which had been attained owing to the physical culture they had been accustomed to since childhood. He added that in the past those who might be termed "intellectuals" looked down on students who went in for body exercises and those who indulged in body exercises derided the "intellectuals." It was no good working the brain at the expense of the body, or vice versa!. Both brain and body should work equally if perfect manhood was to be attained. This was the underlying principle of the Swedish drill, and he hoped in the near future to see this prineipfc put into practice in the British Empire. Before leaving, his Excellency warmly congratulated Captain Cooke-Russell on his work and the line appearance of the squad under his tuition. An Ounce of Practice.

The old saying that an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory was dramatically exemplified in pur Legislative Assembly on Tuesday night Mr Carmichael, who some time ago resigned from the Cabinet, had been offered the position of

Commissioner of Irrigation with' a salary of about £2OOO a year. In &£?' House on Tuesday night he declined this position, stating in afew simple words that though he felt he could have filled the position with benefit to the State and credit to himself, he considered that he had a higher duty ahead of him, and that was toserve the Empire. He stated that he was enlisting in the ranks, as he felt that by so doing he was performing the highest duty which devolved on any able-bodied man at the present time. His remarks were received with cheers, and his action was warmly commented upon both by the head of the Government, Mr Holman, and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Wade. . ' .■ ; An Enthusiastic Rifleman. Mr Carmichael has been a member of a rifle club from the inception of the rifle club movement in Sydney, and was to be seen regularly drilling with the clerks and others of the Department of' Public Instruction Rifle Club. He has opened a campaign on his own account with a view of bringing 1000 men to the recruiting office, and at Manly last night he had the satisfaction of finding 16 men willing to follow the practical example he has set. When he was Minister of Public Instruction Mr Carmichael made a'European tour and during the tour, no: doiibt, saw a good deal of Germany's military preparations. In all his recent recruiting utterances he does not hide the fact that the Empire is up against it good and strong. He does not believe that we are going to win by merely waving flags .and singing "Rule Britannia." What every man, capable of bearing;. arms must do is. to shoulder a rifle and join the colours.. That is his text, backed up by the fact that he is practising what he is preaching, should go far to bring in the big recruits he has set out to add to the Australian Imperial-Force. Greece as the Garden of Eden. In one... ,df these letters some , months ago I mentioned the fact that one of our judges of the High Court made a witty remark about our chief censor. This, same judge-is an ardent advocate of surfing, in fact, when in Sydney he stays at an hotel on the water f r6nt and every morning between six and half, past, is to be found disporting himself in the breakers. He is a member of one of the surf clubs and while he was vigorously manipuatirig the towel in the club house after his dip on Monday morning the question of whether Greece would throw in her weight on the side of the Allies or the enemy was being discussed by other members present.. When a lull came in the conversation his Honour drily remarked,. "I think Greece into the melting pot. Greece reminds me of the Garden, of Eden. The man would be all right 1 were it not for the woman, and the serpent, in the'shape of the German Emperor, behind her." E. J. HILL.