RECRUITED A BATTALION.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16141, 20 February 1918, Page 4

RECRUITED A BATTALION.

DISTINGUISHED AUSTRALIAN

SOLDIER

After two years' actiro service in Franco with a battalion rccruited by himself in Australia, Captain A. C. Carmichael, M.C., of tho Australian Forces, has returned home on sick leave. Captain Carmichael served under throe Ministries in New South Wales as Colo- ■ nial Treasurer, Minister for Labour, and Minister for Education, and at the time war broke out he was in London attending a Royal Commission. Ho immediately returned to Australia, whore, finding recruiting at a low ebb, he went- to work himself to recruit ICOO men. He succeeded in his object, and with h<s> 1000 lighting men, now known as tho 36th Battalion, has so?n many hardfought battles. On the journey to Australia Captain Carmichael acted as aide-dc-camp to Sir Walter Davidson, newly-appointod Governor of New South. Wales. Captain Cnrmicliaol says that it. was his intention to endeavour to recruit another battalion in Australia if tho authorities will permit him to do so, and will return to France with the new unit at the expiration of his sick leave. His old battalion has seen much heavy fighting, and after two in Ihe trenches has beon greatly diminished in • strength, but he has every hope of being able to raise another 1000 men in Austr2l : a. Ho has been twice wounded., having been first put out of action a little over a your ago, when he was awarded the * Military Cross. He returned to France after sovoral months spent in English hospitals, and was again wounded in October last. After treatment- in England he was about to go back to the firing-line when his wound broke out, and he was sent back to Australia. THE CONDITION OF ENGLAND 1 . In spite of all that is said about the condition of England wiih regard io food and labour troubles, Captihn Cavmichael maintained that the position is only superficially alarming. It was truj that the cost of , living had risen very much and the sovereign was now only valued at 10s, but as against this it was to-bo-remembered that wages had gone up enormously, and in some instances had risen 300 and 400 per cent. Tho food shortage was fairly bad, but up to the present it could only be called ■ a matter of great inconvcmenc?, and nothing more. Last winter long queues waited outside the shops of butchers and bakers, and there was considerable discontent bocause tho people thought that the supplies were being held back, but thore was absolutely no starvation as such. The people were, on the whole, cheerfully determined to go ahead with tho fight, and were not in such a bad way as the French, who had felt a great deal more of the pressure of war. In England he saw qujte a number of air which were now looked upon by the population generally as a matter of course. The foreign population of London caused a, good deal of trouble by the manner in which, at the first news of a raid, they flooded all tho tubes and shelters. All the places in the city that might afford shelter, such as basements, were plainly marked, the general idea being.to get ths ijeopl© out of the streets, where, in addition to the danger from the bombing, a high percentage of casualties was duo to our own shrapnel fire. The last three raids before Captain Carmichnel left England had practically beaten off by the outlying forts.

AMERICA'S TASK

"America is facina: almost insuperable difficulties," said. Captain Carmichael, "in trying to land two million trained men in France as soon as possible." The training of such an immense army was, of course, a stupendous task.- It would be apparent to everybody that the training, which was all of a specialised nature, would need highly capable instructors in great numbers. and one of the present difficulties in the States was finding these men.