IS THERE A WAR ON?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2632, 1 December 1915, Page 6

IS THERE A WAR ON?

DAILY ROUND OF PLEASURE

A TRIP TO AUSTRALIA

lliey don't seem to be thinking about it at all." This reply was made by a Wellington citizen who has recently returned from Australia, in answer to a question as to how the people of the Commonwealth were taking the war. "You know how it is here," this gentleman iiontiiiued. ■ "Young men and middle-ajed men everywhere you meet them say, may all have to go yet, and we will go if they want us;' I heard nothing of ' that in Australia. About their' recruiting organisation I don t ca.re to express an opinion, but I aid notice a very great number of posters, and the Government's poster work over there is. really good. 'In Melbourne when I was there everything possible wai being done to stimulate recruiting, it seemed to me. Troops were marched out with bands daily, and. very well the lads looked.-. I was surprised to see s'ich a good type of men, foT they wore equal to our Now Zealand drafts. At the Town Hall in Melbourne there is a band playing patriotic airs mosi of the time, and soldiers in uniform are being used to assist recruiting. !rom the liuge crowd which collects. Those parties of'soldiers put it i to the young men, of whom there are always hundreds present, to enlist; naming men in the crowd, and calling upon them very often; In 9veiything but two use of force these soldiers seemed to me like si press-gang. And yet when I was in: Melbourne, a city with r, population 0f.800,000, the recruiting for two weeks was at,the rate of 41 and 47 per day for those two weeks. , "In Sydney I believe that recruiting is even "worse. Victoria has all through found men more easily than New South Wales, and I think this is due to the extraordinarily prosperous state of Victoria just now. Never have I seen the country in Victoria looking better, and never have I seen New South. Wales j km? worse. Queensland is in a dreadful ;>light, and these ciroumstances are reflected in recruiting. I did not think so much of the Sydney ■ troops that I saw as of the Melbourne mon. In one respect the New. Zealand troops seem to ne to be better than the Australians. Here we have in our forces a large_ percentage of country men; in Australia there is a big preponderance of men from the cities.

"Everywhere all is gaiety. Wherever one goes, to places of amusement or popular resort—to the theatres, the picture shows, to the races, or down the harbiiur, _ everywhere there are crowds, ill whic'h are many young men. One ooulcl not help thinking thai? a lot of them ought to be at the war. Arid the money that is being spent 1 The extravagance is amazing. Hotel bars are crammed, people flock to races and theatres, and spend money like water. Never has there been so much betting as there was, at the Melbourne Cup Meeting.

Nowhire will you hear anyone talking about- the war.. "What you will hear everywhere, from the man in the tram or _the train, from the man gossiping with his friends in .the" city, or from the rich man_ in his -own house is tlio C H'■ 'What is So-and-So petting out of it?" This feeling of distrust jb very deep and very widespread, it seemed to me, and the Federal and State Gorernmciits coino in for a full share of the general blame. You will hear this sort of thing often: So-and-So was a poor man; now ho is rich.' I couldn't help thinking that politically things ar<i a great deal'happier here than in Australia. Here the people don't nil agree with the same sets of loading politicians, but I, think it is generally true that most peoplo admit the honesly_ of their opponents.' That is most d(jcidedly not the case in Australia. . Of course everything goes to make tlio C-ioyernments unpopular there now. The cost of living is very high. The price!; 1 of all food, except some fruits, is dearer in Australia than here. All meats and fish are very 3ear, and rents are high. Labour troubles • are always prosent or threatening. The frequence of these affairß is a very serious mattsr oyer there. The feeling ofgeneral dissatisfaction has, in my on in. ion, done much to take public attention'from the war. Another contributing facta' in this is the'attitude of the leading newspapers. Their opinions, when thev express any, aro the same as ours, but no prominence is given to tlie war news, as is given here, and no daily comments are written about it. New Zealand's example counts for nothing aii all to the Australian people, becaiwe they got no', news of New Zealand. While I was there I read only one' :!tem of New' Zealand ■ news. It was about the 50 men who had runoff to America, and tlho fact that tfie Government was taking steps-to prevent more from going."