COMPULSION IN AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2864, 31 August 1916, Page 4

COMPULSION IN AUSTRALIA

The Commonwealth Government has after all avoided the responsibility of introducing compulsory service.' Tho probabilities point to a difference of opinion on the subjcct in the Cabinet, and the compromise arrived at of submitting the issue to the people by way of the referendum is a safe way out of the difficulty. But the PitiME Minister has given the country a very clear lead as to the necessity for giving tho Government the desired authority. In faco. of Mr. Hughes's very plain speaking there is no room for doubt as to what is required. Apart from tho reference of the quostion to tho people, the proposal of the Commonwealth Government would seem to follow very much-on the lines of tho scheme adopted in New Zealand. Compulsion is only to be resorted to in the event of the failure of the voluntary system to supply tho number of men required to maintain the reinforcement drafts at tho stipulated strength. So far as public sentiment in Australia can be gathered from recent events, tho result of a referendum may bo taken as a_ foregone conclusion. In all directions there has been increasing evidence in favour of compulsory service. The efforts of groups of anticompulsionists, instead of strengthening opposition to universal service, have had rather the reverse effect. An indifferent public has been stirred- into active sympathy with tho compulsory service system, and leaders of all political parties havo promised it their support. -It is fairly safe to predict that the people's vote will give Mr. Hughes the power no seeks. -