"OUR CLEAR DUTY"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2876, 14 September 1916, Page 9

"OUR CLEAR DUTY"

MR. HUGHES AND CONSCRIPTION

FEDERAL PRIME MINISTER FACES THE ISSUE

Melbourne, August 31. xesteiday was a memorablo day in Australia's political history (says the "Ago";. Events of great moment have not been few in the Federal sphoro, but. there has never been an occasion fraught with greater possibilities to tho manhood of this country. For months past the one question which has agitated the mind of the community more, than any other has been that of conscription. With the deliberations of the Caucus camo the crisis, and yesterday tho veil was lifted. The declaration was made in both Houses, by the Prime Minister in one and the Minister of Defence in the other, that there will bo no conscription in Australia for the purposes of tho war until thero has been a .referendum of the people. The voluntary 6ystem is to be given a further trial for a month, and if at the end of that period the response is not satisfactory, a proclamation will ho issued calling up for the purposes of training single men of 21 years of age and over without dependants, to mako'good tho deficiency in reinforcements. Unless and until the people of the Commonwealth declare for conscription, no man will be sent away against his wili. That is the sum tetal of the Government policy. Intense Interest. Intense public interest was shown in the event. Long before the hour fixed for the assembling of the Houses the doors were thronged with applicants for seats, but only a comparative few were privileged in tins respect, and not a title of those who sought admission- to either House were successful. Both Houses were timed to meet at 3 o'clock. At that time nearly every member now in Australia was in his place, and every inch of space in both Chambers was packed. Even the Press galleries were invaded by many totally unconnected with journalism. The Prime Minister, however, was not present. Mr. Tudor, senior Minister, made the. announcement that Mr. Hughes would bo late. Ho said it was thought best to acquaint members of the fact, so that it could be decided whether the Speaker should leave the Chair or whether, in tho Prime Minister's absence, they should go on with the business. He suggested that, perhaps, members would prefer to have the statement that the Prime Minister was to make appear in the official report at the beginning of the day's proceedings rather than following a lot of questions. Mr. Chapman (N.S.W.) interjected that there was only one question of interest just now, and, judging by the applause which followed,. members generally agreed with him. The Speaker shortly afterwards leift the chair,' and members dispersed. They were called together aagin about half an hour later. There was an atmosphere of suppressed excitement when the Prime Minister walked into the Chamber, and when he rose to speak he was greeted with cheers from all parts of the Jlouse. He read his statement, which was received almost in silence from beginning to end. A few of the Government followers cheered when Mr. Hughes reached the point at which Jae indicated that the will of the nation must bo ascertained as to whether compulsory military service was necessary or not. Members of the Opposition mado no open demonstration, but plainly showed their surprise. An expression of disappointment by Mr. Cook was, in fact, loudly cheered by his supporters. Neither House transacted any other business.

Mr. Hughes's Statement. Mr. Hughes's statement, which was 'slowly and impressively read, was as follows: — "In view of certain urgent and grave communications from tho AVar Council of Groat Britain, and of the present state of the war and the duty of Australia in regard thereto, and as a reBtilt of long and earnest deliberation, the Government has arrived at the conclusion that tne voluntary system of recruiting cannot be relied upon to supply that steady stream of reinforcements necessary to maintain the Australian Expeditionary Forces at their full strength. As the Government is very strongly of the opinion it is the plain duty of Australia to do this, and as is believes that its opinion is one which is held by the country generally, it has formulated a policy which it believes to bo at once adequate to meet the gravity of our circumstances and compatible with the principles of democratic government, under which it is our privilege to live. I intend to-mor-row to lay before members of both Houses the position as I know it to ho; and as set out in the recent secret communications from the Army Council of Great Britain, and it is due to the public that they should bo told how imperative and urgent the need 'for men is. The number of reinforcements required for next month is 32,500, and subsequently 16,500 a month. The number of recruits for June was 6375, July 6170, and up lo August 23 4144, or a total of 16,085. The most recent list for eleven days shows the number of

Our Clear Duty. These figures speak for themselves. They show that the position which confronts the Government, the Parliament and the people is that, w'liile it is our clear duty to keep tho number of our forces up to their full strength, the stream of recruits under the voluntary system has fallen to less than onethird of w'liat is necessary. Tho great offensive, in which our troops have covered themselves with glory, Jias cost' a fearful price; yet it is, and must be, pressed forward with implacable resolution. To falter now is«to make the great sacrifico of lives of no avail; to enable tho enemy to recover himself; and, if not to defeat us, to prolong the struggle indefinitely, and thus rob tbe world of all hope of a lasting peace. Tho suro road, the speedy road, the only road to victory is to press on. _ (Hear, hear.) Now'is tho psychological moment when v every ounce of effort is called for. ■ (Hear, hear.) To the principle of compulsion for military training and service the country has long been committed. But a clear line lias been drawn between compulsory service within tho Commonwealth and for service overseas. For tho first wo relied entirely upon compulsion; for tho latter upon .voluntarism. Until recently voluntary recruiting proved sufficient to meet the demands made upon us. But latterly it has quite failed to do so. This failure, however, does not release., us from our obligation to the. Empire, to its Allies, and to the Commonwealth—(hear, hear) —whose fortunes rise or fall with the ebband flow of this dreadful w«r. For it is) literally true that defeat it this war Hounds the death knell of all our hopes and inspirations, and robs us at one stroke of all the privileges and liberties that mako our lives worth living. Though voluntarism fails, tho country must'not fail; it dare not; its honour and its safety are alike at stake. But this is a country whero the people rule, and in this crisis—in which their future is concerned—their voice must bo hoard. The will of tho nation must be ascertained. Autocracy forces its decrees upon the people—democracy ascertains, and then carries out the wishes of tho people. Only One Course. In these circumstances tho Government considers there is but one course

to pursue, namely, to ask the electors for their authority to mako up the deficiency by compulsion. Set out briefly, the policy of the Government is to take a referendum of the people at tho earliest possible moment uyon the question whether they approve of compulsory oversea service to the oxtent necessary to keep our Expeditionary Forces at their full strength. If the majority of the people approve, compulsion will be applied to the extent that voluntarism fails, Otherwise it will not. I now make .an earnest appeal to every recruiting agency and centra to use their every eCort "to encourage voluntary recruiting and to the men of fighting age to enlist in tho defence of their country. If volunteers respond in sufficient numbers thero will be no need.for compulsion. But to this oxtent that voluntary recruiting fails to supply the numbers necessary the Government will use the authority of the people, if given, to call to tho colours until the supply is exhausted single men without dependants. It is hot intended, until the supply of single men without dependants is exhausted, to apply compulsion to married men, youths under 21, to single men with dependants, or to the remaining sons of families in which one or more of tho members have already volunteered. As the necessity for more men is not only imperative, but urgent, and; in order that the approval of the people, if given, should not be abortive, and, coming too late, leave our soldiers at the front without support of an adequate supply of trained reinforcements, the Government has decided that if within one month tho appeal for volunteers does not bring in a sufficient number of recruits, to issue a proclamation under the Defence Act and call up for purposes' of training tho number of single men without dependants necessary to mako good..the deficiency. An Appeal to Patriotism. I hope that tho ar/peal which I now make to the patriotism of Australian manhood will make such proclamation unnecessary. 'Unless and until the people of Australia apprcve of extending the compulsory provision of the Defence Act to service overseas, no man will be sent away against his will. Wo are passing through tho .greatest crisis in our history. Our national existence; our liberties are at stake. There rests upon .every hian an obligation to do his duty in the spirit that befits free men. The Government asks men to make a great sacrifice; it asks them to risk their lives in order to savo their country. Sir, I believe thatthey are prepared to mako this sacrifice. But the country must in its turn prove itself worthy of such' men. There must be as far as humanely possiblo equality of sacrifice. Wealth has its duties; it owes all it has to tho State, and must be prepared if necessary to sacrifice that all to the State. Many wealthy men havo responded nobly to the call of duty; others havo not. But they' cannot be allowed thus to evade their responsibilities. All other considerations must be swept aside; one great principle must now govern our every action. Whatever is necessary for the salvation of the country must be done, and since we are calling upon men to sacrifice their lives, wo ought not, and shall not, hesitate to compel men to sacrifice their wealth.