NATIONAL SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3168, 20 August 1917, Page 7

NATIONAL SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA

DEPUTATION TO MR. HUGHES NEED FOR ORGANISATION -V deputation from the Chamber of Agriculture waited on the Commonwealth I'rimo Minister (Mr. W. H. Hughes) last week, and presented certain resolutions adopted at tho recent conference of farmers at Bondigo. Replying to tho general requests of the deputation, Mr. Hughes said that no logical objection could be made to national service, if by that term was meant the organisation of our resources, both in men and material, and the utilisation of those resources in such directions as our present circumstances called for; In its application to recruiting, however, there was a prohibition arising out of the circumstances of the recent election, and the conditions -which I were then clearly made between the party now in office and the electors. Those conditions were as much terms of a contract as any uiado between the buyer and seller of an ordinary commodity. They bound tho Ministry until the circumstances mentioned in the bond arose which justified it in varying them. In regard to the application of national service to purposes other than recruiting, it was obvious that there was much that Australia must do in this "war. Tho sending of fighting men to the front -was only part of her duty. Another part was to nond foodstuffs, so that those men and other men might fight, and the civil population of Great Britain and her Allies might carry on its part in the war. There were hundreds of thousands of people in the community who were unorganised, ajid who, if organised, might appreciably assist tho nation in its present difficulty. In that room only a feir days ago a deputation had complained of unemployment. The farmers non- uy* dared that"there was a dearth of labour in tho country. Both statements were probably trno, and they constituted a sad reflection upon us all. On tho one hand men wanted work, and on the other hand industries wanted men. Yet the two did not come together. Tho men said that the work offering was not that to which they wore accustomed. Neither was the work of fighting in the trenches. Yet men had gone from all branches of civil life to tako up tho rifle. Was it aa? more unreasonable to ask that a householder or a man from behind the counter should take up rural industry? Ho did not believe in regimentation. They came of a race to whom tho word "compulsion was distasteful. Therefore, they had to approach the matter with the utmost circumspection. Even without compulsion, however, ho was satisfied that strata of labour, now unavailable, could be tapped that would help the rural industries. Australia must realise that, as the war progressed, there would bo more and. more disturbance in the national, economic, and individual life of the community. Commercial, rural, and industrial interests must face, in tho very near future, conditions which they had hitherto not oven contemplated. In his opinion Germany whs very far from being beaten. She must be beaten, and Australia could holp by putting the wholo force of the nation."behind her efforts. (Applause.) In regard to tho proposed alteration ot tho industrial laws, Mr. Hughes said that he had always been against strikes. What had happened in Sydney was n declaration of war, and the unions must realise that they would be beaten,-, because the whole community was arrayed against them. What precise alterations in the law were necessary he could not say, but ho was in favour of tho rule of the law. With the object of safeguarding tho interests of tho community the Ministry would proceed along the lines ho had laid down tho previous day in reply to a deputation from the Chamber of Commerce, namely, that tho Government of the country wjls, and must, remain solely in tho hands of the elected reresentatives of tho people. It would approach the matter quite calmly, recognising that the men concerned were their fellow-citizens, but they must pay that respect to rulo "by majority without which democratic, government was impossible. (Applause.) __^__