DOMINION ARMIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 86, 4 January 1918, Page 4

DOMINION ARMIES

AUSTRALIA'S FIGURES. The Federal .Minister of Defence mado a statement in Melbourne last week concerning Australia's contributions to the armed forces of tho Empire. Ho said that tlie first official statement had given the number of troops sent oversea as 303,000 up to June 1, 1917. But theso figures had been corrected. A "carefully audited" statement showed that the number of men actually sent from Australia up to October 30, 1917, was 298,000. It appeared that "previously additions had been made to tho official lists which, were afterwards found to be unwarranted; often men did not embark, though it was assumed that they had dono so." .

The Director of Recruiting (Senator Maclrinnon) stated last week that the number of men who enlisted voluntarily in Australia (luring 1917 had been about 47,000. This total appears to have included a proportion of medically unlit men. During the first eleven mouths of 1917 New South Wales supplied 67 per cent, of her quota of reinforcements, Victoria 50 per cent, of the quota, and Queensland 39 per cent. A cablegram from Melbourne states that the exact total of the Australian enlistments iu 1917 was >18,729. The Australian casualties up to December 20 totalled 228,813. Of these 42,751 were dead or missing, '3028 were prisoners of war, 112,271 were wounded, and 64,554 were sick. . The majority of the wounded and _sick became available for further service in the field. The number of men sent overseas by Canada up to June 20 last was stated officially to have been 329,943. This figure did not represent fully the Canadian effort, since the senior Dominion found it necessary until quite recently to retain a certain number of trained. troops, in view. of the threat of raids by Germans and other anti-Brit-ish elements from the United States. It is estimated that between Julio and December ,50,000 men went from Canada and about 15,000 from Australia.