RECRUITING IN AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 119, 6 February 1918, Page 5

RECRUITING IN AUSTRALIA

"BURY THE HATCHET." It was to those who liavo oscillated between conscription and voluntarism, to the people, of Australia generally, and also to politicians, that some remarks of the Director-General of Recruiting (Mr. Donald Mackinnon) -woro addressed last week in Sydney. He appealed for unity, and for the bnrving of political strife as the principal means of ensuring tho success of recruiting. "The people of Australia," he 6aid, "recently decided that tho Australian Army is to bo maintained by tlio 'voluntary method. Under voluntarism you have achieved wonderful results; it remains for you to crown those efforts with completo success. Ido not regard this recent decision as some people did in the excitement and the disappointment of their side not # winning. Ido not interpret this decision as one, in effect, that Australia quits the war, nor as a verdict by the people that our gallant defenders are >,oing to be deserted. The Mayor, of Newcastle received from one of the battalions a message that the people of Australia were to 'stick to it.' That is my sentiment. The people of Australia are going to 6tick to it, unless I do not properly understand them. When I took charge of .this recruiting business I was told that wo were whipping a dead horse, and that no good would come of it. One of your papers pointed out that, the Government was never really in earnest about this business, because it had appointed to look after recruiting a man who had never achieved success in mything he had undertaken. lam that man. (Laughter.) But we got 47,008 Australians to join the Colours last year, or an average of 31)00 per month, although wo fell away in the later months of tho year. Wo have had ihe rndder hard against us during the recent months, because tho standard of physical fitness for the Australian soldier in Britain has been substantially increased during the last year, and especially during the latter fnonths of it. The reason for this I do not know, . It is due, not to action here, but to~ action at the other end of the world. Seemingly, Australians ore not able to stand the strain of training in the Old Country as well as other troops. This Id 9 not believe, but it r?ems to bo tho decision. My own impression is that too much is expected of individual Australians. The men have shown such a tremendous willingness for fight and have achioved such results vliat every Australian apparently is expected to possess the 6ame great physical fitness as characterised some of tho earlier batches, who made Australian regiments famous. There ore, I believe, many men in Australia who ;wonld bo gladly accepted in tho British Army,' but who are not apparently good enough to fight in the Australian Army. But, as I have already said, last year—a difficulty period in many ways—we got 47,000 men, and that is nearly 2J divisions. No other country is doing very much better than Australia, with her 47,000 men at such a period of the war, considering that wo havc'to maintain not only five divisions, but also a mounted division of soma 13,000 or 14,000 men in Palestine. And they got into Jerusalem, more qnioklv than did tho crusader's in the old days. (Applause.)