HELD UNNECESSARY

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 28, 28 October 1942, Page 6

HELD UNNECESSARY

Conscription In Australia CANBERRA, October 27. Conscription for overseas service was neither necessary nor justified in Australia at the present time, declared the Army Minister, Mr. Forde. lie was replying to a demand by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Fadden, for the merging of the A.I.F. and the militia into one army.

“I deprecate Mr. Fadden’s efforts to play the game of party politics at this critical period,” said Mr. Forde, who charged Mr. Fadden with attempting to wreck the present Government. “The Government’s attitude has been clearly defined,” declared the Minister. "It is opposed to conscription for overseas service and the introduction of the issue at this critical period does great disservice to Australia. “During the regime of the Lyons, Menzies, and Fadden Governments, definite statements were made to the people that those Governments would not introduce conscription for .service overseas. Iney now want us to do what they pledged themselves not to do. “I cannot* give the number of men in the A.I.F. (Australia’s volunteer force for overseas service) for reasons of security, but I ean say that we have a very large force and' that members of the militia (conscripted force for service within Australia and in Australian mandated territories, including New Guinea) are voluntarily transferring to the A.I.F. at a rate four times greater than that of the enlistments in the A.I.F. when the last Government went out of office. “In other words, with the changed position following Japan’s entry into the war, there is less need for conscription for overseas service today than at any previous time.”