THE CALL FOR MEN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1825, 11 May 1918, Page 3

THE CALL FOR MEN.

AUSTRALIA AND THE WAR

“But for personal losses, and the sight of so many men in khaki, it must be difficult for Australians, with their abounding prosperity, to realise that their country, as avoll as every other portion of the Empire, is at Avar,” said Mr Harold Beauchamp, Chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, to a representative of the Post yesterday. “In Sydney the streets, from sunrise to sunset —and after —arc thronged with gay, Avcll-dressed men and women j hotels, races, theatres, and other places of amusement are most liberally patronised, and nearly every attendance at a popular race meeting or agricultural and pastoral show constitutes a fresh record. One sees hundreds of ablebodied young men in mufti, despite the daily appeals made by the ucavspapers and recruiting agents for men of military age and physical fitness to join the colours. It seems to be a ease of ‘Nero liddling Avhile Rome was burning.’ “As a recruiting agent, Mr Carmichael, a legislator and returned soldiei- Avith the rank of Captain, by the forcefulness of his appeals, has attained some measure of success recently,” Mr Beauchamp .added. “Mr Carmichael called, first of all, for 1,000 men, and succeeded in getting 1,400. These recruits Avere marched through the streets of Sydney, en route to the Town Hall, Avhere they Avere entei’tained by the Lord Mayor and citizens prior to embarkation. Tens of thousands lined the streets, and a considerable amount of enthusiasm Avas shoAvn. Captain Carmichael, or ‘Car,’ as he is affectionately termed, has become quite a popular hero. As an instance of his patriotism, it may be mentioned that he recently refused a portfolio in the Holman Ministry Avith a salary of £1,200 per annum, in order to devote his time, energy, and ability to stirring up his fel-loAV-countrymen to a sense of their duty to King and Country.”