Review of Reviews, 119113. 



THE DEFENCE ACT 



677 



in getting lads to register ; that 

 there have been over 13,000 prosecu- 

 tions ; that hundreds of boys have been 

 confined in military fortresses ; that 

 parents have been fined, and have even 

 gone to prison for refusing to register 

 their sons. 



I propose this month to deal only with 

 the Act itself, and with the powers it 

 gives, leaving the financial problem and 

 consideration as to w'hether the force 

 now being created would be able to 

 effectivel}' oppose an invader, for later 

 numbers. 



WHAT THE ACT IS. 



The present Defence Act provides for 

 the naval and military defence and 

 protection of the Commonwealth and 

 of the several States. The original Act 

 was passed in 1903, and has been 

 amended so greatly that the Act intro- 

 duced in 191 2 was practically a new one. 

 It provides for the compulsory training 

 of all male Australians between the ages 

 of 12 and 26. It also provides for 

 naval defence, and for the permanent 

 military land forces of the Common- 

 wealth. 



MAKING REGULATIONS. 



Naturally the Act, and the regulations 

 and standing orders which interpret it, 

 are bound to be largel}' amended, deal- 

 ing as they do with a national force in 

 the creation of which actual experience 

 must show where changes are advis- 

 able. But the method of amendment 

 would seem to throw too much power 

 into the hands of the ^Military Council 

 which directs the forces of the Common- 

 wealth. Par. 124 in the Act states that 

 the Governor-General may make regula- 

 tions . . . which are necessary or conve- 

 nient to be prescribed for securing the 

 discipline and good government of the 

 Defence Forces. All regulations shall be 

 notified in the Gazette, and shall there- 

 upon have the force of law. All regula- 

 tions shall be laid before both Hovises 

 of Parliament within 14 days after the 

 meeting thereof. . . . If either House of 

 Parliament passes a resolution at any 

 time within fifteen sitting days after any 

 regulation is laid before it disallowing 

 any such regulation, that regulation 

 shall thereupon cease to have effect." 



This certainly gives Parliament con- 

 trol over the regulations, but although 

 several highly-important ones altering 

 the Act have been laid on the table, not 

 a word has been said in Parliament 

 about one of them. One would judge 

 that the unobtrusive laying of a new 

 regulation on the table of the House 

 must pass unnoticed in the stress of 

 party warfare. 



MUZZLING SOLDIERS. 



One of the provisions that seems to me 

 contrary to the spirit of freedom we so 

 pride ourselves on is that set forth in 

 pars. 115 and 116 of the regulations. 

 They certainly trench, too, on the liberty 

 of the press : — 



Officers ami .soldiers are forbidden to pub- 

 lish or oommunicate to the press any informa- 

 tioii without special authority, either directly 

 or indirectly. They will be held reepousible 

 for all .statements contained in communica- 

 tions to their friend.s ■;\hich may subsequently 

 ba published in the press. They are not to 

 attempt to prejudge questions under investi- 

 gation by the publication, anonymously or 

 otherwise, of their opinions, and they are not 

 to attempt to rai.se a discussion in public 

 about orders, regulations or instructions 

 Issued bj' their superiors. 



Another regulation states that com- 

 plaints must not l3e made through para- 

 graphs in the Press. 



These regulations — which have been 

 in forced — mean that no trainee between 

 the ages of 12 and 26 may say or write 

 a word upon the Citizen Force, of which 

 he forms a part. Whether this muzzling 

 will also apply to every fit man in the 

 Commonwealth as long as he is liable 

 for service (until 60) is not quite clear, 

 but presumably a man is a soldier in the 

 meaning of the Act until his liability 

 for service ends. This regulation 

 would appear to debar everyone save the 

 medically unfit, women and old men 

 from discussing the merits of the De- 

 fence Act. 



COMPULSORY TRAINING. 



127. The prescribed training shall be in 

 each year ending the thirtieth of June, of the 

 following duration : — 



(a) In the Junior Cadets (12 to 14 years), 



ninety hours; and 



(b) in the Senior Cadets (14 to 18 years), 

 four whole-day drills, twelve half-day 

 drills, and twenty-four night drills; 

 and 



