Review of Eei-iews, 1/9/13. 



THE DEFENCE ACT. 



6/9 



drilled in working hours. The penal t}' 

 of .^loo is one which cannot be reduced. 



REGISTRATION. 



Paragraph 142 states that all male in- 

 habitants of Australia shall register 

 themselves or be registered by a parent 

 or guardian in the year in which they 

 reach the age of fourteen years. 



In order to avoid the difficulties en- 

 countered by the Military Council owing 

 to the refusal of some parents to register 

 their sons, the section has just been 

 amended as follows: — ■ 



Registration under the Act, though inci- 

 dental to the training, is not made by the 

 Act a condition precedent to the obligations 

 in respect to training. Although section 142 

 of tho Act lays down the obligations of per- 

 sons in refipect of personal registration of 

 thost> liable to tr.ainin<^, tlie fact that a per- 

 son may refuse to register and then pay the 

 fine imposed for sucli refusal does not enable 

 him to escape the liability of rendering per- 

 fional service. 



A further amendment is at the 

 moment of writing on the table of the 

 House, authorising area officers to regis- 

 ter any boy whether his parents or guar- 

 dians are willing or not. This regula- 

 tion will prevent prosecution for non- 

 registration, and will render the parent 

 liable to a fixed penalty of ^100 should 

 he later refuse to allow the boy to drill. 



A DEFICIENCY OF 6o,000 (?) 



It is difficult to ascertain exactly how 

 many boys between the ages of 14 and 

 18 should have registered themselves. 

 The actual number who have done so to 

 June 30th, 1913, is 182,484; of these 

 122,705 have been medically examined 

 and I II, 605 declared fit. Of these 90,005 

 are liable for training, and 87,011 are 

 actually being trained. A large propor- 

 tion of the 182,484 who have registered 

 reside outside the military areas, and 

 are, therefore, not yet being trained. A 

 careful study of Mr. Knibbs' invaluable 

 Year Book seems to show that the actual 

 number of youths between 14 and 18 in 

 Australia at the present moment is about 



256,000, which would indicate the appa- 

 rent failure of some 60,000 boys to 

 register. This deficiency may be more 

 apparent than real, but obviously the 

 new regulations have been framed to en- 

 able those whose duty it is to administer 

 the Act to get all the boys "into the 

 net," to quote the phrase of one of the 

 most able and conscientious of them. 



It is a curious fact that the registra- 

 tion this year falls below that of last b)- 

 2000, and below that of 191 1 by 8000. 

 If anything, the number of boys liable 

 should have been greater every year, 

 owing to a slow natural increase and the 

 steady streams of immigrants. 



This cursory examination of the Act 

 shows that it has wide powers. How 

 great a domination it may give the 

 military authorities over the people of 

 Australia will only slowly become ap- 

 parent. It is interpreted by the regula- 

 tions and standing orders originally 

 framed for the control of the permanent 

 professional army. If discipline is to 

 be maintained the regulations must be 

 severe, and no one for a moment can 

 object to those who are responsible for 

 the working of the new army enforcing 

 them strongly. The professional and 

 voluntary officers and men who are 

 carrying out the provisions of the Act 

 are merely the servants of the people, 

 whose legislators framed the present 

 measure. When the full power of the 

 Act is understood, when compulsory ser- 

 vice begins to be felt by men instead of 

 by boys onh', the electors may modify 

 the Act, but until they do, it must remain 

 as the guide of those entrusted with the 

 formation of the citizen army. Some of 

 these do, it is true, rather overstep the 

 letter of the law in their zeal, but there 

 are not many who will advocate the pro- 

 posal of a gallant colonel, who suggests 

 that trainees should not be allowed to 

 vote until they are 26 ! He, at any rate, 

 does not seem to look forward to 19 16, 

 when some 80,000 compulsory drilled 

 youths will record their votes for the 

 first time. 



