Evening star., 1941-09-01
By BLAIR BOLLES,

| llOiC lSOldlcu lIUlll EllSldllu SCO-
graphically than the United States
is, and on a fourth which the
Atlantic Ocean separates from Eng
land. Australia. New Zealand and
the Union of South Africa are in far
corners of the world, but they, along
with Canada, have contributed
almost 100000 soldiers to assist
England in its fight against the Axis.
out of total population below
30000,000 or less than fourth of
| the popula ton of the United States.
| There is considerable prOpa-
ganda in the United States to the
effect that the British Dominions
are making only a half-hearted
! token effort at assisting England
| and are leaving the main job of
! supplying England TO the United
/ States. Investigation refuses these
/ charges. The dominions are on
military footing. They have &C
cepted rationing, high taxes and
stringent official control over all
| phases of the national and personal
| economy. over strikes and wages
and prices. They are in the war and
are suffering deeply the pangs OF
war
Changed though life is here in our
! country. the changes can not COM
| pare with profound disruption of
the ordinary ways of existence which
| have been noted in the four do
minions which chose to fight tal-
/ though what has happened in the
dominions might happen here) .
! The aloofneSS of Erie demonStra teS
| that it had the choice of fighting
| or not fighting Erie. the fifth do
minion in the British Common
wealth of Nations, has chosen not
| to fight
Australia Most Distant.
AS far as both the United States
and England are concerned. the
most distant English dominion is
/ Australia. That commonwealth has
had a revolution in its economy
| since the war began. From an
agricultural country it has been
turned into an industrial head
quarters, making the mechanical
instruments of war.
The country which once depend
ed on wool and gold for its wealth
now is making four types of aircraft
destroyers and other small nava,
vessels. merchant vessels, three types
of machine guns, field artillery
pieces, rifles, antitank guns, small
arms ammunition. tanks. machine
gun carriers. naval mines, depth
charges. radios trench mortarS and
revolVers.
Australia helps supply the military
! forces in New Zealand, Singapore
India, the Middle East and England
itself. The commonwealth now is
laying the foundation for the alumni
mum industry. indispensable to max
ing war in 1941. Bauxite. the ore
of aluminium, is found in Australia
Australia controls imports, exports
/ and investments. By legislation ano
regulation the government has made
/ efforts to see that every dollar in.
/ vested by an Australian now assists
the war effort. according to Minis
/ ter Richard G. Casey. No luxury
building like motion picture the
aters is permitted. The gas ration
ing there is so stringent that one
citizen can buy enough to drive only
/ 1000 miles a year. and Australia is
a country of vast distances.
Prices Stabilized.
Price control was invoked shortly
after Australia entered the war
with prices stabilized as of August
81, 1889 Since that time retail
prices have risen only slightly. For
80 years Australia has had a fed
eral law providing for the automatic
adjustment of wage scales to price
levels and the cost of living. BY
official control. through the Federal
Court of Cancellation and Arbitra
ton, wages can be forced down as
we'll as up. In 1880 the court ordered
a 1920 per cent cut in wages.
The taxes have been increased to
level 2l2 times what they were
when the war broke out Now they
are about equal to the taxes paio
in England.
On present estimates the cost oi
| Australia's defense and war pro.
gram for the four-year period be.
| ginning in 1888 when the worlc
became apprehensive over the fu-
ture. and 1912 will amount to 453.-
I 100000 pounds. or S2000,000, 900
During the World War Australia
spent about half that sum. The
/ Australian sources of income have
been declining. because it primarily
is an agricultural exporting country
and the shipping crisis has cut down
| on normal exports
In early August the Minister fol
the Army, Percy Spender said Aus
/ tralia is maintaining at home and
/ abroad 420 900 troops. excluding the
armored division which now is in
process of formation. At the same
| time, the ordnance production direc-
tor, F. S. DAILY, announced that ii
was an Australian who discovered
the new process for the manufac-
ture of bullet-proof armor for fight
ing vehicles
Contributed Soldiers.
In the Middle East. troops from
Australia and New Zealand and In
dia have been carrying the brunt
of the war. The Australian over
seas force is made up of volunteers
enlisted men and militiamen. Fol
purposes of home defense-but home
defense only-the government has
instituted universal military train
ing. CONSUMPTION, since the wars
outbreak. Each member of the home
defense force gets three months
continuous camp training.
Latest figures relating to Aus
tralia's activity within the Empire
air scheme-Set up trained men fol
the British Empire air force-show
that nearly $4,000 men have beer
accepted for air force service.
Australia has population of only
6,929.69l, and New Zealand. across
the TaSman Sea from Australia, is
more sparsely peopled. 100000. New
Zealand has sent overseas about
$4,000 men. About 10000 territorial
troops are training in New Zealand
and about 10000 are training as re-
i YT1-