The Australian Offer

CHAPTER I1 THE AUSTRALIAN OFFER IN the days of intense anxiety immediately before the declaration of war, when the entrance of Britain into it and the steps which she would take if she did enter were equally uncertain, there was a feeling in the British dominions that a declaration of their support would strengthen her position in the eyes of the world. New Zealand on July 30th offered to send a force of New Zealand troops if need arose. In Canada, on July 31st, Sir Robert Borden, the Prime Minister, hurriedly returned to Ottawa, summoned a meeting of the Cabinet, and telegraphed to the British Government that it could count on the fullest aid from Canada. The Canadian Government asked its Ministry of Militia and Defence for advice as to the force which could be sent at an early date. During the next few days several telegrams reached the Australian newspapers reporting statements attributed to Colonel Sam Hughes, the talkative Minister of Militia and Defence in Canada. He had said that “an offer of 30,000 men had been practically decided upon,” and that 20,000 Canadians would be ready to sail within a fortnight if required. This news appeared in the Australian journals on Monday, August 3rd. under large headlines: “Canada offers 30,000.” As a matter of fact Canada had offered to send 20,000 men, and more if required, but the actual terms passed unnoticed in Australia. Within two months in Canada, as in Australia, the men in training were far more than were originally contemplated. It so happened at this perilous time there was brewing in Australia a Federal election, and one in which the political struggle was particularly bitter and the tactics intricate. The two parties in the country were Liberal and Labour. The Liberals had been in office, with Joseph Cook as Prime Minister and Senator Millen as Minister for Defence, but during their whole term they had been hampered by a heavy majority of their opponents in the Senate. Senator Millen, one of the most experienced and astute of Australian politicians. had been worried to the limit of endurance by the task of piloting Government measures through a hostile House. The 20 June-Aug., 19141 THE AUSTRALIAN OFFER 21 Ministry, in order to rid itself of this obstacle, had intro- duced a Bill specially designed to bring the deadlock to an acute stage, so that it might apply the remedy laid down in the Australian Constitution for such a situation, to wit, a dissolution of both Houses of Parliament. The newly-arrived Governor-General, Sir Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson.‘ had given his assent. Feelings ran high and bitter. Parliament had been dissolved on June 27th, and polling was to take place on September 5th. The Ministers were mostly in the constituencies far from Melbourne (the temporary Capital and Seat of Government), pursuing the business of the election. Under the arrangements made at the Imperial Conferences mentioned in the last chapter, the Committee of Imperial Defence, in assisting the dominions to draw up their “Defence Schemes,” had arranged certain warnings which should be sent to them by the British Government whenever there was danger of war. There are certain precautionary steps which, for reasons of prudence, every country takes when the inter- national situation is so threatening that war seems imminent. It may be necessary, for example, immediately to enforce certain measures in regard to the merchant ships of an enemy then lying in the country’s ports, and also certain precautions in the case of neutral ships, which might carry enemy spies or goods, or might be fired on by forts at night or wander into minefields. These and many other steps, which constitute the ‘‘ precautionary stage ” of mobilisation, are in prudence planned beforehand, so that they can be taken immediately upon the receipt of a warning that war is probably impending. The country is thus put into a position-its forts manned, its garrisons ready, its wireless stations and railway bridges guarded-in which it cannot be taken unprepared. Later, if word is received that war has actually broken out, a further and different set of measures can be applied. The Committee of Imperial Defence had drafted two messages which could be sent in times of peril by the British Government to the Governor-General of each dominion : the first warning him that there was imminent danger of war: the ’ Rt Hon. Vlscount Novar, K T , G C.M G., Governor-General of Australia, 1g14-zo Of Raith, Kirkcaldy, Scotland: b. Raith, 6 March 1860. Died, 30 March 1934. 22 THE STORY OF ANZAC [ 1908-14 second, if war arrived, notifying him of the fact. On the receipt of the first iiiessage the Government of the dominion would, if it thought fit, order the “precautionary stage” of mobilisation. On receiving the second it would take whatever steps it had decided upon for a time of war. Australia, fortunately, had her “Defence Scheme” almost ready. It so happened that in Igo8-the year following the Imperial Conference which originated the plan-the Chief of Staff of the Australian Forces was Colonel IVilliam Throsby Bridges,2 an able soldier and a man whose grim driving force at all times strongly influenced whatever Minister he might be working with. Bridges (whose title was Chief of Intelligence, inasmuch as the “General Staff” had only been established since the South African War and was a new thing at the date in question) started upon a Defence Scheme of his own. He first sketched in his mind the scheme as a whole, and then decided to begin upon the detailed measures to be taken by the Commandants in the six States, each of which is a ‘‘District’] in the Australian army ~ystern.~He left until later the proceed- ings to be undertaken by the central authority of the Common- wealth acting from Melbourne, such as censorship of letters, cables, and newspapers. In this work, shortly after he had besin it, he was joined by a young oflicer of the Royal Aus- tralian Garrison Artillery, newly returned from two years in the British Staff College, Major C. B. B. When Colonel Bridges left the Headquarters Staff in Melbourne in order to become the Australian representative on the Imperial General Staff in London, the work was continued under his successor, Brigadier-General Joseph Maria Gordon. The steps to be taken by the States had been completely drawn up. For those to be taken by the Commonwealth a beginning had been made by Bridges himself, who drafted them with a stern rigidity. He laid down the conditions to be imposed upon the press. “I ~~ 3 Major General Sir W. T Bridges, K C B.. C.11 G Commanded 1st Aust. Div and AIF. 1914/15; b. Greenock, Scotland, 18 Tcb, 1S61; died of wounds, 18 May. I915 ‘The six States and the SIX Vilitary Districts are almost identical. the only important difference being that Broken Hill in New South Wales belongs, for ronrcnicnce, to the 4th Military District (South -4nstralia), and part of the h-orthern Rirers of N.S W. to the 1st Military District IQucensland). 4 General Sir C B B White. K C B , KChI G . K C VO D S 0. psc Puring the last offensive of the war Chief of Staff. ith Armv Chief of General Staff of Australian Forces, rqzoi23 and 1950 Chairman. Commonwealth Puhlic Service Board. 1923/28, h St Arnaud, Vic, 23 Sept.. 18jh Killed in aeroplane craqh, 13 Aug, 1940 1908-141 THE AUSTRALIAN OFFER 23 never for a moment believed they’d stand ’em,” he told a friend, long afterwards, expressing his surprise at the public- spirited manner in which the newspapers had accepted the restrictions designed to prevent information from reaching the enemy. After Bridges left Melbourne, considerable additions were made to the Defence Scheme by Major White. At the outbreak of the war it was still incomplete. But the instructions to the States were ready. The sentling of a certain telegram from Melbourne would put into force sets of printed orders which lay in the safes of the District Com- mandants, waiting only to be unsealed. On Wednesday, July zgth, the British Government des- patched the first of the two warning telegrams. This was received by the Governor-General of Australia on July 3oth.6 It informed the Government that the time had arrived for bringing into force the “precautionary stage” of the Defence Scheme. This was immediately followed by a second telegram, instructing the Australian Government that the measures for the examination of ships entering Australia11 ports were not at the moment required, but that arrangements should be made to enforce them when necessary. On Saturday, August Ist, the word came that this precaution also should be taken. On Thursday, July goth, when the first critical news arrived, the Governor-General was in Sydney, as was also Senator Millen, the Minister for Defence. Joseph Cook. the Prime Minister, alone was at the seat of Government in Melbourne: he had arranged to follow Andrew Fisher, the leader of the Opposition, in an important election speech at Colac on Saturday. It will appear to future generations of Australians a strange token of the manner in which Australia stood on the brink of the precipice without suspecting the tremendous plunge ahead of her that, even on the receipt of this warning, the Prime Minister (whose whole-hearted unswerving devotion to the British Empire was and is one of the main principles of his life) did not instantly call the niemhers of An indirect warnma vas received hy the Yzvy Office about tltc same time from the Senior Naval Officer on the New Zealand Station and the Coinmanrler.

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