Anzac Day Observed with Great Solemnity British Government's Rejection of Imperi ial Preference Schemes a Serious Blow Advent of the Boll-Worm From Ote Owx i Melbourne, May 5.
April 25 is now recognized and statutory holiday throughout Australia, and it is every year treated more and more asa holy day in commemoration of the 60,000 Australian who lost their lives during the great war. In its narrowest sense it marks that Sunday in Apeil, 1015, when some twenty thousand raw' Australian troops, who had{ practically never heard i' shot fired anger, surprised the world by their landing on the Gallipoli coast under heavy fire, and stormed the near heights with an ¢lau which has me earned for them the reputation of being the best shock troops in the world, But as Senator General Elliott remarked at one of the great gatherings the other day, that was the exploit for which the Australians were best known, but the day wns celebrated as marking all their operation including thcse in France where they actually turned the tide in the fateful August of 1918. All the churches and both the cathedrals; were filled by large congregations, and the Melbourne Exhibition grounds were thronged by thousands who paid the tribute of silence while the bungles blew, the unforgettable "Last Post." In all. the cities and towns of Australia similar services were held, and generally the dus was devoted more to the dead the living. While many speak: urged that the sacrifices of sue youth should not be in vain, by lack Of proper defence in the future, the me Minister claimed that the The Prime Minister's disgust with the Budget may well be measured by: the statements he has made. Before hho went to England he declared that Australia could aot get markets for her produ have to seck them elsewhere, some quarters. sounded unfortunately Mowever, Mr. Bruce is looked to to find th kets, and he is clearly rez without hope. Canada isa good market for dried tru Canada wants to ell motor ea machinery to Aust Mr. Brace has ronde thie striking observation, namely, that it may be found desir: able to'place Britain on the general list of duties ard give her prefer-fences to Canada. In South Africa it has been suggested that the day of the preference farce is over, and elsewhere the proposal has been advanced that the Dominions should from a Zollverein for trade purposes, obviously leaving Britain outside the charmed circle. All this is very, disquieting and should convince Mr. Snowden that he has started the Empire mountain rumbling, with the prospect that it will produce something more than a mouse.
But Mr. Bruce has gone further. He realizes that under the migration schemes with the Imperial Govern-lent we are bringing many ex-soldiers to this country and putting them on the land at considerable expense to ourselves. They mostly being placed in the frvigation ind are producers of If Britain declines to. find marks ngaes had lighted a torch of patriotism which it was our duty to keep burning. The question was asked by. more shan one preacher,—"Are we forgotting Anzac Day?" "T think: the answer is to be found in the foregoing.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.