The damage done by the lifting of the lid off the Melbourne underworld will probably prove less than that of a first-class fire.
At the moment of writing it cannot be said that the trouble is over, while the responsibility for the few fatalities which are reported cannot be allocated to the strike or ordinary eventualities. war is over. The Victorian authorities called for special constables, and within a few hours §, c00 men had volunteered in Melbourne and its suburbs. A call was made for ex-light horsemen to act as civilian troopers, and the response was so great that it became necessary to say that "no more were wanted." Sir John Monash, who commanded the Australian. army during the Jatier part of the war, and Sir Henry Chauvel, the chief of the famous light horse armies in Palestine, were called in to organise. Within 4S hours Melbourne had all the appearance of being back im the days of the war, except that the bodies of men being moved about looked and marched like soldiers but had no uniforms. Tu short, the returned soldier had come into his own once more, and he gave ample proof that there is a new clement in the civic body with which those seeking to play with revolution must reckon.
So fav as the Commonwealth itself was concerned. it had really nothing to do. The occasion being "Melbourne Cup" week or season, there were the usual warships in Hobson's. Bay, and sailors were landed to protect Commonwealth property, not the least being the treasury which holds the gold reserve of about £30,000,000. During the tramway strike of 1912 in Brisbane the Trades Hall extremists sought to establish control of the business of the city, but this was defeated by the government calling in volunteers from the country, after the Federal Labour government had refused its help. In the present case there is no Federal Labour government, and the ministry quite prepared to back the State of Victoria, if it will only ask for help. But it is not" likely to do this now, unless there is u fresh outbreak. The returned soldier has provided the margin of safety. He is too short a time out. of the trenches to have forgotten the tricks of the fighting trade, and he knows as much, if not more, than the average policeman when it comes to a rough and tumble.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.