Many Australians are in danger of deve loping an invasion complex calculated to undermine li. sense of political judgment. The reason for this is one of the most mis~ chievous whispering campaigns experienced in this country for many years. Ever since the Munich crisis there have been persistent rumours that Australia was then in danger of immediate invasion. The rumours vary greatly in matters of detail, hut ove hears them always "on unimpeachable authority."
The most common relate to fleets of capital ships sailing from unstated ports towards Australia at the height of the crisis. Others describe convoys of transports packed with troops cruising off the Australian coast in readiness for an irresistible invasion. One hears often, on the same "unimpeachable authority," that the Government was re~ duced to impotent panic in the crisis by this threat of overpowering force alarming were these rumours that at one time the authorities were forced to be-Hieve there might be some clement of truth in them, Every rumour was consequently traced {o its source, and it can be stated confidently that they all apparently emanfated from one relatively trivial incident. Without disclosing the nature of this incid~ ent, which was not without its humour, the Prime Minister announced in the House' that so far as the Government was aware the rumours were without foundation, Despite this oficial declaration, the rumours continue to circulate in one form or another. Even more regrettable is the fact that they have been given w semblance of reality by ambiguous statements made by certain politicians and officers of high military rank.
The obvious motive is a desire to mobilize public opinion in support of increased taxation for national defence and to stimulate recruiting in the Government's campaign to double the strength of the volunteer militia. Responsible people, however, do not approve of propagandist methods that ore not only a deception of the public, but which are calculated to give unneces~ sary offence to foreign Powers.
Consternation has been caused in political circles by the publication of an interview given to four Press representatives by the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr. Thorby, who, until the recent Cabinet reconstruc tion, was Minister for Defence. The Press representatives agreed that Mr. Thorby, in the course of the interview, referred to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Curtin, as a "disloyal traitor," and expressed the hope that he, Mr. Thorby, would "soon be ina position to put yeh people in front of a fung squad.
In this country such statements by 9 Minister are almost unbelievable, and Mr. Curtin demanded that the Prime Minister should either gazette Mr. Thorby out of the Ministry, or accept full responsibility for his statements. He also threatened Tegal action against Mr. Thorby. The matter was specially embarrassing for Mr. Lyons because of his personal friendship for Mr. Curtin, and the Prime Minister hastened to dissociate himself and other members of Cabinet from the statements attributed to Mr. Thorby. Mr. Thorby first sought to extricate himself by claiming that hhis remarks had been twisted in the published reports to create a false impression, but when this attitude proved untenable, was forced to offer Mr. Curtin an unqualified apology, which he accepted with characteristic magnanimity.
Pouring oil on troubled waters, friendly newspapers suggested that Mr. Thorby had been feeling the strain of organizing the defence expansion programme, but Mr. Thorby's critics regard this as an explana~ tion rather than an excuse, and have been citing the incident as evidence of his unsuitability for ministerial responsibility. The incident has done both Mr. Thorby and the Government considerable harm.
The drought of the last two years has been relieved by timely rains in New South Wales, but in Victoria conditions are becoming steadily worse. A large proportion of the wheat crop was a complete failure, and in areas where harvesting was possible the yield was light. In many lets stock "has died or had to be killed, and throughout the State rivers are falling to levels similar to those of the record drought in 1914, The Murray River, which provides the Doundary between Victoria and New South Wales, and which supplies an immense irrigation system, has ceased to flow. Unless the drought breaks in the coming season, experts predict that the whole system of production based on the Murray Irrigation may fail, involving a heavy blow not only to the fruit and dried fruits industries, but indirectly to the finances of the State, Melbourne and most of the large Victorian cities and towns have excellent water con-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.