COMPULSORY PRAINING IS A SUCCESS, All Boys Are Foreed to Drill and Shoot, But Active' Service Is Voluntary. Last year the Ingpector-General of the Oversea Forcés (General Sir Ian Hamilton) traveled from one end of Australia to the other, in- specting the forces of the young army there, and in his report he was clearly enthusiastic. He went to Australia an opponent of the compulsory service system for mili- tary purposes, but came away with a very different opinion of the value and of the success of the method when properly applied. Australia's entire population has just reached 5,000,000. here are, roughly, 3,000,000 square miles of country within the boundaries the Commonwealth, so that it is the most sparsely peopled country on the globe's face. . Vhile Australia's method is mod- eled on that so well known in Swit- zerland, it differs therefrom in sev- era! respects. It begins with the "AUSTRALIA'S CITIZEN ARMY } } 5 of| arms, and ammunition have sory, alternative, and yoluntary. The first. makes up the exact amount of training provided, 'the alterna- tive drills enable those absent on leave from: the compulsory drilis.to make good their time, and the' vol- untary drills are to help those aim- ing at proficiency and premotion. Any one who' fails to qualify as ef- ficient in any year must do an ex- tra year's training for each failure. Unless a young Australian can produce a "clean record" of mili- |. tary service, he*standsa very poor chance of a position in the Com- monwealth public service, and em- ployers generally are disposed to regard a "clean record" in this re- spect as An Excellent Recommendation. Trainees in Citizen Force reveive 3s. per day during the first veer, and 4s. per day during the subse- quent yearg of their training. The pay for conporals is 95.; sergeants, 10s.; sergeant-majors, 10s. 6d. and 11s. , An allowance of £4 per annum is made for the keep of a horse to the light horse trainees. In the commissioned ranks the daily rates of pay are 15s. for lieutenants; 22s. 6d. for captains; 30s. for ma- jors; 37s. 6d. lieutenant-colonels, and 45s. for colonels. Uniform and equipment are, of course, provided. Government factories for the manu- facture of clothing, saddlery, small een lads of the schdol-going age . . twelve. It is required that all boys! established so that the influence of and the | "Kruppism" should never be felt shall be registered, as scheme became operative in all boys registered as having been born in 1900 became liable for ing as Junior Cadets, and born four years earlier were requir- ed to join the Senior Cadets. With | | 1911, | in Australia. The male population of Australia between 18 and 25. Of these a per- centage is subject to medical rejec- a complete system of registration | tion, and a larger percentage re- is thus easy to trace the boys, Side beyond the training area. The through the various stages till as| number in training when the system men of 25 or 26 they complete their period or service and are then suf- ficiently trained to také their place in the defence forces whenever call- ed upon. Each year a number au- tomatically pass from one stage to another just as the ranks of the Junior Cadets are augmented by the boys reaching the age of twelve in that vear. The method of regis- tration is simple. Forms may be obtained from any post-office, and when filled in must be sent to the " officer or local post-master. Failure to register incurs the lia- bility of A Fine of $50. The scheme upon which Australia is working is one that was practical- ly laid down by Lord Kitchener who visited the Commonwealth for the purpose in 1909, and will not, in the ordinary way, reach its full strength until 1919-20, when there should | 4,500 officers "and 130,500 of oth ranks, or a total of 135,000. e Junior Cadets' course of er training extends over two years, comprising 90 hours of each year. By arrangements with the Educa- tion Departments, this training is done during schoo] hours, so that when the lad presents himself at the age of fourteen for the Senior Cadets he must have completed in that period the junior course. Special instructors are provided by the Commonwealth authorities. The Commonwealth instructors train the school teachers, and they, in turn, impart the knowledge to the Junior Cadets. At the age of 14 the young Aus- tralian is transferred to the Senior Cadets, and is required for the next four years to attend forty drills each year. Four of these drills ave classed as whole days of not less than four hours each, twelve as half days of two hours each, and the re- mainder may be night drills of not less than one hour each. To meet special cases, such as lads working at any trade which makes it in- convenient to attend the drills set down, modifications may be made, lowed is 64 hours per annum. The four years' training in the Senior Cadets is calculated to set the foundation work necessary to en- able the youth to take up service in any arm. The Citizen Force. Neither the Junior nor Senior adets are required to attend mili- tar¢ camps. It is after he reaches his eighteenth year that the young Australian, who has undergone his physical training and the element- ary work of the first two stages, sets himself seriously to the import- ant work. He is now promoted to the Citizen Force and his eight years' connec- tion with the force begins on the 1st of July of the year in which he be- comes eighteen years of age. His training consists of continuous training in camip for seventeen days per year in the case of naval forces, artillery and engineer arms; eight days for other arms; and eight days (or the equiyalent) home' training for all arms. The total service is thus 25 days per ahnum for the @pecialist and technital corps, and sixteen days for other corps, the main body.of whom are light horse infantry. The period of eight days of home training is made up of whole days, lialf days, and nights, the respective minimum of these be- ing six; three, and >one and a half hours; two half-days and four nights counting as one whole day. Parades are classed as compul- ¢ again no one would she.remazi a) is in full operation will be 90,000. Senior Cadets, and 113,000 Citizen soldiers, the latter being made up of 80,000 trained soldiers, 18,000 re- cruits, and 15,000 of the 25-26 year men. a a WELL DONE, SIRIUS! The Old Ship Was Not Too Old to Whaek the Germans. Old ships, like old soldiers, are sometimes capable of glorious deeds. More than one such deed has been laid to the credit of H.M. 8. Sirius, a third-class cruiser of 6,¢ years ago, and was awaiting the "scrap heap" when the war began. Such a rusty, old-fashioned craft was the Sirius, that although she was advertised for sale again and look at her, So ing the order for demolition. order for demolition there for active service. ed This photograph was sent j train-| of military age is only about 177,000: those; between 14 and 18 years, and 321,000 ( ' But | the highest to be war broke out, and instead of the} the head of the Cabinct. from a correspondent apprecia ti re. Lf The grocery clerks take turns m Englis® Grocery Clerks Distributing Canadian Flour. to Mr? N. W. Rowell how much the Canadian gift of flour.and cheese is : d - giving up their half holiday to parte! out the flour. There is considerable distress in Lancashire. n Burnley, Lancashire, who tells HIS HATRED OF RUSS BARON BURIAN NEW PRIME MINISTER. Strong Enough toe Withstand Any Undue Pressure From ; Berlin. : To explain the retirement of Count Leopold Berchteld as Prime Minister and Seeretary for Foreign Affairs in the Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary e€ ap pointment of Baron Stephan Bu Emperer Francis Joséph and his people. A weak man has fallen; a strong man has taken his place. Berchtold is one of the most charming and amiable men in Eur- ope. Coming of an ancient family tons, which was built 94/2! Austria, possessing large estates in Hungary and a member of the Hungarian House of Magnates, mar- ried to a daughter of the illustrious « cithey 7 Co as ed ; i coveted--that 'at in the midst of a tremendous bom-j; history has never before known, bardment. Her guns worked splendidly ; her crew, the members of which hardly knew each other by sight, worked like heroes, and before long the old Sirius had silenced @ couple of German batteries, Other batteries opened fire, but je the Sirius went at them and_ sil enced them. In one day the brave old ship had fired as many as 1, 510 rounds of shrapnel and lyddit from her heavy guns. The Germans did their utmost to get their own back by concentrat- ing their fire on the Sirius. But the old ship was manceuvred with all the swiftness of youth, and somehow or other their dropped short or missed their mark. | | | | | | "lo el ree | i shells | many hundreds | | Berchtold has not been equal to his difficulties. Why Burian Hates Russia. Berchtold is succeeded by a man of sterner fibre. Burian, whose title of Baron is still almost "brand new,' emerges from the middle lass, the first representative of the plebians ever allowed to enter the sacred doors leading to the high fice of Prime Minister. His ca- r has been a gigantic struggle for recognition at Vienna--intellect and force of character battling against the 'hitherto impregnable fortress of lineage which the Hapsburgs erect- ed around the administration of their affairs in their chief capital of years ago. He was born sixty-four years ago in the County of Pressburg, Hun- Having done a good day's work; gary, of a wealthy mercantile fam- but the minimum of attendances al-| the Sirius put in at a certain dock, ily, with large business interests at and replenished herself with am- munition and provisions By this time news had come | | visiting his to With them the humiliation of seeing Moscow. There, as a young man kinsmen, he suffered A { yt . . ' hand that a number of German bat.| the widow of one of the men of the teries in another direction appear- ed to 'be too contented with life, so the-Sirius went round, gave them a friendly call, dropped a few visiting cards, and left them asleep. She spent two hours in paying these little calls of respect to vari- ous German batteries. 7 Afterwards she was informed by officers of the Royal Flving Corps, who had been watching the ex- change of compliments from afar, her guns had destroyed a German convoy as it approached a coast base, and had smashed up a num- ber of the German trenches. Well done, Sirius! No wonder her crew of reserve men and pen- sioners are proud that the old ship was saved from the scrap heap to play so splendid a part in the life of war. Se _ een Change of Work, Chauge from one kind of labor to another is refreshing change from work to play is pleasant and health- ful; change from action to perfect rest is agreeable and invigorating. All these changes, made at proper times and seasons, are conducive to health of mind and body. But we must be careful to vary the mono- tony of labor wisely. Dissipation is not recreation. urian firm lay the enormous for- tune she had inherited from her husband at the feet of the Grand Duke Nicholas, the present general- issimo of the Russian arm. The Grand Duke spent the Burian mil- lions in paying his gambling debts and then in organizing the political machine at the Petrograd court, which intrigued and bribed for him through a quarter of a century and which has finally placed him at the head of the army fighting to crush Austria-Hungary. Baron Burian, a cool-headed, calculating statesman, is a fanatic in his hatred of Russia. Burian's Steady Climb. He was given in his youth every facility which money could buy to fit him for his present position. He Studied at the Pressburg Gymna- slum, going from there to ip- lomatic Academy at Vienna, whi accepts only students who have left the Gymnasium with honor and which furnishes all the recruits to the diplomatic service' of the Dual Monarchy. His first appointment Was as an attache at Alexandria, Egypt, going from there to Bucha- rest, and then to Belgrade. He has been Consul-General at Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and Minister to Greece. His ability was unques- tionable, but he owed his entrance into the actual diplomatic service to his marriage, his wife being the | Gfty e+: i ntial {Minister of War in Hungary for wenty years and for a few months in 1905 Prime Minister, a famous 'general also in Francis Joseph's army, commander of the bodyguard regiment of the Emperor, and for years the sovereign's most trusted confidential councellor. urian's advancement after his tharriage was rapid. He became Minister of Finance for the Dual Monarchy, a position which made him automatically Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina. to a few days ago he was the diplomatic representative in Vienna of his na- 'tive Hungary and as such a member of the Emperor's household. Burian's Appointment Was a concession, first of all, to - Budapest was a hotbed of dissatisfaction and threatened revolt. The people clamored for adequate protection of their fron- tiers. Tisza, their Prime Minister, begged, implored, commanded it from Berchtold. That Tisza was P . FROM BONNIE -- SCOTLNAD NOTES OF INTEREST FROM HEB BANKS AND BRAES. What Is Going On in the Highlands and Lowlands of Auld Seotia. About 70 inhabitants of Montrose have been enrolled as special con- stables. Only 19 members of the Ayr burgh military band are left out of a total of 30. A sharp earthquake shock waa experienced in Dunblane and Bridge of Allan districts recently. The county of Inverness-shire has provided two motor ambulances, both of which are now in France. All the public schools in Grange- able to obtain it only after repeated visits to Emperor William and the overthrow of Berchtold is signifi- eant of the prédominance of Ger- binany in the alliance of the two em- pires. urchy will have its territory safe- guarded. Its own interests will not be sacrificed to its ally. Neverthe- less, there will be a closer bond of sympathy and co-operation between Bethmann-Hollweg and Burian than existed between the German Chan- cellor and Berchtold. Burian's message Bethmann-Hollweg, pledging anew Austria~-Hungary's allegiance to her ally and express- ing 'his'personal desire for the as- sistance of the Chancellor in his new uties, is an indication that Fran- lis Joseph's Cabinet w_1 for the time being accept the leadership of Berlin. to a Sees LIGHTNING PLAYS JOKES. The Electric Fluid Has Done Some Strange Things. The antics played by lightning are sometimes almost beyond be- lief. A common trick is that of un- dressing its victims. In 1898 two girls and an elderly woman were standing by a reaping machine dur- ing a storm. A lightning flash struck the woman and killed her on the spot, while the two girls were stripped to the skin, even their boots being torn from their feet. Otherwise they were safe and sound and astonished. In 1885 a man was struck by light- ning near Vallerois, in France, and stripped naked. All that could be found afterward of his clothes was a shirt sleeve, a few other shreds, and some pieces of his hob-nailed hoots. Ten minutes after he was struck he regained consciousness, opened his eyes, complained of the cold and inquired how he happened to be naked. ' Such instances have been record- again and again. In one cas® a man and two oxen were struck simultaneously and al] three killed. The man was found stripped to the skin, and his boots had been carried 30 yards away. 'In other cases,' says Camille Flammarion, the eminent French astronomer, "'lightning has been known to split men in half, almost as witha huge axe. On June 20, 868. this ' ened to anmiller's as- sistant at a windmill near hige -* The lightning struck him. from hisy head downward in two."' At the side of a patient who was a noted humorist five doctors were in consultation as to the best means to produce perspiration. The sick man overheard the discussion, and, after listening for a few min- utes, he turned his head toward the group and whispered with a' dry chuckle: "Just send in your bill, gentleman ; that will bring it on at once." . daughter of Baron Geza Fejervary, ) mouth have been closed on account of an epidemic of scarlet fever in the town. 0. I. Clark, hairdresser, Ar- broath, i and his customers, have _ | Sent off 1,000 cigarettes for the sol- hi eoast of Scotland ve aliens on the eas g emove to thirty must omediatelt miles inland. The roll of honor of the Glasgow High Schoo! contains over 700 names of masters and boys who have rallied to the colors. An organized recruiting campaign has been carried out in Linlithgow- shire for additional men for the "A WARLIKE RACE. {Phe Redouius Liye As In Oid/ Besta- ment Times, The répert that: the Turkg bave induced the Bedouins to assist tAem in their invasion of Egypt cade: at- tention to these strange nomadic tribes in Eastern Palestine an Arabia, observes the Londan Globe They are undoubtedly among thé most picturesque rdces in the East and although born fighters and cap able of giving a good account' of themselves, would be u : against a modern army with 'anpil- lery. Their principal value to. the Turks would be as an adjunct to their cayalry, or for making guer- rilla raids or attacking lines of com- munications, Their mode of life has not greatly changed since Biblical times, and to-day they steal cattle and camels, and their young men steal wives, a8 was their wont in Old Testament ays. Indeed, the purloining of cattle and camels is considered law- ful among them, and the more a trtbe or an individual can enrich in is manner the more their prowess comes to be recognized. These people, however, who live by thieving and move by stealth, are invariably hospitality itself to the stranger within their gates. Years of experience in travelling through the more unsettled part: Palestine, Syria, and the outs' of Arabia have made it very clex me that the Bedouin can be tri and the word of their shieks rc upon. : There are always three things up- permost in a Bedouin's mind--his gun. his horse and his wives. The most modern arms of precision have replaced the primitive spear, which, until a few years ago, was the usual weapon. The Bedouin is quick to realize the efficiency of modern weapons and soon becomes an ex- pert marksman. So much has the spear fallen out of favor that the bearer of one would be ridiculed in is own camp. Just as it as allowable with ther to steal camels, so the young men help one another to steal wives from other tribes. The youth anxious to obtain bride forms a company of his companions, all mounted and well armed, while he also mounts on camels and horses ten women of his camp. ey go secretly to the camp where the girl is, and while the young man and his companions wait with their rifles loaded and ready outside the tent, the: wome: go into the apartment of the hare: and bring the girl out by foree. Sh is then taken to the tent of th young man, who makes a feast and 3a. 4h. < complete. etic sR iin AIRCRAFT IN WARFARE. First Used by the French During the Siege of Paris in 1870. The present war is not the first 'big conflict in which aircraft has played a part. During the siege of Paris, at the time of the Franco- 10th Royal Scots Reserves. About 40 men of the National Re- serve in Dunfermline have sent in| their names as being desirous of forming a Dunfermline company. Owing to the stoppage of Glen- garnock Iron and Stee] Works of Kilbirnie, it has become necessary to feed a great many more children. The large orders for khaki is put- ting a strain on the factory work- ers in the border towns, and every mill in the district is working over- time. The Glasgow City Improvement Committee have decided to accept plans for the re-construction of the corner of Trongate and High Street at an estimated cost of $142,560. Since the outbreak of war the teachers of Tranent High Grade School hove been contributing each month a portion of their salaries for the relief of distress. Roderick Ewan McRae at Edin- burgh High Court, was sentenced to 15 years penal servitude for hav- ing murdered a young man named Thomas Middleman in the works of the Rosyth naval base. he condition of the Dunfermline linen trade is causing anxiety. There is a very restricted demand for goods and yarns can scarcely be had at any price owing to the Ger- man occupation of Belgium and Northern France. ee | The Barber's Pole. The familiar sign of the barber shop is a survival of the old days when the town barber was also a surgeon. In the days when our bodily ailments were supposed to be due to too much blood or to bad blood it was common to resort to blood-letting as a cure, and it was the barber-surgeon who performed the necéssary operation. The pole represented the staff which was held by those who were being bled. The red and white stripes represented the bandages. The white one stood for the bandage which was put on before the blood was taken out and the red one the bandage which was used for 'binding up the wound after the operation. The gilded ball at the top of the pole was the barber sign and was supposed to suggest the brass basin then used. in the shops. German war, balloons successfully sailed over the French battlefields. These vessels, however, were used as forlorn hopes rather than recog- nized fighting units, for by this means the besieged Parisians en- deavored to communicate with the outside world. One attempt to con- vey letters by air from Paris was made with a triple balloon named the Etats Unis. Three rather an- cient balloon envelopes were fas tened together and loaded with © 600 letters. To the great delight the citizens, it floated away fr the town, and eventually land with its. solitary occupant at Na: tes. Encouraged by this success, the citizens sent aloft another bal icon called the Celeste, with a hun- dredweight of mail on board. The wind, however, split the vessel in two, for at that time balloons were very insecurely constructed: The letters and the aviator tumbled to the ground from a height of over a hundred feet, the latter being bad ly injured. Gambetta was carried across the French battlefields in a balloon. Al- though at this time balloons were continually collapsing in mid-air and killing their unfortunate voy- agers, trips with cargoes of letters were gontinually made from one point to another of the seat of war in France. A balloon named the Washington on one occasion took up a sailor and a post-office dele- gate, with a huge collection of 120,- 000 letters, and 30 carrier pigeons. 'he sailor was an inexperienced air pilot, who fell out ofyéhe balloon whilst. attempting to tast a grap- pling hook. At the mérey of the wind the vessel drifted uncontrolled over the German frontier, and the remaining passenger with his let- ters and pigeons came near to being shot as a spy. . Nadar gained undying fame at this period by ascending in his bal- loon, Neptune, at Montmartre, and by means of primitive form of cam, era took photographs of the troop: below. Every half hour he sent a glass negative sliding down the bal- loon rope, so that the complete op- erations of the forces below could be strung together. tar a Love goes to extremes. ally makes a woman either happy or very miserable. It gener: very "