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[Page 97]
possible under the voluntary system? It should be so, but by the last Sydney papers (beginning of October) there seemed to be a very great fall in the weekly totals in N.S.W.
There is interesting speculation over here at present as to whether Lord Derby's scheme will have justified the voluntary system in England. The results of the past weeks of canvassing should be known shortly. Many people seem to be of the opinion that it is only the thin edge of the wedge and that conscription will follow. I rather favour it myself if organised thoroughly and systematically. It is however viewed with great disfavor in Labor circles and also amongst the lower classes in the country.
I am wondering whether anything will come of the National Service movement in Sydney. It was proclaimed pretty strongly in a Sunday Times early in September, but I have not seen very much about it since. Papers of course reach me somewhat later than letters: there is a difference of ten days or so. Some which have been posted from home have gone astray altogether and I have given up expecting them. I am taking advantage of the fact that the Agent General is sending all papers, periodicals etc to the different hospitals where Australian troops are quartered, and leave all mine at that office where I have finished with them.
We have had a particularly cold November with one fairly heavy fall of snow. But the cold is certainly very bracing. Now it is milder and has been raining for a couple of days: that is not so nice.
From where I am staying we can hear the constant boom of cannon. The house is only some four miles from the coast and from near the mouth of the R. Midway up as far as Woolwich they are frequently testing guns prior to sending