Series 01 Part 02: Hughes family correspondence, 3 April 1917-22 September 1918 - Page 115
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[Page 115]
(3.)
gave the bond, & got the cablegram, & found they had said in it that the papers "had possibly been sunk". This was dangerous news for the enemy, hence the fuss. No date of posting, or name of mailboat, nor anything else was given: only the merest surmise to explain the delay. You can imagine from this how the cablegrams intended for public consumption are cooked & edited before being allowed to appear in print, & how like little children we are only told what is good for us, and find that after a long series of daily victories Roumania is practically driven to the wall, and after the most glorious enterprises Russia is skedaddling at the sight of a German helmet. The dishing up of daily victories has had the effect here of persuading the public that no further help is needed from Australia, – that Australia has done its share, – in fact far more than its share, – that the Australians on the Western Front are practically the backbone of the Allies, – and that as there is no further need of fighting men in Europe we can spend our time here fighting one another. There is just a beginning of shooting here now. I told you in my last letter how a free labourer had shot a striker dead in self defence. Yesterday a free labourer on a punt was shot in the arm from the shore, and a few days ago an engine driver was shot in the chest while running his train through some heavy country. A good many of the strike leaders are under arrest awaiting trial, and as for the members of the I.W.W. they simply get six