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have resided therein for six months, and are British subjects, shall be liable to be trained, as prescribed, as follows:

(a) From twelve years to fourteen years of age, in the Junior

Cadets; and

(b) From fourteen to eighteen years of age, in the Senior Cadets; and

(c) From eighteen to twenty years of age, in the Citizen Forces; and

(d) From twenty to twenty-six years of age, in the Citizen

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Forces provided that, except in time of imminent danger of war, service under paragraph (d) shall be limited to one registration or one muster-parade in each year."

Mandatory registration of the names and addresses of all male persons being British subjects, who have resided in Australia. for six months, upon attaining the age of fourteen years was made the foundation of the whole scheme of compulsion.

Re-classification.

The Naval and Military Forces were re-classified and re-grouped as follows:

Naval Forces.

The Citizen Naval Forces were divided into Militia Forces, Volunteer Forces, and Reserve Forces. The Naval Militia Forces consisted of officers, petty officers, and sailors who are not bound to continuous naval service, and who are paid for their services as prescribed. The Naval Volunteer Forces consisted of officers, petty officers, and sailors who are not bound to continuous naval service, and who are not ordinarily paid for their services in times of peace. The Naval Reserve Forces consisted of members of Rifle Clubs who are allotted to the Naval Reserve Forces; and persons who, having served in the active Naval Forces or otherwise, as is prescribed, are enrolled as members of the Naval Reserve Forces.

Military Forces.

The Citizen Military Forces were to consist of Active Forces and Reserve Forces. The Active Citizen Military Forces consisted of the Militia Forces, the Volunteer Forces, those undergoing military training under the provisions of paragraph (c) of section 125 of the Act, and officers on the unattached list.

Military Reserves.

The Military Reserve Forces consisted of Citizen Forces, and included the officers shown on the Reserve of Officers' List, the members of the Rifle Clubs who are allotted to the Military Reserve Forces, and all those liable to serve in time of war under section 59 of the Act who are not included in the active Forces.

Service Outside Australia.

Members of the Military Forces voluntarily serving with the Imperial Forces outside Australia; or on their way from Australia for the purpose of so serving; or on their way back to Australia after so serving, are subject to the Army Act as if they were part of the Regular Forces, with such modifications and adaptations as are prescribed.

Calling out the Reserves.

In time of war it is lawful for the Governor-General, by proclamation, to call upon all persons liable to serve in the Citizen Forces to enlist and serve as prescribed. A proclamation under the last preceding sub-section may call upon all the persons liable to service in any military district or sub-district, who are specified in any one or more of the classes hereunder set out, so to enlist, but so that the persons specified in any class in that district or sub-district shall not be called upon to enlist until all the persons in that district or sub-district who are specified in the preceding classes are or have been called upon. The classes referred to are as follows:

Class I.-All men of the age of eighteen years and upwards but under thirty-five years, who are unmarried, or widowers without children.

Class II. All men of the age of thirty-five years and upwards but under forty-five years, who are unmarried, or widowers without children.

Class III.-All men of the age of eighteen years and upwards but under thirty-five years, who are married, or widowers with children.

Class IV. All men of the age of thirty-five years and upwards but under forty-five years, who are married or widowers with children; and

Class V. All men of the age of forty-five years and upwards but under sixty years.

The Act further provided that a person who had been trained under the proposed new law should receive pay as prescribed; that a person who was liable to be trained should not be required to enrol himself as a member of the militia forces; that every person who without lawful excuse failed to render the personal services required should be ineligible for employment of any kind in the public service of the Commonwealth and other penalties were imposed.

Viscount Kitchener's Visit.

At the end of the year 1909 and before the Act of that year came into operation, Field Marshall Viscount KITCHENER visited Australia at the invitation of the Commonwealth Government. After inspection of the military forces and the forts and defence works erected and in course of erection, Lord KITCHENER submitted a valuable report based on the provisions of the Defence Acts 19031909 with recommendations as to the organization of the proposed new defence forces of Australia, many of which were adopted by the Government.

The new Act embodying compulsory military training received the Royal Assent on 13th December, 1909, a few days before Viscount KITCHENER'S arrival in Australia; but it did not come into operation until 1st January 1911. By that time a change of government had taken place. The DEAKIN-COOK party was defeated at the general election held in April 1910. It was succeeded by the second FISHER (Labour) Government in which Senator GEORGE F. PEARCE was assigned the post of Minister of Defence. That Government remained in office until the general election in June 1913. The new Minister of Defence and his colleagues gave loyal and consistent support to the re-organized system of the naval and military defence. He had a number of perplexing problems to deal with in bringing the new scheme into operation. Many alterations in the original plan were found necessary in order to secure smooth working and to remove complaints and prevent anomalies and hardships.

Universal Training.

By the Act of 1909, the principle of universal obligation to submit to compulsory military training and service was for the first time recognized and legalized in an English-speaking community. It was accepted with the general consent of all political parties in Australia.

A perusal of the amending Defence Acts shows slow tentative, but progressive, developments of the details of the scheme, embodying modifications and improvements which removed opposition and secured popular support.

DEFENCE (PEARCE) ACT 1910.

The section of the principal Act relating to the duration of universal training was by the Act of 1910 altered to read as follows :(a) From twelve years to fourteen years of age, in the Junior Cadets, to continue for two years; and

(b) From fourteen to eighteen years of age, in the Senior Cadets, to continue for four years; and

(c) From eighteen to twenty-five years of age, in the Citizen Forces to continue for seven years; and

(d) From twenty-five to twenty-six years of age, in the Citizen Forces provided that except in time of imminent danger of war service under paragraph (d) shall be limited to one registration or one muster-parade.

By the same Act the following compulsory training in each year ending 30th June was prescribed: (a) In the Junior Cadets ninety hours; and (b) In the Senior Cadets four whole days drill, twelve half days' drills, and twenty-four night drills; and (c) In the Citizen Forces sixteen whole day drills, or their equivalent of which not less than eight shall be in camps of continuous training: Provided that, in the case of those allotted to the Naval Forces and to the Artillery and Engineer arms of the Military Forces, and to units of the Army Service Corps allotted to those arms the training shall be twenty-five whole-day drills or their equivalent of which not less than seventeen shall be in camps of continuous training: Defence Act 1903-12, secs. 125 and 127.

DEFENCE (PEARCE) ACT 1911.

In the Senior Cadets the duration of a whole-day drill shall not be less than four hours, of a half-day drill not less than two hours, and of a night-drill not less than one hour:

In the Citizen Forces the duration of a whole-day drill shall not be less than six hours, of a half-day drill not less than three hours, and of a night drill not less than one hour and a half :

In the Senior Cadets the number and duration of half-day and night drills may be varied by the substitution of other drills as prescribed, of a total duration of not less than forty-eight hours:

The Minister may, by Gazette, notice declare that whole-day drills or half-day drills may be substituted for night drills in any districts or localities specified in the notice:

In the case of Senior Cadets, who reside over two miles from the place appointed for training, attendance for a less number of hours than prescribed above may be allowed to count as prescribed for the full statutory duration of drills, and power may be given to the prescribed officers to grant leave of absence from training required by this Act when the conditions of the weather, by reason of excessive rain or heat, would render attendance a hardship, and equivalent attendance as prescribed may be required in lieu thereof.

DEFENCE (PEARCE) ACT 1911-1912.

Residence of Trainees.

The law relating to compulsory registration was amended to read as follows: All male inhabitants of Australia, who have resided therein for six months and are British subjects and whose bona fide residence is within a distance of five miles, reckoned by the nearest practicable route, from the nearest place appointed for training, shall register themselves, or be registered by a parent, guardian or other person acting in loco parentis, in the manner prescribed. Every youth so residing was required to be registered on attaining his fourteenth birthday.

Compulsory Training.

Junior cadet training, lasting for two years, consists of 90 hours each year, and begins on the 1st July in the year in which the trainee reaches the age of twelve years.

years.

Senior Cadet training, lasting for four years, begins on the 1st July of the year in which the trainee reaches the age of fourteen It consists of forty drills each year, of which four are classed as whole days of not less than four hours, twelve as half days of not less than two hours, the remainder being night drills of not less than one hour.

Training in the Militia Adult Citizen Forces, lasting for eight years, begins on 1st July of the year in which the soldier reaches the age of eighteen years.

The work consists of continuous training in camp for seventeen days in the case of the naval forces, artillery, and engineer arms,

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