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AUSTRALIAN PROBLEMS
Mwt Be Faced in NBtional W»y.
Statement by Mr. E. Page. ;
. BALLARAT, Sunday.— A'moiigst. fhosz
present at" 'tii® Annual reunion of members
of the Third Australian Casualty Clearing
Station, -held nt - the Soldiers' Memorial
Institute oil Saturday! night, '.was 'tha
Acting Prime Minister, Mr. Earl Pago, and
his brother; Dr.; W. R. Page, of Sydney,
who were attached to the unit during tho
war.' : ' ! ;
: Mr. E. Puge presided; | and proposed The
Unit. He was pleased that ho hod got an.
opportunity .to. attend a reunion of the
unit; . He was sorry arrangements had
hot bean' made for tho sisters who had
done such good work on the other side -to
he at tho reunion. The nutees had
worked wonderfully, over there, and it: was
marvellous .that they stood .tlie wort so.
well. He thought they should take steps
to ensure that thq work of the nurses
.would hover bo forgotten., : If they could
get the same co-ope#ation in the develop;
tnent of this couuti-y as they had iu the
unit on France the job wquid be a simpiu
one. Everyoiid in thost days did his or
her part) Onu thing that must come out
of reunions of this kind was the return
of that inspiration Which animated tliem
during war time. He thought he was
doming hlnoiig them in an Unofficial way,
but instead of that lio found himself en
joying a busman's _ holiday.' At tho pre
sent time he was in a bit of a war. him
self— (laughter)— but ho thought lie iv6uld.
come throogli it. satisfactorily, ivitlr u
good deal' of benefit to the people of Aus
tralia. - -
..Major Stevens -made a hiroiorotis.ro-
silOhse, during the coursd of which he said
-tliat at tho cud of the war a huge bundle
of correspondence chased him from Ger
many to France and on to Englafid.' He did
not open it until ho was on lioard ship to :
return to Australia. The burden of it, was
that three large marquees, a bicycle and
1 lb. of nails were, missing, and would he
please explain. . (Loud laughter.) .
In responding to tlie to'ast of Trie Chair'
man, Mr. ' E. Page said one. great lesson
he leabned at the war was tne privilege
of.' the opportunity of giving service. The
Prime Minister was ono ' of tiiose who
were giving the best that was in them
for the scrvico of the public in an effort
to make it ' the finest country in the
world, and to see that the men' who had
done service overseas would coine into the
leadership that they were suitable for.
As time went on tiiose men - would, feel
impelled to give service for the prosperity
of the nation. The problems, that - Aus
tralia bad to face in peace times were as
momentous as anything that happened
in war time. We could not afford to take
narrow . parochial views. .We had to take
national views of affairs. We were rapidly
Iteing forced into the position of selling
our goods as Australian. Other nations
were putting the 'whole force of their coun
tries behind their goods, - and Australia
would have to do the same.; We had to
lose sight of inter-State differences and
work to develop this great country. He
was aghast at times at viewihg tlie huge
areas of this continent, which were call
ing _ for development; They were not
raising the wealth they should be doing.
The time had come for the men who had
gone abroad to recognise that' all our prob
lems had to be faced in a national way.
When they went to the- other side they
worked for Australia's benefit, nnd -lie
now asked them to carry that prinoiple
into effect in their, public and private fife
in Australia. (Prolonged applause.)
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