Daniel Mannix
Sir: Dr Edward Norman, in his review of B. A. Santamaria's book on Daniel Man- nix (6 April), does an injustice to the memory of the famous Archbishop of Melbourne when he writes: 'During the Great War, he had spoken fortnightly in support of the anti-conscription movement in Australia. It indicated his conversion to hard-line Irish Republicanism.' As Santa- maria pointed out in this book and his own autobiography Against the Tide, there were two conscription referenda in Australia: the first in 1916 was defeated, even though Dr Mannix did not play a major part in it. The second, held in December 1917, he opposed on the grounds that Australia was doing as much as it should be called upon to do. As it is now known that the Anzac forces suffered the greatest casualties of all the Allied forces, in relation to their populations, it is to the eternal credit of Archbishop Mannix that he was prepared to stand up and say `No more' (after three years of horrific slaughter in this war) when other Christian bishops had come out publicly in support of conscription.
Patrick W. Gill
89 Davies Road, Claremont, Perth, Australia
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