Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/59/1 - September 1916 - Part 2

10    12
& a tremendous argument
would be:  "Look - reinforce
recruiting is so bad tt
we have had to do
away w / 3^rd Australian
Division - and split it
up amongst / others."
Hughes is working hand in
glove w Lloyd George who
is also a politician
& therefore crooked;
and bet Ll. George is as
anxious to force conscription
in Australia as Hughes
is.  The two of them must
have concocted over the
cable, or before Hughes
left England, the break
up of our 3rd Divn - to
the building up of which

10    13
Birdwood & White have sent
the very best brains in the
A.I.F. available - a real
fine staff.
Anywa We have bn
wondering all this time
in France why it ws our
divisions cd not get their
full reinforcements altho'
there were 13,000 reinfts
in England after all the
previous drafts sent up
to / present.  The matter
had bn discussed & the
suggestion came from England
to break up the 3rd Australian
Divn.  White wrote agst
it with all his strength
when referred to - as
being unnecessary.  The reinforcements

10    14
were suffice as far
forward ^in training as the 3rd Divn,
he sd;  And it ws a
crying pity to break the 3rd
Divn up.  He knows
what a division is.
However - the War
Council itself decided
tt the 3rd Divn ws to be
broken into.  White managed
to get the damage drain on
it reduced to 2000 men
-(or 4000?) & saved it
from being permanent.  They
wanted to disband it
altogether.  He thinks the
undoubted reason was
that Hughes & Ll. George
wanted to use this as
an argument for

10    15
Conscription, and he is
very angry because it is
not a straight thing to do.
Sept 10.  Left Abeele - within
sound of Ypres - after
6 o'c. this morning &
arrived in London at 3xx
this afternoon.  I shd have
been here half an hour
earlier if the War Office
didn't insist on treating
us War Correspts as if
we were unknown to it
& forcing us to travel on
passports along with English
tourists, & travelling Americans.
I had to wait 
for an hour squashed in a
queue between a two commercial
traveller or someone of the

10    16
sort, & a Red X assistant,
while my batman & any
latest joined junior subaltern
walked straight off the
boat.  Oh! these British
officials ______
Settled at the Kensington
Kenilworth Hotel.  I shall
have a week's work - &
then a week's holiday,
the first in 2 years, really.
For Mitylene was instead
of a hospital ship.
Sept 11^th 1916.
It is always delightful
to see Fisher & old Smart
again.  Fisher such a
loyal friend & a straight
good man - a rock in

10    17
the midst of an oily muddy
sea of politicians;  Smart
a warm clever able friend.
And old Howse, who in
spite of his cynical
affectation is as warm
hearted generous a fellow
as any of them;  & a bit
of a genius.  I misjudged
him once on the strength
of his affectation of
cynicism.  He is ambitious
-but his cynicism is
skin deep;  & very amusing.
The Govt has an
able man, too, in Anderson;
but not as clever
as it thinks.  Still he's
a vast improvement on
Sellheim.  It is something

I was wrong here-
Selheim didnt lack brains.
C.EW.B.
10    18
to know the man administering
the A.I.F in London has
at least brains.  He is
very vain - that is the
chief drawback.  It puts
his back up against
all competitors - Moore 
for example. 
Murdoch - whole
hearted Australian &
right in the centre,
pulling many of the strings,
told me tonight that
he has no doubt
the break up of the 3rd
Divn is intentional - 
possibly he mentioned it to
White.  Murdoch was
seeing Bonar Law after
a meeting of the War council

10    19
& B. Law sd to him:
"I may tell you a piece
of news which will help
your conscription campaign
in Australia:  the
War Council has decided
to break up the 3rd Australian
Division."
It is unnecessary -
White asked me not to
mention the subject at
all in cables at present.
But I will tell have it out
straight when the day
come.  It is crooked crooked
crooked - it is a deceit
on the Australian people;
& I believe they wd
see / need for conscriptn
without it.  What a foul

10    20
mess this politics is!
The British correspondents
wear have obtained the
leave (it is spoken of as
an "order") to wear
Sam Browne Belts.  I
have never worn one.
A Sam Browne belt ws
originally a belt, I suppose
invented by old Gen. Sir Sam
Browne, to hold up a
[Sketch- see original scan.]
sword-
Swords are not
worn nowadays.
But the Sam
Browne (or is it Brown) Belt
remains the Sine qua non.
We didn't wear Sam Brownes
in Gallipoli.  They are utterly

10    21
useless - & expensive -
but there must have 
been 250,000 of them
manufactured at
say 20/- each (if not
more) for officers
uniform; a waste of
£250,000 as complete
& utter as if you put it
onto a railway truck
& tipped the truck off
the end of a pier into
sea.  However, it is
the mark of the British
officer from the moment he
tries to force his moustache
until he dies of senility.
The only time he never
wears it is when he is