Lyne had not long since defeated the Right Hon. G. H. Reid in the Legislature, and did not seem to know his own mind upon this new subject; or else he was seriously afraid of a possibly hostile Labor vote. At any rate, he refused to move in the matter until Parliament met again, and gave reasons not dissimilar to those adduced in Canada by Sir Wilfrid Laurier for the brief delay which afterwards occurred at Ottawa. On October 5th it was announced that the Queensland offer of troops, made some three months before, had been accepted, and that the voluntary proffer of service by some seventy-five Mounted Rifles from New South Wales, who happened to have been drilling at Aldershot, had also been considered favorably by the War Office. On October 10th this latter body marched through the streets of London on its way to the front with bands playing and banners fluttering to the breeze, and amid a reception which the city seldom accords to events of less importance than a state visit of the Queen or the departure of an army. It was not the little line of mounted men in the characteristic uniform of the Australasian trooper that caused a manifestation of almost unprecedented popular enthusiasm from the densely crowded streets of the metropolis; it was the fact that this tiny force represented a living loyalty in the breasts of Colonists in great countries all around the globe. Naturally such a "send-off" had its effect in Australia, and a week later the Melbourne _Argus_ was able to say with patriotic enthusiasm regarding the universal desire to aid the Mother Country that: [Sidenote: Australia's Appreciation of England's Protection] "The event shows to the world that the Empire, as a whole, will stand and fall together. Nothing appears to have impressed our critics more than the ease with which 10,000 men could be withdrawn from India and landed at the scene of action, and the Canadian and Australian demonstrations indicate also that there are still larger reserves (though not so complete) to draw upon. And we in Australia know that the feeling is reciprocal. We realize that, while we are ready to make real sacrifices for Great Britain if she requires them, the Mother Country would exhaust her last man and her last shilling to guard our Austral shores from insult or injury. Saturday week will be one of the memorable days in the history of the Empire. It will imply that British victories in future will not be merely insular, but that the Colonies, by sharing the perils, will earn a right to share also the triumphs of the flag." [Sidenote: Various Contingents Leave for Africa]