In defence of Carlo's patriotism

I put up a previous post where Carlo's patriotism was being called into question, his views on an issue (pay rises for Public Servants) were dismissed on the grounds that he was a 'foreigner'.  Read the post, here.  I* came across another great article on the same issue in the Under the Clocks column in the Herald of July 28, 1916. The article is called Essay on Foreigners. The basic gist of the article, defending Carlo,  can be summed up with the last line - Fancy calling a bloke a foreigner when he has an Australian son what went to Grammar and answers to the name of Puss! - referring to Carlo's son Enrico  or Puss, who went to Melbourne Grammar and enlisted on April 28, 1915 and served in Gallipoli. Sadly, Puss was Killed in Action in France, only one day after this article was published.

The Herald July 28, 1916

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242381805

ESSAY ON FOREIGNERS
Foreigners, Pa says, was Invented by a judicious Providence for to make us realise how much better it is to be Britishers. Pa travelled about a good bit in his young days, and he could of got naturalised in most any country in Europe if he had wanted to. But he was a like a bloke in some poetry he is always saying over to hisself - "In spite of all temptations to belong to other nations, he remained an Englishman." In the days when, nothing was reckoned to be any good In Australia unless it come from Abroad, and women, who Pa says are born freetraders, didn't mind if a thing was made in Germany, so long as it was cheap, foreigner wasn't such a dirty Insult as it is now. There was a thing happened only last Tuesday, which shows how people feel about it. At a meeting of public servants one bloke spoke out of his turn. He says, Will this here blocking of our rises in screw help the sale of these here war loan bonds? Up jumps Mr Catani, who is chief engine-driver or something, and says. Put him out!  Pooh, you! says the bloke. You're only a foreigner, he says. This Mr Catani, he was born in Italy, whose motto is freedom or nothing. He is one of ourselves, Pa says, and his son is Puss Catani, one of the lads that made Australia proud of them when the Southland went down, and they didn't care 2d so long as they didn't crab their chances of getting to Gallipoli. He got there all right, and Pa reckons he will get to Berlin, too, some day. Well, when the bloke says Foreigner, everyone got the pip with him, and for a little while it looked as if there would be a brawl. So the moral is, that if you want to call a man a foreigner nowadays the only safe place to, do it is in a internment camp, where you are sure of your mark. Fancy calling a bloke a foreigner when he has a Australian son what went to Grammar and answers to the name of Puss!

* When I say, I came across it, in reality it was actually my fellow Carlo aficionado, Isaac Hermann,  who alerted me to this article.

Carlo's patriotism is called into question

Did Carlo experience any discrimination due to his Italian background?  His Italian birth didn't seem to have any negative effect on his career and it does appear that he was well liked by many Victorians, who viewed him with much affection and respect. But I did come across this article where an 'unpleasant incident' occurred and his patriotism during the First World War was called into question at a public meeting, which seemed a bit ironic as Italy was on 'our' side during the War.

This article is from The Age of July 26, 1916. You can read the full article here

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155161971

AN UNPLEASANT INCIDENT
Addressing a meeting of about 200 public servants outside the Government Printing Office yesterday, Mr J. W. Billson, M.L.A., member of the State Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, made an earnest appeal for co-operation and assistance in the flotation of the new war loan. Mr W. Cattanach, chairman of the State Rivers and Walter Supply Commission, presided. The meeting was marked by an unpleasant incident, in which the central figures were Mr C. Catani, Chief Engineer, and Mr. Kerrigan, an official in the Treasury department. At the conclusion of Mr. Billson's speech, the chairman asked those present if they desired any information regarding the loan.
Mr Kerrigan: Yes, I want to ask a question. Do you think the stoppage of increments* by the Victorian Government is likely to increase the sale of bonds  (Cries of 'Don't answer him' and uproar, in which a voice was heard, 'Put him out.')
Mr Kerrigan (moving towards the crowd): Who said 'Put him out'? Who said 'Put him out'?
Mr C. Catani (stepping forward): 'I said 'Put him out!'
Mr Kerrigan: Oh, you, you're a foreigner. (Uproar)
Mr Catani: I am not a foreigner. I have a son fighting for us. He's over in France now - fighting for you and me. You are a cur!
Mr Catani's voice was scarcely audible above the uproar. Several of those present assumed a threatening attitude towards Mr Kerrigan, and one gentleman planted himself in front of that official in the 'shaping-up' attitude. For a moment it seemed as if the advice of Mr. Catani was to be put into practical effect, but the chairman called the attention of the meeting  back to the speaker, and the incident passed off. Mr. Billson said he refused to answer a question which he considered invaded political ground. 'I ask you to help us to beat the Germans,' he added, 'and then you can fight your own battles and divide the spoils'.

This is a precis of the rest of the article -  Mr. Billson, in the course of his remarks, went onto to say that provision needed to be made for the payment of 300,000 troops abroad  and the pensions of the dependants of those who had been killed, they also had to provide ammunition and equipment and this was at a cost of one million pounds per week, plus the normal expenditure for the government which meant 1,500,000 pounds was needed per week.....To do that he was appealing to them to do their utmost, according to their means, to help in the flotation of the new war loan. ......The war loan was a good investment, and they could not get a better. He appealed to them with confidence to help the Federal Government to make the flotation of the loan a success. A resolution was then put by the chairman that the meeting support in every manner possible the flotation of the war loan, and this was carried with enthusiasm.
.
Mr J. W. Billson was John William Billson (1862 - 1924), Member for Fitzroy and at one time Deputy Leader of the Labour Party- read about him here in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
Mr W. Cattanach was William Cattanach (1863 - 1932) who was appointed to the newly created State Rivers & Water Supply Commission in 1906 and became Chairman in 1915. You can read more about him in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here.
I don't know anything else about Mr Kerrigan.

*An announcement made in June 1916  that Public Servants over and above a certain Grade (earning £336 per annum) would not receive their normal increments such as the yearly increases they receive whilst advancing through their class or grade and their end of band payments. Read about it here - perhaps Mr Kerrigan was one of those who would miss out on this increment.