men down, and the strategic situation convinced him that conscription would be necessary to maintain Australia's war effort. Upon his return to Australia, he found that the domestic situation had shifted significantly, and the state of recruitment was dire. Hughes received word from Deputy Prime Minister George Pearce that troop replacements would be insufficient by December 1916 even at the most generous estimates. In late July, the Battle of Pozières intensified demands for conscription. The AIF lost almost 28,000 men in actions on the Somme, most notably at Pozières, Mouquet Farm and Fromelles. Only 7,000 Australians were available in Great Britain to replace them. General William Birdwood, then Commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and his chief of staff, Brigadier General Brudenell White, requested that Australia send 20,000 men at once and an additional 15,000 over three months to rebuild the Australian divisions to full strength. In late August, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies cabled the Australian government notifying it of the heavy losses in France and warning that as many as 69,500 reinforcements would be needed within the next three months to keep the AIF 3rd Division in service. Such a request from the British Government was unheard of – something which Hughes made considerable beef of during the eventual campaign. The origin of the cable is subject to continuing questions; however, it appears that its timing and nature were not entirely coincidental. The cable was initially spurred by Hughes' own Australian representative in the British War Cabinet, Brigadier General Robert Anderson, keen to assist in the conscription campaign, working in concert with Bonar Law and Keith Murdoch. The figures were seen by some as a gross exaggeration – estimates by others, including those commanding the Australian divisions at the front, were much lower. All of the historical documentation refers to the ballot as a "referendum", even though it did not involve a proposal to amend the Constitution of Australia. Because it was not an amendment to the Constitution, (1) it had no legal force, (2) it did not require approval in a majority of states, and (3) residents of federal territories were able to vote. Proposal That conscription could split the Labor Party was obvious by mid-1916. Although Hughes was eager for conscription to be enacted immediately after returning from England, he bided his time in July and August to politically organise