DEATH OF MR LYONS

Evening Star, Issue 23237, 10 April 1939, Page 12

DEATH OF MR LYONS

“LOSS TO WHOLE OF THE EMPIRE” LONDON PRESS TRIBUTE Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, April 8. * Tho Times,’ in a leader, says;—• Ui Australia loses a Prime Minister who enjoyed to an unprecedented extent the confidence, affection, and respect of a whole community, and whoso proved honesty and independence enabled him to rally the Commonwealth to the effort necessary to. maintain national credit. His Ministers lately had not been a united family and disagreed amongst themselves on national defence and practicability of proceeding with a p-?~ramme of social reform. The dimensions were accompanied by open bickerings, and only the national prestige of Mr Lyons kept the Cabinet together. “ There is little doubt that these troubles helped to wear down Mr Lyons’s physical resistance, but the heaviest strain came from the international tension. Mr Lyons laboured incessantly to co-operate with Britain. His untimely death is a loss to the whole of the Empire, as well as to Australia.” All the newspapers print tributes to Mr Lyons, STATESMANLIKE QUALITIES CANADA’S APPRECIATION, OTTAWA, April 8. The Prime Minister (Mr W. Mackenzie King) praised Mr Lyons as a staunch, champion for free association within the British Commonwealth. His declarations at; the Imperial Conference in 1937 animated the whole growth pf the Commonwealth of Nations. ■“ His death has removed a weliloved figure,” the Prime Minister added. ( The Leader of the Opposition (Mr R. J. Manion) said the Empire had suffered a severe loss in the passing of Mr Lyons. His statesmanlike qualities were marked. The Minister of Revenue (Mr W. D. Euler) recalled Mr Lyons’s admirable co-operation in the terms of the Cana-dian-Australian Treaty, GOOD FRIEND OF AMERICA SYMPATHY FROM WHITE HOUSE. WASHINGTON, April 8. White House has issued an official statement expressing regret at the untimely death of Mr Lyons, adding; “ The President had known him for a number of years and recognised in him not only a personal friend but a very good friend of the American people.” The ‘ New York Times,’ in an editorial tribute to Mr Lyons, says : “ He was relentless in the fight against dishonest finance and repudiation. In one year he reduced tho Government deficiency from £100,000,000 to £45,000,000. He turned deficits into surpluses and reduced taxation. That is glory enough for ‘ Honest Joe.’ ”

ALL AUSTRALIA IN MOURNING THOUSANDS OF MESSAGES OF SYMPATHY. SYDNEY, April 10. (Received April 10, at 11 a.m.) The whole of Australia is mourning for Mr Lyons as one of the Commonwealth’s most beloved men as well as one of her greatest. Messages of sympathy from the King and Queen and from tho heads of other great nations are included in the thousands that have been received. Apart from the official message of the King and Queen, Queen Elizabeth sent to Dame Enid a personal message worded simply: “My deepest sympathy.” Six of Mr Lyons’s children will accompany Dame Enid at the State funeral to-morrow. They will also go to Devonport, where they will be joined by the younger children for the private funeral there.