MR. W. M. HUGHES

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 October 1939, Page 10

MR. W. M. HUGHES

ENERGETIC AS EVER. SYDNEY, October 2. Frail in grame, but indomitable in . spirit. Mr. 'William Morris Hughes a ; fcAv days ago celebrated his seAmnty- . fifth birthday, hoping that, having suci ccssfully piloted Australia through one . Avar, he will live to see his beloved [ British Empire victorious in another. Mr. Hughes, Avho ” r as Australia’s Primo Minister ■’'tiring most of the 19.14-18 war, is the present Attorney- , General and is a. member of the War Cabinet of six. A birthday telephone cull to his home repealed that he. had risen early and Avas visiting friends. A huge sheaf of congratulatory telegrams Avm: waiting for him. but he did not. return to his home until after midday, and then only for a few minutets. His next stop Avas somewhere in the citv, and then he Avas moving on to see his dentist. “And if the dentist thinks he’s dealing with an old man avlio avoii’l. complain too much if he happens to hurt, he's got another think coming,” said a friend. “Billy’s just as energetic as over he was, and his tongue is just us • blistering.” As witness his recent published’ stgiement that employers who <?o not make up the difference between militia imy rind ordinary salaries or wages 1

while in camp should be “black-listed.’ Mr. Robert Gordon Menzies, as com pleto a contrast to Mr. Hughes in physique us two men can be, may find himself 25 years hence treated with historic respect as “Australia’s Prime Minister in the last Avar.” He Avill no doubt be satisfied, if, at that date, ho can pack into his huge frame all the physical and mental energy and vitality that frail, old, unquenchable Mr. Hughes has to-day. They have this in common—an immense capacity for work. Mr. Menzies, too, had tt celebration a few days ago. He has been Avorking day and night—up to 18 hours out of 24 —since the Avar began, but he took a. night off io celebrate bis wedding anniversary. He took his wife to dinner and afterwards they went to a theatre. But they had to interrupt even this mild “night out” to permit Mr. Menzies to make a. broadcast ad-

dress on defence to tho nation. “I t . had to cut my dinner short and go late to the theatre, but any sort of break J* is worth while these days,” said Mr. ; Menzies. In the last four weeks the Prime ® Minister has seen practically nothing ’ of his family, and his programme for the immediate future is so intense J that he is likely to see even less of ' them, 1 ™— ———