MR. HUGHES AGAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23121, 20 August 1938, Page 12

MR. HUGHES AGAIN

[TKOIJBLE OVER SPEECH I THE DOMINIONS OFFICE CABINET REACTIONS LIKELY [from our OWN correspondent} SYDNEY, August 15 Australia's wartime Prime Minister Hud %ow Minister of External Affairs, Mf. W. M. Hughes, is again in hot water with his Ministerial colleagues, this time because of a casual reference in a Melbourne speech to the Dominions Office. Speculation is being made whether his latest "indiscretion," as tho political correspondents call it, may lead to his departure from the Cabinet, or his removal to a less prominent portfolio. Mr. Hughes, in his speech, declared that the Dominions Office in London was "as obsolete as the muzzle-loading rifle and the hansom cab." He said that messages about international affairs should go direct from the Foreign Offico or the British Prime Minister to Prime Ministers in the Dominions. At ' present a delay of a few hours in a message could make tho consultation of a Dominion a mere formal courtesy. "Entangled In Net" "The Dominions Office now acts as a net in which messages are entangled," Mr. Hughes continued. "It has no positive task. It merely acts as a despatching machinery of tho Foreign Office, as another and creaking machine which is responsible for much loss of time. The Dominions have become selfgoverning, and tho Dominions Office, at its best, merely registers what theso nations do. The conditions which warranted its creation have now disappeared. It is surely an anachronism that information received by Dominion Governments lags hopelessly behind tho press cablegrams, which conyey tho samo news to all the world." Stir in Whitehall The remarks, cabled to London, apparently created a stir in Whitehall, judging by the press cablegrams from there. This was reflected in feelings in official Canberra. The early reaction of the Prime Minister, Mr. Lyons, then in Brisbane, to his colleague's remarks was a denial that he had encountered any needless waste of time in dealings with the Dominions Office, and approval of Mr. Hughes' suggestion that communications should be sent direct between Prime Ministers.

A day or two later, when he had returned to Canberra, Mr. Lyons adopted a stronger attitude, and observers believe that the British Government, turough its High Commissioner, had made some tart comments about Mr. Hughes and his indiscretions. Mr. Lyons issued a statement, which, while it did not refer specifically to Mr. Hughes' remarks, so flatly contradicted them that it was generally regarded as an extraordinarily outspoken rebuff for a Prime Minister to deliver to one of his Cabinet colleagues. Attitude of Mr. Lyons j Mr. Lyons expressed warm appreciation of the close and helpful co-opera-tion of those who directed the channels of communication between Australia and Britain, and said that there were no avoidable delays. "Since I have been a member of the Commonwealth Government," add«l Mr. Lyons, "that Government has received the greatest courtesy and consideration from the British Government in the despatch of information and in the manner in which every effort has been made to consult us and to seek our co-operation. It is possible that in future a more effective method of collaboration may be devised. Ifrso, I am sure that the British Government will be only too ready to adopt it."

Mr. Hughes in Reply In reply to this, Mr. Hughes said: W I think it is only fair to me to say that my reference to the-. Dominions Office was u mere casual reference in a long and carefully-prepared speech, the whole of which ought to be considered. That has not been done. My point was that foreign policy generally was a matter of immense importance to Australia, and that in order that we might have an effective voice in the determinar tion of that policy, it was necessary that there should be consultation; and that consultation involved the receiving of information about affairs while they were in a plastic state." The view is held in Canberra that it would not be surprising if Mr. Hughes' position in the Cabinet was reviewed and if he were offered a portfolio in which his tendency to outspokenness would be less likely to cause embarrassment to the Government. Some Cabinet members feel that he is out of step with the majority of Ministers on important points of the Government's policy on international aflairs, and that he has sometimes been utlnecessarilv indiscreet.