W. M. HUGHES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 245, 17 October 1939, Page 10

W. M. HUGHES

ENERGETIC AS EVER SEVENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SYDNEY, Oct. 2. Frail in frame, but indomitable in spirit, Mr. William Morris Hughes a lew days ago celebrated his seven! yjiith birthday, hoping that, having successfully piloted Australia through one war, he will live to see his beloved British Empire victorious in another. Mr. Hughes, who was Australia’s Prime Minister during most of the 1914-18 war, is the present AttorneyGeneral and is a member of the War Cabinet of six. A birthday telephone call to his home revealed that he had risen early and was visiting friends. A huge sheaf of congratulatory telegrams was waiting for him, but he did not return to his home until after midday, and then only for a few minutes. His next stop was somewhere in the city, and then he was moving on to see his dentist. “And if the dentist thinks he's dealing with an old man who won't complain too much if he happens to hurl, lie's got another think coming,” said a friend. “Billy's just as energetic as ever he was, and his longue is just as blistering.” As witness his recent published statement that employers who do not make up the difference between mililia pay and ordinary salaries or wages while in camp should be “black-listeu. Mr. Robert Gordon Menzies, as complete a contrast to Mr. Hughes in physique as two men can be, may find himself 25 years hence treated with historic respect as “Australia’s Prime Minister in the last war." He will no doubt be satisfied, if, at that date, he 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 inis in common —an immense capacity fo. work, Mr. Menzies, too, had a celebration a few days ago. He has been working day and night—up to 18 hours out of 24—since the war began, but he took a night off to celebrate his 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 address on defence to the nation. “1 had to cut my dinner short .and go late to the theatre, but any sort of break 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 that he is likely to see even less of them.