AUSTRALIA'S PRIME MINISTER

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2681, 29 January 1916, Page 14

AUSTRALIA'S PRIME MINISTER

SKETCH OF MR. HUGHES : ; A SELF-MADE MAN [The cabled statement referring to the forthcoming,visit, of Mr.'W. M. Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, •to London,, thero,to-confer with the Imperial Government,' lends ' topical interest to ilie . following sketch of the political hfad of the.Federal Labour IParty hy' "Wallaby," in the Sydney/;" Sunday Sun'."] What,'manner- of man is Australia's PrimeJ^linister,"-Trho departs for Great Britain; next week/to take counsel with tho-King's.Ministers at the centre of the. Empire'?, Surely an interesting and striking l personality. Most probably •Dame History, will say, to-morrow, '"a groat London in past years lias welcomed; with more or less .warmth, the statesmen of the Outer Marches. In the. early "colonial" periods of our history, the visiting Australian Minister was the object of mildly respectful solicitude from the permanent officials of the Colonial Office, and glided through the metropolis unhonoured and unknown by the public. '

Carried His Swag. William' Morris' Hughes, to-day, '-a;| young man of 50 years, born in Wales, educated first in a good school in his native village, and then in Westminster escaping the encumbering deck cargo of university education, coming to Australia,. essayed, in difficult times, the varying pursuits of .school teacher, wharf labourer, and many other more or less nomadic avocations. He has carried his swag over V great part of the waste places of the continent; he knows the life of the back-blocks, the thirst of;the dry plains and ■' the wastes of the Never ; Never,.and can realise, as 110. city dweller can, the Australian underworld. The average man in the city knows less about the remote country people than ho docs about the heart of Africa. William Morris Hughes is "a part of all that lie has met." Like Ulysses, "for ever roaming with a hungry heart, much has he seen and known." ; . He was' caught up in the life _of politics at the'age of 30 years, being then"elected' to the New South Wales .Parliament, perhaps, liko one of Milton's most popular characters, "by merit -wised-to that'bad-.eminence.'" He organised 'thei-Vaterside-workers; and became .their president,'which he still is, :.ahdl'dßring'the'.many turbulent move- • irients of;tha_t;tempest/uous'body seemed "to ride-on--the'-whirlwind and direct the'storm"Thoresult of his moderating counsels has been to secure afjer interruptions the occasional resumption of ocean-borne commerce to and from our- shores. . .He . also helped to settle fclieTgreat coal strike of 1910. He has been'chairman, of the•; Commission on Navigation. He has been in the Federal . Parliament since its'establishment, and has held : office more than once before his 'inclusion- in the present Ministry.

Master of Parliament. Notwithstanding his many and active duties ho- read for the Bar, and was called in 1903. Ho has found time (it would seem that'it is only overworked men who can find time, men of leisure lose it) to read widely and deeply, and his- contributions' to the Press show th'at'.he is.a-practical and forcible writer. Ho commands,:his wide leading, and is . not, ono. of those wboso • erudition ministers to !their ignorance, as liappens to so many, book-stuffed,-^persona. Ho ,is easily the master of Parliament, a forceful speaker' with a powerful dialectic armory full of clioice and telling expressions,.; Combining strength aiid charm, he isralways followed with interest.. . ■' -.

Above-ail, ?he has'a great abundance .of the "saving ; ; gracb of humour. The Jjabour -Party,-.-the party of -the poor, is naturally a.grimly earnest body. The Prime; Minister.. knows, like Tennyson, -.that : "lifo iss- streaked with flecks-of sln/Kaiid 'that great' struggles bring men' to ...the breaking-point unless they occasionally relax from the sombre point of view. . _ - Being convinced that the stock-in-trado of his opponents is all humbug,-, ho oan afford, to recognise some of tho sanie : commodity in his own political .stock, and by this recognition he escapes being too good to keep company with himself. This is a curious way to nut the matter, but I am sure Mr. Hughes will understand what I mean. 13ut so many politicians' are overpowered by their own position, seeming like flies in amber, to wonder limv tho de.vil they riot, there.'that the alert, briajiteyed fixture of the Prime Minister adds a gleam to Parliament.

What He Has Done. I iie has/mastery "without appearing; to be masterful. Ho certainly' charms his opponents, and as more anil "more of the citizens come within tlie* circle of his personality his •aura will wax and not wane. And this 1 "interesting" being' succeeds in the due order of .tilings to tlie office of Prime "Minister at, this fateful- time and makes himself-felt. ;-v New energy pulsates through the administration.! Tie clears party strife .from the decks of the Ship of State, ' and buries the referendum till after the war ; resou'es 'the metal trade industry of - Australia from the German octopus, •infuses" vigour' into the dealing with the enemy trade; protects the wheat grower from exploitation, and secures a good reward for his labour: . and, above all, defines,- in clear and lofty sentences, the-duty, of Australia to the Empire in this great world struggleFurther than that, he translates his words into action, expressing the duty .of„the Commonwealth and its citizens, rls it nn'yjwonder that ho carries with bim on bis hiVli mission the confidence of our people? Conspicuous as one of the foremost men if the Empire, we may be assured that he will gather new distinctions in Great Britain for himself and for us. and afterwards. in the years that follow, when civilisation, to-dav almost out asunder by the sword and all adrift from its customary -moorings,:'seeks to reform itself in Tiarmonv with a. truer social ideal, what stirring part will our Prime Minister eri.net'in-such a drama?! Surely Fate • will-cast him'for a great one!