Devastating Retort
Recalling some of the great flights of oratory and keen retorts in parliamentary debates, Air. Gampbell Dixon, writing in the Daily Telegraph, gives the palm to Air. W. Al. Hughes, Australia’s war-time Prime Alinister. Air. Hughes, he says, has a Welsh fire and a biting sarcasm that more than atone for a voice rasping and nasal, like Abraham Lincoln’s. The most devastating insult I ever heard in a debate was his. One of his followers crossed the floor of the House of Representatives. The renegade’s vote turned the scale; the Government fell. In a hush that was painful, the figures were announced, and still Air. Hughes stood at tho table, as if listening. “What is it that the honourable the Prime Alinister is waiting for?” asked the Speaker gently. With his ruffled grey hair and curved nose and narrow shoulders bowed, the little fallen leader stood motionless, “like a sick eagle looking at the sky. ” Then, timed to a second, his harsh voice cut through the silence. “I was waiting for the cock to crow. ’ ’
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19400105.2.26
Bibliographic details
Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 4, 5 January 1940, Page 3
Word Count
177Devastating Retort Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 4, 5 January 1940, Page 3
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