WOOING HUGHES.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 August 1918, Page 6

WOOING HUGHES.

16,000 ADMIRING WOMEN. "WE HAVE UNBOUNDED FAITH IN A : YOU." London, July 12. 'A deputation of fifty women waited on Mr. Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia yesterday, and presented him with a memorial prepared in 1916 signed by 16,000 women, from countesses to the humblest workers —urging him to return to England to take a seat in tae councils of the Empire. Lady Leith of Fyvie said that they could have easily obtained hundreds i>l thousands of signatures if necessary, as the women of England had unbounded faith in Mr. Hughes. In reply, Mr. Hughes said that he valued the memorial more because it was presented two years after his visit, when the wave of popular emotion had died down. He would take the memorial back to Australia, and hand it to his children, as one of his greatest treasures. The deputation included Lady St. Helier, Lady Templetown, Lady Cantlie, Dr3. Garrett Anderson and Flora Shaw, and uniformed Red Cross, municipal, and war workers. ECONOMIC POLICY CRITICISED. The Evening Standard says that business men express unbounded satisfaction with the speech made by Mr. Hughes, the Australian Prime Minister, on Wednesday. The newspaper adds:— "We must wage a post-bellum economic war for our own preservation, irrespective of fiscal theories. Mr. Hughes was correct in saying that the only opponents of such a proposal are the caretakers of German interests." The Westminster Gazette says:—"Mr. Hughes is undoubtedly right concerning the development of our resources and war output; but if, after the war, the nations govern the trade policy by national egoism—which regards all foreigners as enemies, and treats the processes of commerce as acts of war—we shall limit instead of expand our trade,"