REATH OF J. A. LYONS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 April 1939, Page 8

REATH OF J. A. LYONS

AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER STATESMAN AND IMPERIAL PATRIOT. , SIR EARLE PAGE TAKES OVER I DUTIES. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. SYDNEY, April 7. The Prime Minister of Australia, Mr .1. A. Lyons, died at. 10.40 o’clock this morning following a series of severe heart attacks. His wife, Dame Enid Lyons, his son, Kevin, and one daughter, Kathleen, were at his bedside when the end came peacefully. The news of his death caused a painful sensation throughout the Commonwealth for which the people were quite unprepared. He was the first Australian Prime Minister to die in office. Had he lived till April 22 he would have achieved a record term as Prime Minister. At an emergency meeting of Cabinet today the Deputy Prime Minister, Sir Earle Page, was elevated to the Prime Ministership, it is believed temporarily. There will be a State funeral for Mr Lyons on Tuesday, after which the body will be conveyed to Tasmania aboard a destroyer for burial in his home town, Devonport. Sir Earle Page announced Mr Lyons’s death at 11.20 a.m. in a national broadcast from St Vincent’s private hospital, Darlinghurst. “It is with great grief in which the whole of our people will join that I have to announce that our beloved Prime Minister has just passed away,” he said. “His courage and endurance during the cruel hours of suffering have been a revelation to his friends and colleagues, who have shared the vigil with his devoted wife. His passing closes the career of a great 'Australian statesman and a great Imperial patriot who succeeded in directing the recovery of Australian from the darkest hours in its history. “If ever a man can be said to have given his life for his country, that man is our late Prime Minister, whom we deeply mourn. The deep sympathy and affection of the people of Australia will go to his sorrowing widow and family.” All the members of the Federal Cabinet have been summoned to Sydney for an emergency meeting at the weekend. Flags are flying at halfmast on all public buildings throughout the Commonwealth. Feeling references to Mr Lyons’s death were made at the Good Friday church services this morning and evening. Tributes to his statesmanship, leadership, loyalty, diplomacy and his kindness of heart over a long and strenuous political career are pouring in from all parts of the Commonwealth. The Rt Hon. Joseph Aloysius Lyons P.C., was born in Stanley, Tasmania, on September 15, 1879, and was educated at State and convent schools, matriculating at the University of Tasmania. He first entered Australian politics in 1909, and was a member of the Australian Commonwealth Parliament from 1929 onward. He became Prime Minister of Australia in December, 1931, and in 1937 was returned to office as Prime Minister for his third successive term. In 1935, Mr Lyons represented Australia at the Silver Jubilee celebrations of King George V., and in the same year he was leader of the Australian delegation to London for discussions on Imperial trade questions. He was also leader of the' Australian delegation to the Imperial Conference held in London in 1937, and represented Australia at the Coronation of King George VI. and Queen Elizabeth. Mr Lyons married in 1915 and had five sons and six daughters. NEW ZEALAND’S SYMPATHY PRIME MINISTER’S MESSAGE. EMPIRE POORER FOR HIS PASSING. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The following telegram has been sent by the Prime Minister, Mr Savage, to the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Earle Page:-— “The news of the sudden death of Mr Lyons has been received with the greatest regret throughout New Zealand, apd on behalf of the Government and people of this Dominion I hasten to extend to the Government and people of the Commonwealth an expression of most sincere sympathy in the great loss that they have sustained. Australia and the whole British Commonwealth are the poorer for his passing—M. J. Savage.” On behalf of himself and his colleagues in the Ministry. Mr Savage has sent a personal message of sympathy with Dame Enid Lyons and her family.