"Quickness Counts!"

Small of stature but agile and smart is William M. ("Billy") Hughes, kinetic oldster, Wartime Prime Minister of Australia. Fortnight ago he worked a shrewd wangle in the Dominion Parliament, caused the defeat by one vote of the Cabinet of his bitter personal rival for leadership of the Nationalist Party, youthful Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce (TIME, Sept. 23). This made necessary a General Election called for Oct. 12. Delighted with his disruptive handiwork, Billy Hughes celebrated one night last week by attending at Sydney, Australia, what he said was his first wrestling match.

On the mat two "foreign heavyweights" grappled, tugged and heaved. Towering John Pesak had wrestled his way half round the world from Nebraska. Husky Joe Zikmund, billed as the "Polish Pachy-derm," tipped the beam at 218 pounds. Statesman Hughes slipped into his ringside seat just as Poland heaved Nebraska for a mighty thumping fall.

Next round Nebraska retaliated, tried a painful toe-twist on Poland. Soon the match grew really ugly. Joyous wrestling fans roared encouragement to both "for-eigners," completely forgot the distinguished presence of Statesman Hughes. Suddenly they remembered with a gasp. Directly in front of the onetime Prime Minister's seat grappling Nebraska got an annihilating hold, tautened mighty muscles and hurled ponderous Poland bodily through the ropes-218 pounds of beef and bone straight at the lap of little Billy Hughes.

For several breathless seconds officials could not precisely state the whereabouts of Statesman Hughes. But he was not found squashed under dazed and groggy Poland. With the quickness of an elf, little Billy Hughes had dived under the ringside bench just before the Pachyderm landed. "I've always been spry," smiled Statesman Hughes as he crawled out.

Even more peculiar than the dive under the bench was the position in which Mr. Hughes found himself, last week, as he started campaigning for re-election to the Dominion Parliament. He claims to be a Nationalist (he formed the Nationalist party in 1917) and would like to run as such, but because he engineered the defeat of his personal enemy Nationalist Prime Minister Bruce last fortnight, the Nationalist Party formally refused to endorse his candidacy last week. On the other hand, although he claims he is not a member of the Laborite Opposition, the Labor Party announced last week that they would run no candidate in North Sidney, his constituency, evidently intend to help him out covertly, hoping to win him into their camp once more-for until he formed the Nationalists fighting Billy Hughes was a Laborite.