The Live Wire

According to Mr J. Scullin, Labor candidate for Yarra, Mr Hughes is a live wire and says wires are dangerous unless properly controlled. The Prime Minister says Mr Scullin smashed Labor, and is now smashing the Nationalists.

Oh, we can't eradicate him!
We have tried to insulate him
With a covering of solid business men;
But, with quite an impish giggle,
And a subtle sort of wriggle,
He is out upon a wild-rampage again.
Though we try to hold and bind him
And to nail him safely down,
In a minute more we find him
Turning hand-springs through the town.

And his heavy voltage much is
That each party that he touches,
Throws a fit, and on the spot gives up
    the ghost.
And the fellows that are near him
Are the ones that mostly fear him,
For "tis generally these he shocks the
    most.
Though they side-step to avoid him,
He will get them in the end—
Those who formerly employed him
to electrocute a friend.

We have tried in vain to use him
On the people who abuse him—
And ourselves—in days when keen de-
    bates wax hot.
But with purely Puckish chuckles
He adroitly bends and buckles,
And we find ourselves in danger on the
    spot.
Then we madly spring for cover
While he gaily twists and turns,
And our blasphemy we smother
As we reckon up our burns.

His full powers a thousand candle,
And he's dangerous to handle.
If we try it on, he has us in the ditch
In a manner quite confusing.
He regards as most amusing
All our efforts to control him at the
    switch.
So the wisest of precautions
Is to leave him quite alone
To perform his weird contortions,
Most severely on his own.

And this little live wire Hughes is
    so pecular Though he "fuses" 
On occasions yet his voltage never fails.
If he cannot seem to win it
In Victoria, next minute
We will find him going strong in New
    South Wales.
Though he seems a sad infliction
We've concluded on the whole,
And his power is gained through
    friction,
All e'er that we've no control.