A DISAPPOINTED AUDIENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 21, 25 January 1924, Page 7

A DISAPPOINTED AUDIENCE.

PREMIER NOT AUDIBLE. MAIN TOPICS NT3GLECTED. Listeners-in apparently were more fortunate than a large number of the :itizens who attended the Town Hall ast evening to hear the Prime Minister. ft is reported that the various speeches, particularly that of the Premier, were transmitted very clearly. In the hall tsclf the only speaker who was disinctly heard was tho Mayor, Mr. J. HI. junson. Sir Francis Bell was not Heard it all at tho rear of the hall—at least >y the majority of the audience. Complaints were fairly general that Mr. (Massey was inaudible half way lown the hall, where practically .all that :ould be heard distinctly was his favourite phrase, "Very well then." Several times people called out "Speak up," but their requests seldom reached the platform. In reply to one interjection, Air. Massey. declared he was just recovering from a cold and was not in euch good form as he had been two months ago. The subject matter of his address proved disappointing to many people, who apparently had come in the expectation of hearing important statements. This was illustrated by one man calling out, "Tell us about Singapore," and another shouting "What about Philip Snowden?" But Mr. Massey seemed happy in giving a long dissertation about the Cenotaph and the crowd round it on Armistice Day, which he estimated as either one million or two million. Apparently the Premier is more efficient at judging the speed of vessels to the fraction of a knot merely by watching the wash, than he is able to estimate a big crowd. Of course, "Mr. Massey dealt with the Imperial Conference, but even in this respect he disclosed very little, except that he had been able to get the Conference to agree to a tax on apples coming from places outside the Dominion. He admitted that no attempt had been made to get preference for our wool or meat, but that dried fruit, canned salmon —which he hoped would by and by come from New Zealand —and the like had been given preference. He also launched into an explanation why Dominion premiers had to attend conferences, and dealt with various little points that had already been published. After speaking for an hour, tho Premier explained that he had not time to tell the audience the many, important matters he desired to disclose, but that he would ,have opportunities to do so elsewhere. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick," remarked a dissatisfied citizen as the crowd left the hall.