MR MASSEY'S VISIT.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13100, 27 April 1908, Page 6

MR MASSEY'S VISIT.

Tho Leader of the Opposition returns to Christchurch to-day, after spending some days in the South. W© trust that during Jiis stay in this city he will be ablo to meet some of his supporters •»nd discuss with them plans for the. coming campaign. The next election will undoubtedly b£_one of the most interesting that has taken place for a number of years, for there is clear evidence that party-ties, so far as the

Government are concerned, ar© loosening, and that political affairs are, to use a somewhat well-worn phrase, "in " the melting-pot." There is much need for organisation and hard work on the part of ±h© Opposition. The Government will go into the fight with all the prestige of long tenure of office and all the advantages which patronago and public works expenditure bestow upon them. The Oppo-

sition can mako no promises of roads and bridges, post offices and s pillar boxes and telephone bureaux; it can only promise to work for clean .and economical administration, and the r carrying out of the laws of the country without foar or favour. It can offer none of the benefits that the advocates of Socialism assert would follow the adop tion of their vague and fantastic doc trines, because it knows that these are illusory, the dreams of dreamers who disreg-urd alike the lessons of history, tho elementary principles of social economy, and the workings of human nature. We agree with Mr Massey that there are probably fewer Socialists in New Zealand than we are invited to believe; they are a noisy people, and their activity in keeping constantly before the public tends to make them appear more numerous than is the case. But such as they are, the Government, in Mr Massey's phrase, are certainly "over-friendly" towa-xls them. S.t Joseph Ward's distinction between' the Government's kind of Socialism and revolutionary Socialism may deceive somo, but it is too fine-drawn to be accepted by those who havo studied the Government's legislation and thoir attitude towards the Socialists generally. It is this Socialistic tendency that the Opposition will have to combat most strenuously, and it is for this purpose that we urge the supporters of tho paa-ty to organise for success at the polls. The fight that lies before us is not to bo worn by a furious struggle for three weeks or so before the elections, but by moi-ths of patient work —not by an unorganised rabble of voters, but E_ a disciplined army, with closed ranks and a united solid froi-t—oatd wo trust tha.t as the result of Mr Massey's visit tbe Opposition pajty ia. Canterbury will be stimulated to undertake the task that awaits them.