MR MASSEY'S REMARKS

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14326, 11 April 1912, Page 8

MR MASSEY'S REMARKS

Mr Massey. who was received with prolonged and enthusiastic applause, said that ho . often uot iced that if a public man became successful, he pos-•-Massed a good wile- Anything that Mr Hardy and he himsell bad done as public men was duo to their partners in life. He regretted to hear Mr Hardy Tcpeat what ho had said to him earlier in tho day, that it was not his intention to oorao forward as a candidate for tho House of Representatives. Hut if the House was going to lose his services, thero was another branch of the Legislature that was not likely to lo.se liis services—(continued applause) —and in that other branch of the Legislature ho felt sure that Mr Hnrdy would do as treat work, not- only for his constituents, but tor the whole of the i*eopl«». of the Dominion, as when he represented -Solwyn. (Applause.) lie had been ashociated with Mr Hardy during the whole of his Parliamentary career, anil during that, period he nover had a bet,ter political colleague and assistant, or Tx-rsonal friend, than he had in Mr J lardy. (Applause.) The news of Mr Hardy's defeat hail taken from him all __ the pleasure that he ought to have felt on account of the Goats gained by tho party. lie urged tho electors to send as their repirisentative to the House a man belonging

to tbo same party as Air Hardy belonged. (.-Applause.) It -was really the best thini* that had happened that the Reform Party was not now on the Treasury bench-s. They were in no hurry to ho on the Treasury benches'; their time would come, and he was prepared to wait for it. The present ]M--3:tion had served to show the imjierfection*.. weaknr«_es. and dissensions in the Government Party. Their dissensions were shown more clearly by tb<* selection ot the present gentleman who i'-l the party. (Laughter.) -Men who had served ihe party faithfully ! for twenty your* hud been passe.! over. | and a man appointed v ho had been i one of the most prcminent Oppos tioti--1 ists in Parliament. He was now leadi mt; tin* so-called Liberal Party. In | politics, as in everything else, it was 'wonderful how t mc brought, it.-* reI venge. There we;-,, ircip.ent refi-r----j eticc.s to the old Conservative Parly. I and the Opp.tsi-.ion were taunted with J b..;ng lineal descendant-- >,t tbe*-e who lv. i-ro connected witit -oup kitchens. j'l here were no Cotiserrat ivcts in New ) Zealand, but the Op]>osit on w.'iv j taunted in that way- As a matter oi j tact, then- -.sere only tnree or four j members »f *'-<' old Conservative Part.v I in the House, and one of them wa.s j Leader oi the ''--called Litiiral Party. I ("Laughter.) "It is t-x.- funny ior ! words." sa : d Air .Massey. -It is'funny j enough to mako a comic op?ra. and j .someone will take advantage of it in ; that way in years to come.'' He did i not believe that the combination of j Conservatism and Socialism would be i received with enthusiasm. Lot thorn i think of Air Mackenzie leading men | like Alessrs I'll, Laurenson. Hanan and | Uu-.scll, or being led by them! To him j it .si-emed to Ik* impossible. All aspect [of the question that occurred was that 1 the Goveriiment now in power was not. I the Government that went to tho eounj try. A.-i the Government which had i baid'v ben spoken of. and about which I there were grave doubts ;i.s to whether . it had a majority in the House, was to i bo allowed to control the expenditure ; ol the enormous amount of money that j came into the coffer.-, of the State. i Were men who bail not been proved to J have the confidence of the people to j have the right to handle, that money? j That wa.s a wrong and improper pos:I tion. The new Government asked to j be given a show. '-Give ns a chance: i play tho game," was what they were | a-dcmg. "Exactly!*' Air Massey oonI tinned : 'but why don't they play the igauie:* Why don't they face the "mu>ic ! and give the representatives of the J people an opportunity of showing whej ther they have the confidence of ! the country? That '■< the wav to piny the game." A Government in that position should, not be allowed to make the important appointments that would lie made between now and the time the House met. Tho previous Government, when on its lii.*t legs, went about the eotinj try turning the first sods of railways, and even laid the foundation .'tone of j the new Parliamentary Buildings, which! were to cost a quarter of a million, j and would probably cost much more! j Tin* House sliould have some say in i the appointment of'the men who were to manage the. affairs of tbo Dominion. The Government found ics way on to the Treasury Benches because, pressure was successfully brought to bear on certain members to break the .solemn pledges made by them as candidates to the electors. He hoped that the history of the short session would bo written, and that publicity would bo given to the wire-pulling that took place. He had heard people talk about the smartness that avoided defeat, but every rightthinking man and woman should ho ashamed of the way in which defeat was avoided. Ala- '.Massey then referred to the inclusion of four Canterbury members in tho new Ministry. Canterbury, he said, had previously been represented by one member, Mr i Ruddo, about whom lie had hoard no complaints. Now, however, it required four members to give the same satisfaction that had been given by Air Ruddo. That was a, point that would bo appreciated by the- hon. gentleman. (Laughter). It was an underlying principle of Gab'net government that its members should be agreed on important political questions, yet the newCabinet includ.nl freeholders, leaseholders, and a, land nationaliser, freetraders and protectionists, prohibitionists and representatives of "The Trade," Upper House reformers and those opposed to reform. How was it possible for men «<> divided to satisfactorily manage the business of the country?. It wa.s absolutely impossible for them to do so. (Applause). A POLITICAL HUMBUG. The present political situation reminded him of a story referring to somo students of etymology who decided to endeavour to puzzle their professor, who was known as Buggs. The students manufactured an insect by taking the body of one, the wing of another, and the feet of another, and asked the professor to classify it for them. The professor looked long and carefully at it, and said at last, "This is a fearful and wonderful animal: a bug, it is true, but 1 can only class it as a humbug." (Laughter.) The present Government had a Conservative head. one of it<s wings was a freeholder and | tho other a protectionist, and its legs j wero representatives of the liquor trade ! and of the prohibitionists. This fearful and wonderful animal —he was j speaking politically—was supposed to j control the destinies of the country for j the next three months. What would j Hie professor call it? He would call I it a "political humbug." (Laughter.) I THE LAND QUESTION.' \ Then* was one point he desired to j clear up. One of the misreprcsenta- I tions circulated during the general elec- j Hons was that the Reform Party was! under the thumb of the large land- : owners. That statement was a -dan- ' dor. The members of the party were i not under the thumb of any man. or i any set of men, or" of 'the! large landowners. The party had I endeavoured to do their ' best for the whole of the peoplo of New Zealand and had done so better than if they had sought to serve any particular class. The party was in favour of the opening up of "all Crown ! lauds for .settlement purposes and the I opening up for settlement of unoccupied native lands not required by their owners. They were, in favour of making every unoccupied acre of land available for every settler who wished to go on it. The Reform Party was in favour of the land paying its fair share of taxation, but they were not in favour of any unfair tax being im- : posed on the land-owners of this country. Further, the party was in favour i of any taxation necessary to ensure the closer settlement of large estates, and they were in favour of discriminating between the man who made, good use of his land and the man who did not t Applausei. Something required to be done in the* last mentioned matter because although they were supposed to be taxed on the unimproved value, they kn.w that ihe unimproved value of the land of the man who improved his land was higher than that of the? Ulan who did not- improve his land- To nlet this state of affairs an amendment of the Government Valuation if Land Act- was necessary. The Reform Party was opposed to all monopolies and was opposed to land monopoly .So much had been said by the Government newspapers on the Reform Party., land policy that he took the opportunity of putting it clearly before the country. The public debt was increasing and it was so enormous that it was absolutely necessary that they should do everything possible to promote land settlement and to increase the number of producers and the quantity of the Dominion's exports. (Applause). Mr G. AL Thomson, who apologised for his late appearance, spoke in the most eulogistic terms of Mr Hardy as a member of tho House. He was" not

going to indulge in what had been called ;: innuendo." but ho felt that .Sir Jo.-k'pii Ward would have gone down in history as a far greater man if he had accepted his defeat, as his victory was worse than a defeat. The Reform Party was destined to come to tho front. Not one member «.f it was to !.i* weaned away from his allegiance. It was a truly Liberal part.v in the sense that, they all desired trf do the ln->t tiling for the countr.v. The position held by the present Government was an untenable one. and he greatly regretted that his Excellency had uot sen fit to give them three weeks instead of three months in which to face the Hon:-.-:*. The Government would go down iike a houso of cards at the first onset ; some of their quondam friends would turn and rend them. Four of them flared not face their constituents, a-, their seats would bo lost to .Item. Air ALu-se.v would win and would !'_• able to form a Government that would command a majorn.v. and would not noe.l to go to the country. ..Applause.) A comprehensive vote of thanks to the speakers, moved by A'.r Hardy, was carried by acclamation, and the meeting, which bad been strikingly unanimous and etitlinsia-tic. cou-ludcd with cheer*; for 3lr Alassey.