The Press Thursday, November 30, 1922. The Prime Minister

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17625, 30 November 1922, Page 6

The Press Thursday, November 30, 1922. The Prime Minister

The of ( hri.stcimrch would have boi'ji dit-appointed if tlx? l(t. Hon. the .I'nniij Minister had been unable to "•Jiit this city and deliver an address be lore tin? election carnpaigu closed. He arrives to-night, and he is assured of a warm welcome from the friends of tho JJoform Administration, if not from tuose enennes of the Government who fire in mortal fear of a defeat even more emphatic than they encountered three years ago. Mr Massey has reached that point which is reached only by men of the first class in politics: nobody can be lukewarm about him. His friends are staunch and devoted, knowing him for a strong, generous-minded, (indi able leader, utterly free from the faults of smaller men, while his enemies unceasingly pay him tiie tribute of despairing hatred. Seventeen years ago he was the leader of the Opposition, with a following of about 15 members, ills party had suffered a crushing defeat at the election in 1905, and to those who did not realise the stoutness of its Leader's heart and the homogeneity of its composition, the lleform Party seemed to have come to an end. Under the cheerful and vigilant leadership of \lr Massey, the party greatly increased, its influence upon the public and only two general elections had to pass before it occupied the Ministerial benches. It was by honesty of purpose, tenacity, and obvious fitness for the restoration of government by a party with a clear grasp of principle, that Mr Massey rose to office. (Since taking office he ha 3 developed in a way which has impressed friends and foes alike, until he is to-day not only by far tho most striking and authority tivo figuro in the Dominion, but one of the notable men in the greater world of Empire. His management of the country's affairs during the long war years has never been better described than in an article which appeared last year in the "New Zealand Times," for many years the chief and the most strenuous opponent of the Eeform Party: "That he was equal to the responsibility and tho demands of the complexities and difficulties is his title to the admiration of the people of the Dominion, who are ever proud to say that in their self-reliant country the trying occasion always finds the capable man Nothing escaped his vigilance; weariness, never diminished the energy or shortened the length of his industry; no consideration ever induced him to spare himself. Eariy and lat.:-, and always, ho gave the very best that was in him to his country. And throughout he did his strenuous duty with a calmness that was never ruffled, with an evenness of temper that was u%yer disturbed by sharp tons or "harsh word; with an accessibility that was open to all who had petition to make or suggestion to bring forward. In Parliament he was ever the central figuro; in every one of the many hours of danger the country passed through his was the reassuring ivoice and hie the face that always remained serene. . , . From first to last he was just what % leader Bliould be of brave pepple in a great crisis of their fate." I Since the war the drift of public opinion towards division by a single deep line of cleavage between the moderate and progressive men content with the constitutional evolution of society on the one hand and revolutionary extremists on the other hand has been very, rapid. Three years ago the country had begun to recognise this, line of cleavage, and despite the urgent appeals of the Liberal Party j under the leadership of a man who had j long been a conspicuous figure, the country decided that its safety lay in giving Mr Massey the continued conduct of its affairs. Sinco 1919 the country has been affected by the wave of depression which was the war's legacy to the world, but the Government has conducted the country so safely through this trying period that the effects of the depression were amazingly less than even the most optimistic of people feared. Tho Prime Minister's criticß declare that the country escaped so lightly, and has come so quickly to recovery, "in spite of" Mr j Massey, and not because of him. Mr j Massey himself gives the credit of the recovery to the good spirit and energy of the people, but he can with' justice claim that the situation of the Dominion was so beset with perils on all hands that blundering, faltering, or panic on the part of the Government might have had the most calamitous consequences. The crisis is now safely passed, the revenue is improving, the expenditure is decreasing, the first reductions in taxation* have been made, and the year is closing with the outlook bright, and the nation in good spirits again. The Prime Minister has thus had to face two large and prolonged periods of extreme trial—the war and the subsequent depression. The country has emerged with credit and with unimpaired strength from these trying years, and that it has been able to do so is in great measure due to the unremitting vigilance, cheerful- | ness, and sagacity of the Prime Minister.

This is the man whom the Liberals are asking the country to replace by a Wilford-Holland combination—a combination of two parties of which one is weak and mindless, and one avowedly revolutionary, of which the leaders are men without balance or judgment, men whom it is impossible to think of as Prime Ministers without a smile. It would be sufficient for Mr Massey to content himself with the general facts

we have here outlined, but he will tonight reply to those few criticisms by his opponents which are not utterly

unworthy of the notice of serious men, and will tell the public something of the positive record of Liberal and humane legislation- and of progressive nation-building work which stands to the credit of his Government. Even if Mr Massey were less the strong and capable and prudent leader which he is, even if the Eeform record of achievement in the nation's interest were less notably in advance of anything within the capacity of any other party, the people would still have a decisive reason for supporting the Prime Minister and giving him the strong majority which they gave him three years ago. This decisive reason is in the fact that the only alternative to the preseut Government is Government by a combination of Wilfordites and Reds. Neither of these parties can obtain more than a score of seats or so. Bat if they obtained 41 or 42 seats between them, they would take office, and Mr Holland has repeatedly declared the conditions upon which such a Government would hold office. The Wilfordites would be obliged to carry out Mr Holland's directions. It is absurd to suppose that the electors will allow such a dangerous and unprincipled combination to succeed tho Government whose leader is by every test —and the years since 1914 have furnished such severe tests as were never applied to a Government before —the greatest and safest leader the country has ever had.