PARTY LEADERS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1480, 1 July 1912, Page 4

PARTY LEADERS.

The little exchanges which took place on Friday last between the Phime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were a. pleasant contrast to the acrimonious disputations which members had grown accustomed to in the days when the Member for Awarua led the House. Mtt. Mackenzie probably realises that he has had a lucky, if brief, inninge, and though there is every prospect of him being bowled out very speedily he has so far faced the prospect in a good spirit. This is as it should be. A politician who is everlastingly bewailing the buffets he receiveSj facing his reverses badly, and decrying his opponents as traitors, and "stabbcrs in the back," and so forth, very soon loses public sympathy as well as the respect and confidence of his own followers. Mr. Mackenzie apparently is profiting by the experience of his predecessor, and while we cannot pretend to wish him success in the coming struggle we certainly shall be pleased to conv gratulate him should he continue to maintain the courteous and conciliatory attitude towards his opponents with which he has so far signalised his leadership of the House. As, a free-lance the present Prime Minister was a vigorous and effective fighter; how he will shape as a leader of-a party remains to be tested. « The opponents of Mr. Massey are ever ready to seizo on any excuse that may present itself to criticise his leadership of the Reform party; but anyone impartially reviewing the political career of the Member for Franklin cannot fail to be struck with the very great success he has achieved under most disadvantageous conditions. How many men we wonder would have continued tho fight as Mr. Massey has done against thp tremendously powerful / influences with which he has had to contend? Whsn he became leader of the party its fortunes were at as low an ebb as they well could be: while arrayed against it were all the accumulated forces of a party stimulated by long years of success'; strengthened by the moral effect of repeated victories: and armed witli the public purse and all that it means in the way of favours for individuals and bribery of districts and communities. The Opposition party when Mr.' Massey entered on the forlorn hope of leading it to victory was faced with the most powerful political organisation Now Zealand has ever known. It is not an exaggeration to say that a state, amounting almost to terrorism, had been created by the party in power. Mr. Massey embarked on his task apparently; not one whit dismayed by its magnitude and through long years of adversity maintained a cheerful courage that was so natural a part of himself that it was almost taken for granted in him and in coDseciuence has never received the recognition it deserved. He has never faltered in the fight; never been soured by the discouragement he has met with, not merely through the overwhelming strength of his political foes, but through the half-heart-edness of some of his political friends who, lacking his high courage, would have given up the struggle in despair; and has never shirked the combat whatever the odds might be. Indeed, he has been, if anything, over ready to fight, sometimes perhaps for the sheer love of combat, but more often because of a certain dogged fixity of purpose which impelled him to.wage war against all who challenged his principles or his policy. In consequence he has at. times wasted his attention on pigmies and the fact is now quoted against him by some of those little people as an evidence of weakness. lS T o doubt it is. The Leutlir ot the llcforiii party, like most of her people, hiis his weaknesses, hut there is not a member of the present House of Representatives who lias shown the isame qualities of leadership that Jin, Masses Jwßj nor is fecro wzow

there -who can point to such a record of successes ns a party lender. It is one uiing to successfully lead a party with a ready-made majority; find quite another to hold together and add to a party in minority through long years of adversity. Mr. Massey has his faults as a leader — ho is impulsive in small things and over-combative, and is not a subtle strategist—but he has many of the gifts of leadership and it remains to lie seen whether in the event of his accession to office he would not uo even more, successful than he has been in Opposition. He is a straightforward plain-speaking, plain-dealing man; experienced in public affairs; possessed of an unblemished record; loyal to his principles; courageous; moderate and progressive in his ideas —the country, badly needs men of his stamp at the head of its affairs at the present time.