THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 March 1911, Page 3

THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

ON THE STUMP IN CANTERBURY,

[BY TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL TO THE STAR.]

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The Leader of- the Opposition, who arrived from the North yesterday morning to undertake a campaign in Canterbury, was an interested spectator at the Ram Fair in the afternoon.

When he was asked what ho thought of the sheep hq, had been inspecting, Mr Massey said ; “I think that the Canterury sheep are ahead of the sheep in any other part of New Zealand. At any rate I can safely say that they are quite equal to any other sheep.” On several aspects of his trip through the North of Auckland and other districts in the Auckland province he spoke with enthusiasm. Ho said that the whole province was making good solid boomless progress. Practically the only difficulty was the external Maori land question. The present law threw stumbling blocks in the paths of the Maoris as well as in those of European settlers. Maoris could not .individualise their titles, although they strongly wished to do so, and consequently the lands could not be used. He had recently met hundreds of well educated well informed intelligent Maoris who were anxious to throw their lands open to settlement, but who could not stir in that direction. The fact was that the Maori of to-day was a totally different person'from the the Maori of yesterday, and the whole of the Maori land legislation from top to bottom should be revised in order tc bring it into line with modern conditions.

As an illustration of this he mentioned the town of Kawhia, on the West ‘Coast. He said that it had a splendid harbour, quite as good as Lyttelton and first class Maori land in abundance all round it. Some day Kawhia would be a large city, but not before the tracts of Maori land that encircled it wore thrown open to settlement. SPEECH AT KAIAPOI. [BY TEI.EGE-4.1’11 —PER press association.] .At Kaiapoi last night, Mr Massey the leader of the Opposition, addressed a well attended meeting. Mayor Blackwell was in the chair. Mr Massey referred in turn to each plank of the Government’s declared platform, alleging that each had been transgressed by the legislation passed, or attempted to be passed. He referred in detail to the matter of the expenditure connected with the loan of five millions, stating that on the first day of next session, he would put a question, asking for details of the whob transaction. Mr Massey spoke of 'the method of appointment to the civil service, urging that nolitical influence should 1" wiped out. For this purpose he proposed the establishment of boards. H; urged the reform of the Legislative ‘Council, and stated that at all times, he favored the freehold, as the only system satisfying the man on the land He criticised severely the despotic power passing into the hands of the Ministers. He favored increased facilit ies for eduation.

At the conclusion a vote of thanks was carried bv loud acclamation.