Mt. Ida Chronicle NASEBY, FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1905. MR MASSEY'S VISIT.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 36, Issue 9469, 28 April 1905, Page 2

Mt. Ida Chronicle NASEBY, FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1905. MR MASSEY'S VISIT.

Thk general moderate support which we have for sometime given to the leading features of the Government policy does not prevent us from fully appreciating the compliment paid to this district by the genial Leader of the Opposition"iu coming bo far to present the other side of politics to the electors of this district. Probably; ho man in the Honse at the present time is the recipient of more hearty and sincere respect from all sides of that political assembly than is Mr Massey J and we.feel perfectly- sure that his recent visit here, if it has not perhaps gained him any overwhelming number of converts froni a party point of view, will have helped everyone who heard him to understand how during a comparatively brief political career be has so steadily risen to the important po ; sition he now occupies.. His indictment of the Ministerial administration was in no sense half-hearted or wanting in the spice of vigourous invective here and there ; yet on the other hand it never degenerated«into mere abuse, and the tone of the .speech throughout was that of manly arid fearless criticism unimpaired by a single spiteful or ungeneious suggestion. That is what electors everywhere really want: The present Ministry has been so long in office; and its head-has so rapidly developed his favourite idea of Government by autocracy tempered by the nominal advice and concurrence of mild-mannered and unpresuming subordinate Ministers, that the ordinary denunciations one looks for from' an.Opposition .how fall dully upon the electors' ears; They have been going on for years, and the average elector has come, to "take the'rri as read"" simply because personal or -vague general attacks have been proved to be useless" against the strongest Premier who ever held office in New Zealand; and are therefore, now looked upon merely as a waste of time. On the other hand, when a leading politician of .Mr Massey's attractive and kindly personal qualities and creditable political record takes the trouble to go into remote districts of the colony and explain .to the electors th& iDs and : outs of such matters as that of the Public Revenue's Act, and the dangers of such innovations as the practical abolition of any independent audit in connection with the great revenue-collecting departments of the State, the constituencies would be ungrateful and callous indeed were they to coldly condemn the self-sacrificing earnestness- which induces him to devote time and money to a public service of which the reward, if it ever comes, is so ob-viously-distant and precarious. .We consider tnat tb>VTisit of, Mr -Massey has resulted in much" good.. It hasi stirred up a some-" what apathetic -constituency to political thought ; it has compelled those who were too 'readily - accepting i the existing state •Of affairs as the most-perfect of all possible political conditions to'review the grounds" upon which their conclusions rested and to recognise the existence of weaknesses in their foundations j it has roused genuine Government supporters to the fact that their citadel 'is being attacked with: increasing seriousness, and that their enemy is not only honest in conviction; but patient and determined in action; and it has enlijjhtened the electors" generally upon many details" of public proceedings which-- they had hitherto iies['a'rt:d of fully understanding in the absence of a Irauk unit'simple description Of the (mints involved -' Moreovei, Mr Jlassey'§ visit has secured him here a number of warm personal friends,- who. whatever their politics,; will now be always prepared to believe that tl'e country's'destinies are in safe and capable hands should they ever hear of his being called to-assume the reins of power. That is very much' for the Leader of the Opposition to have secured by his brief visit to our midst-; and we feel sure that he was' as sincere in vvarmly acknowledging the' pleasure he had derived from bis excursionto Naseby as the electors were in offering him an eager and hearty greeting and iK wishing'him a regretful good-bye.