Manawatu Evening Standard. Circulation, 3,700 Copies Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1911. THE OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9475, 25 March 1911, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. Circulation, 3,700 Copies Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1911. THE OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN.

1 Mr. Massey opened his ■South Island , campaign on Thursday evening at Kaiapoi under circumstances giving pro- | mise of a most successful issue to the fight now commencing. The Leader of the Opposition was welcomed to Canter, bury very enthusiastically, both by the public and the press. The leading Canterbury Opposition organ was more than usually eulogistic of the qualities which have brought Mr Massey to the very forefront of colonial statesmanship'. "Personally," says the Press, "Mr Massey is one of the most popular men in New Zealand. He has the great gift of winning men's confidence and friendship, and he possesses iii an unusual degree the qualities'that com--1 mand respect and admiration-oour-age, honesty, perseverance, cheerfulness, a very British ignorance of defeat, and an equally British bluntness of speech. It would be poor flattery to describe him as diplomatic; he is too 'downright'to indulge in the trickeries that 6ome people seem to regard as essential to the successful pursuit of politics. There is but little light and shade about his political faith, and none of tho indefiniteness 60 dear to the man who seeks to make the best of both parties. To Mr Massey white is white and black is black, , and he has never tried to make out that either is grey, even though grey ; might ho the popular hue. The noble words which the Argus has adopted ' as its motto might well stand as the . guiding principle of Mr Massey's political career—'l am in the place where i I am demanded of conscience to speak j tho'truth, and therefore the truth I ' speak, impugn it who so list.'" With i such flattering, but none the less well- ! deserved introduction to his campaign , in the Plains province, it was to be expected that tho Loader of the Re- '" form Party would be well received and t would give a good account of his c stewardship. With so many and so c apparent weaknesses the Government a offers a good target for convincing v criticism, and Mr. Massey made splendid use of his opportunities. Of course, r the lamentable weakness of the land fl . policy of tho present Administration, i\ or rather its complete want of policy, T came in for some cutting criticism. fi The most amazing Bill ever put before h

the House, said the Leader, was,the] Bill of last session. It provided for, the Government taking land for lease, I and at the end of ten years, if good the Government could keep it, if not, could give it back to the owner—the "heads I win and tails you lose" principle of compulsory leasing was involved. Mr Massey pointed out that the public debt had increased under the Ward Administration by £20,000,000. Mr Balance had said that £50,000 a year was enough to borrow. Mr Seddon had said that a million or a milI lion and a half was enough, hut Sir Joseph Ward would have borrowed five millions by the end of the present your! This excessive and unwarranted borrowing, as Mr Massey points out, has quite injured the country's credit. New Zealand's credit should be as good as any; better than Australia's, and equal to Canada's, hut it is not. "The country is right. The administrators aro wrong." Some trenchant criticism was directed at the public works expenditure, the civil service administration and the steady and ominous increase in taxation, and Mr Massey's comprehensive indictment of an inept and extravagant administration was one calculated to enlighten the people of Canterbury on the true- position of political affairs in the Dominion.