A GREAT MOMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 139, 16 May 1925, Page 4

A GREAT MOMENT.

DECLINING A PEERAGE.

“I’M KNOWN AS -BILL. MASSEY.’ n

Writing : in the Christchurch Sun, Mr JR. Riley says:— “Every man has his great moment. One of the greatest in the life pf the late Air Massey was when he earned the opportunity to decline the authoritative offer of a peerage. The refusal was as honest as the proffered reward for service to tho Empire was sincere. “This is not an apocryphal story. The writer was present on the occasion, but was pledged, as an official journalist and political secretary, to maintain the seal of diplomatio secrecy. Death has now broken that seal, and in tho gloom of its presence it is right that the people of his own country should learn that their late Prime Minister’s devotion ho duty had no bent toward vanities of social eminence. His democracy was too rugged for ornamentation. “The offer was promulgated to Mr Massey on the eve of the signing of the Treaty of Peace at Versailles, and was supported, with charming tact, by h former Secretary of State for the Colonies, the late Lord Long, then plain biuff Mr Walter Long, First Lord of die Admiralty. Mr Massey was invited to select any titular reward that lie desired, and was assured that his choice w-ould bo honoured. “‘A peerage ?’ asked Mr Massey, with a twinkling eye that denoted to intimate friends the resolve in his heart.

“Why not ?” returned Mr Long. “The response revealed the sturdy character and simple ambition of a plain man of the soil. ‘Look, here, Long, said Mr Massey, Tm known in New Zealand as Bill Massey, and I'll, go to my grave as that.’

“It was indeed a ij-reat moment."